Reviews and Such

  “I make a vow, Right here and now, I'm gonna spend my time this way." Sooooo… Tick Tick… Boom!. This is a show that’s very near and dear to me… for some reason. The semi-autobiographical musical of a struggling artist, Jon, as he rapidly approaches the end of his 20s, chronicling his struggles to try and contribute something meaningful to the artistic hub of his city before his “youth” ends, whatever that means. A bit close to home? Maybe. But I really like this show. There’s something very charming about the audacity of its script that compels me; it is the ultimate piece of self-indulgent art. And yet, the indulgence is never experienced, as Larson tragically never lived to see it coalesce. So, it is our privilege to get one final look into a mirror of his soul, and all the flaws that made it human, in a piece of work that will be performed many a time to come. Director Nikki Fitzgerald has presented a superbly intimate staging of this show. Like many a venue Larson had to...

  “Those who do not possess, have no fear of loss.” Excerpt of a book, displayed in the foyer of "Eurydice". That’s the final line I read from an excerpt of a book (belonging to director Amy Kowlczuk) in the foyer of Eurydice at the Mill Theatre at Dairy Road. I’m familiar with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice; this play, however, authored in 2003 by Sarah Ruhl, approaches the myth from the perspective of the latter lover, rather than the former. As simple a change this is, I LIVE for these kinds of stories. Not prequels nor sequels, but rather, the story within the story; the one the author missed the first time around, that another author saw fit to tell. Ruhl is well suited to that role, and her work is one that held my attention sharply without bloat or wasted time; it is a play aware of its scale, and it is liberating for creatives who wish to tackle it. The aforementioned Amy Kowalczuk presents an intimately mythological and deceptively complex staging of Ruhl’s work, t...