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REVIEW: Ophis dunks viewers into a gothic experience of Medusa’s psychic landscape

Transcen|Dance Project’s Ophis is a woozy tragedy that courts both playfulness and eroticism, deliberately dissolving the boundaries of stage and audience with an immersive format that’s sometimes thrilling, sometimes terrifying, and sometimes — if you’re a people-pleaser like me — both simultaneously. 

‘Through science, art, theatre, we create’: Antoni Cimolino looks ahead to his final year as Stratford’s artistic director

“You want to choose things that feel important to the moment,” he says about building a Stratford Festival season. “If you choose plays and they don’t resonate, it’s very hurtful. You believe in them and the power of them.”

Rhubarb! Festival director Ludmylla Reis wants artists to embrace ‘the detour’

"We do something formative at some point in the arts, and then we just continue doing that in different fonts until we’re no longer on this earth," says Reis. "The important thing is to know what that is, because you don’t want to be controlled by it. You want to be in control."

Twelve indelible moments of performance from 2025

With the lights fading on another year of fleeting thrills in dark rooms, we asked 12 Ontario performing arts writers to reflect on a moment that stayed with them. The results mainly stem from Toronto theatre productions, but there are a few surprises weaved in.

REVIEW: Sex Dalmatian’s Hot Holiday Spectacular is a peppermint-coated acid trip

Rock Bottom Movement’s surrealist mandate is on full display in this 15-dancer fantasia, which begins with an invitation to let go: “The only thing you need to know is not to know anything at all,” pronounces the Mayor of Sex Dalmatian, the evening’s narrator and the mayor of the titular canine’s mind.

Wing Chun Dance Drama is a martial arts movie come to life

“In China — especially in the history of Chinese cinema — Ip Man is a household name,” said Han, in translated written responses to questions over email. Ip had a lasting influence on wing chun, a style of kung fu that originated in southern China over 300 years ago. In his 60s, he trained Bruce Lee, who would go on to become a famous performer in Hong Kong and American martial arts films. 

Twelve indelible moments of performance from 2025

With the lights fading on another year of fleeting thrills in dark rooms, we asked 12 Ontario performing arts writers to reflect on a moment that stayed with them. The results mainly stem from Toronto theatre productions, but there are a few surprises weaved in.

REVIEW: Sex Dalmatian’s Hot Holiday Spectacular is a peppermint-coated acid trip

Rock Bottom Movement’s surrealist mandate is on full display in this 15-dancer fantasia, which begins with an invitation to let go: “The only thing you need to know is not to know anything at all,” pronounces the Mayor of Sex Dalmatian, the evening’s narrator and the mayor of the titular canine’s mind.

REVIEW: Tom Rooney dazzles in world premiere of Michael Healey’s Rogers v. Rogers

Rooney and Healey skewer the Rogers family with a disarmingly relaxed virtuosity that the surrounding Crow's Theatre production sometimes supports, and sometimes lets down.

REVIEW: Lester Trips’ stylish Public Consumption captures the internet’s profound emptiness

Rather than directly representing online life, Public Consumption speculates — with virtuosity — about how the digital world affects our bodies. And the show's findings are by no means comfortable.

REVIEW: Icarus Theatre’s DNA paints a disturbing mural of teenage rebellion

While director Erik Richards’ tendency toward snappy, thriller-esque pacing doesn’t suit all of DNA’s more intimate moments, it adds electricity to the drama’s group scenes, bringing playwright Dennis Kelly’s reflections on groupthink and collective grief into clear view.

REVIEW: Lepage’s ethereal The Far Side of the Moon is insomniac theatre

The Far Side of the Moon begins and ends with a large mirror on stage, and the show extracts enigmatic power from the tantalizing question of whether its protagonist is losing himself in his reflection, or moving toward self-discovery.