detroit-review
Karen Fricker
Karen Fricker is Intermission’s editorial director and adjunct professor of Dramatic Arts at Brock University. She has worked as a critic in Toronto, London (UK), Dublin, and New York City, and has a PhD in theatre studies from Trinity College, Dublin. Sustaining the field of theatre criticism in our digital age is a big focus of her work, through academic research projects and training/mentorship ventures including Page Turn and Youareacritic.com. She is co-director of the international research network Circus and its Others, and has researched the Eurovision Song Contest for two glorious decades and counting.
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iPhoto caption: Ben Porter in 'The Woman in Black.' Photo courtesy of Mirvish.
REVIEW: Mirvish’s The Woman in Black conjures chills in the shadows
If you’re willing to suspend your disbelief and let your imagination run loose, The Woman in Black will reward you with a genuine jolt or two.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Lin Yu Huan.
REVIEW: The Storyville Mosquito buzzes brilliantly at NAC English Theatre
Although The Storyville Mosquito is about being happy with what you’ve got, I left the theatre itching to see it again.
iPhoto caption: Tom Rooney in 'Rogers v. Rogers' at Crow's Theatre. Photo by Dahlia Katz.
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.
iPhoto caption: Isabella Kinch, Ben Rudisin and Christopher Gerty in 'The Nutcracker.' Photo by Bruce Zinger.
REVIEW: National Ballet’s scrumptious Nutcracker will melt every last Grinch-heart in town
James Kudelka’s Nutcracker treats children as imaginative equals and adults as worthy of a sprinkling of magic, too. It’s an unwavering, saturated dream of joy you never want to wake up from.
iPhoto caption: Jane Spidell in 'Twelve Dinners.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Family tensions run high in TIFT’s intimate Twelve Dinners
In the now-closed Twelve Dinners, an autobiographical play written and directed by Steve Ross, audiences received intimate access to an unvarnished version of a younger Ross through 12 evening meals with his parents.
iPhoto caption: Members of the company of 'Narnia.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Bad Hats’ Narnia is a joyful, heartwarming escape
The spirit of openness and the joy of discovery rule over this Narnia. Open the wardrobe and see.
iPhoto caption: Members of the company in 'Ransacking Troy.' Photo by David Hou.
REVIEW: At the Stratford Festival, two adventurous new plays reflect on war
Erin Shields’ brilliant Ransacking Troy reimagines one of Western culture’s foundational narratives — the Trojan War — from the perspective of the women implicated in it. And in The Art of War, Yvette Nolan thoughtfully imagines the life of a Canadian soldier-artist in the Second World War, who’s wracked both by what he witnesses and the responsibility of recording it.
iPhoto caption: Philip Myers as Mamillius (left) and Lucy Peacock as Time in 'The Winter's Tale.' Photo by David Hou.
Stratford Festival reviews: The Winter’s Tale and Anne of Green Gables
A winter story told by a melancholy child and a fanatical Lucy Maud Montgomery book club help frame the final two productions in the Stratford Festival’s 2025 opening week.
iPhoto caption: Graphic by Krystal Abrigo.
York University’s Facing Backlash symposium builds solidarities in tough times
The symposium’s two packed days felt to me like the collective pursuit of an elusive, shape-shifting prey. But as participants shared experiences, and common-interest groups opened up their internal dialogue to the rest of the symposium, the contours of what we’re all up against started to come into focus for me, and I felt a collective sense of purpose growing.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Jae Yang.
REVIEW: Guillermo Verdecchia’s Feast is a fascinating text, but Tarragon’s new production feels hazy
I found the play really resonant and rich and layered. It’s about globalization, privilege, travel, displacement, and inequity, and it brought up many associations and past experiences for me. But I don’t feel that Soheil Parsa’s production fully comes together.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Marie-Andree Lemire.
REVIEW: Titaníque loves Céline Dion with all its heart
Content quibbles aside, Titaníque’s inarguable accomplishment is musical: What an amazing showcase for a Canadian cast’s vocal chops and capacity to deliver character through song.
iPhoto caption: What the Constitution Means to Me production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: What the Constitution Means to Me froths with urgency
Despite the surprisingly intimate nature of the material, I found myself more impressed than moved by this show. It’s one of those pieces that slowly reveals itself as theatrical premises strip away, and perhaps it’s the extra layers of distance and biography that for me kept the material at an emotional distance.
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