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Shaw Festival

Gabriella Sundar Singh as Anitra and Qasim Khan as Peter in Gnit iPhoto caption: Gabriella Sundar Singh as Anitra and Qasim Khan as Peter in 'Gnit.' Photo by Michael Cooper.

REVIEW: Shaw Festival’s wayward Gnit is an existential riff on Ibsen

Will Eno's Gnit hopscotches between tones, frequently counterpointing detailed, character-driven dialogue with metatheatrical winks to the audience. Curiously, though, Carroll’s production doesn’t make similar swerves.

By Liam Donovan / Aug 6, 2025
The cast of 'Major Barbara.' iPhoto caption: The cast of 'Major Barbara.' Photo by David Cooper.

REVIEW: Shaw Festival’s metatheatrical Major Barbara is sharp and subversive

Director Peter Hinton-Davis draws on a light smattering of Brechtian techniques — acknowledgements of artifice that enrich and vivify Major Barbara’s clash of morals.

By Liam Donovan / Jun 25, 2025
Mary Antonini as Reno Sweeney with the cast of Anything Goes (Shaw Festival, 2025). Photo by David Cooper. iPhoto caption: Mary Antonini as Reno Sweeney with the cast of 'Anything Goes' (Shaw Festival, 2025). Photo by David Cooper.

REVIEW: Shaw Festival’s Anything Goes is a fizzy, old-school tonic

As the script pivots between romance and farce, director-choreographer Kimberley Rampersad rides the stylistic waves, creating a production that’s sometimes grounded, sometimes cartoonish.

By Liam Donovan / May 22, 2025
Kelly Wong as Aslan and Élodie Gillett as the White Witch with the cast of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Photo by David Cooper. iPhoto caption: Kelly Wong as Aslan and Élodie Gillett as the White Witch with the cast of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.' Photo by David Cooper.

REVIEW: Shaw Festival’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe needs a louder roar

Sometimes, theatre transports you to a fantastic new world. Other times, you get a wardrobe full of coats.

By Emily R. Zarevich / May 15, 2025