While the four productions I reviewed spanned different genres and styles, the presence of household-name director-designer Robert Lepage led me to reflect more broadly on the craft of directing, and how the demands of specific shows shift what’s entailed in that intense, wide-reaching job.
By Liam Donovan /Jun 4, 2025
iPhoto caption: Goblin:Macbeth production still by Jae Yang.
While most of the entertainment comes from the goblins’ antics whenever the Shakespearean text is paused or subverted for comic effect, the secret sauce to this whole endeavour is that it really is an honest-to-goodness staging of that text, designed to showcase the performers’ near-virtuosic mastery of the material.
Kate Smith's pointed interpretation of the classic tragedy is a definite highlight and forecasts riveting things sure to be in store for Fools’ future programming.
Be it the lush and extravagant production of Tosca or the brooding and eerie production of Macbeth, both operas capture the spirit of romantic opera to delight audiences.