HENRY V – REVIEW OF 2026 ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY PRODUCTION IN STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

Reviewed by James Karas

The redoubtable Royal Shakespeare Company has staged Henry V at the Festival Theatre in Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon. It is directed by Tamara Harvey with Set and Costume Designs by Lucy Osborne.

Henry V is a patriotic, one may say jingoistic play about a warrior king who wants to be king of England and of France because he is legally entitled to be. Read the play for the legal argument. If you know nothing about King Henry V, be informed that he is the one who beat the bejesus out of the French at the Battle of Agincourt. Now you know who we are talking about.

Director Harvey opens the play using a part of the last scene of Henry IV. Part 2.  Forget the Chorus’s invocation in Henry V “for a muse of fire” and watch King Henry IV on his deathbed being reconciled with his son in a moving exchange about royal duties and responsibilities.

Henry V has a huge cast and a busload of extras. Actors are assigned to double and triple roles with little attention to the gender of the character. But the plot is simple. Henry wants to conquer France; he is successful and proposes marriage to the lovely Princess Katherine in a wonderful scene, much of it in French and the crown of England and France are joined under a happy King.

Alfred Enoch aS Henry V and Natalie Kimmerling as Katherine. 

Photo: Johan Persson

The star is Henry himself, played with energy by Alfred Enoch. I found Enoch’s Henry energetic but somewhat lacking in flair. He is a great warrior but his famous St. Crispin’s speech lacked the spontaneity and crowd-arousing fervour that it demands. I expect rhetorical extravagance in the speech that it did not reach.

The same applies to the proposal scene where Henry asks Princess Katherine of France (Natalie Kimmerling) to marry him. He speaks no French and she, after a hilarious one lesson, knows no English. Again, I expected more flair and exuberance from the victorious king.

A few examples of casting will suffice. Catrin Aaron plays a sympathetic Hostess as well as Queen Isabel and the Governor of Harfleur. The Duke of Gloucester becomes the Duchess of Gloucester (Sophie McIntosh), Valentine Hanson plays Henry IV. Grey and Erpingham. Hanora Kamen plays the Bishop of Ely and Gower while Sam Parks becomes Westmoreland, Bates and Burgundy.

I give special credit to Henry’s drinking buddies while he was Prince of Wales. Bardolph (Emmanuel Olusanya), Nym (Ewan Wardrop) and Pistol (Paul Hunter). Ah, for the good old days of Henry as depicted in Henry IV.

The set must accommodate, without getting into detail, England, France and the Battle of Agincourt. There is a large scaffold for people to walk on. But the real wonder is the treatment of the battle scenes. They are choreographed by Movement Director Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster. The warriors collapse on the stage, they move, they fight in a superb display of war-like activity and choreography.    

The production has supernumeraries galore and a huge cast and handling them must have been a chore. The program lists a Children’s and Young People’s Planning Manager (Billie Ikeda) and a Young Theatre Makers Developer (Paul Ainsworth). I am not sure what they did but I am prepared to applaud them for work and endurance with youngsters.

Tamara Harvey and the Royal Shakespeare Company have staged a grand production  with some glitches of a play that tests the limits of what can be done with a large cast on a huge canvas. One can knit-pick until the cows come home but Shakespeare being patriotic and paying tribute to the great Tudor warrior during the reign of the last of that line is worth a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon.
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Henry V by William Shakespeare continues at the Festival Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, England.  https://www.rsc.org.uk/

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

RIGOLETTO – REVIEW OF 2026 ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, COVENT GARDEN, PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden has revived the 2021 production by Oliver Mears of Verdi’s Rigoletto, a favourite vehicle for opera houses around the world. As a result, both the opera and the jester have been seen in some unlikely places. Even a moderate operaphile could have sat through productions set in a Las Vegas Casino, a high-rise apartment building in New York and in a circus, to mention a few that come to mind.

The current revival is replacing the 2001 staging by David McVicar which was in a class of its own. When I reviewed that production, I wrote that the opening scene resembled an orgy. We saw a disheveled woman running across the stage with breasts exposed, clutching her clothes. We know that she had just been raped. The courtiers of the Duke of Mantua, sexual predators, chase women, grab them sexually and simulate coitus and act like predatory animals that is frightful and abhorrent. There was also a naked man. 

Director Mears takes a far more civilized approach to the operatic chestnut and the result is a highly enjoyable and refined production. The set by Simon Lima Holdsworth emphasizes dark tones, and the presence of lust and evil in the Court of Mantua is unmistakable. We see a large copy of Titian's Venus of Urbino, showing a naked woman lying languidly on a bed and the suggested violent Rape of Europa. In the latter, Zeus disguised as a bull abducts and then rapes a young woman.

In this production, we see Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda in a well-lit bedroom wearing night clothes before she is abducted and violated. Her presence in her bedroom is the only pleasant scene in the opera before the despicable courtiers abduct her. The beautiful duet with her father takes place in the darker tones of the stage.

George Petean as Rigoletto and Aida Garifullina as Gilda in 

Oliver Mears' Rigoletto, The Royal Opera ©2026 Marc Brenner

Mears has a lot of help from the superb cast in this marvelous production. Baritone George Petean as Rigoletto goes through a gamut of emotions. He ridicules the courtiers mercilessly and is an unsympathetic character trying to produce laughter for the amoral  and despicable duke. We see him and hear his sonorous voice in his scene with his beloved Gilda. And finally, we see the vengeful Rigoletto who pays Sparafucile to assassinate the Duke. Rigoletto is physically and psychologically deformed and his love of his daughter is his redeeming feature.

He is cursed by Count Monterone (baritone Blaise Malaba) and it arouses terror in him that runs thematically and musically throughout the opera. He decides to have the Duke killed and gets the services of  Sparafucile (bass William Thomas) who is professional, efficient and devoid of emotion in his job. He is frightful. We see all these situations and emotions in Rigoletto’s life in Petean’s splendid performance.

The lovely and innocent Gilda is sung by soprano Aida Garifullina. We first see Gilda through the curtains in her bedroom. She is in or around her bed in a beautiful room without singing a note. The scene is an addition by Mears. She is innocent and naïve with a loving father. She goes to church where she has seen a handsome young man who tells her he is a poor student. She sings “Caro nome” the beautiful aria inspired by his name. It is an expression of love, goodness and purity that Garifullina delivers with passion and poignancy that she holds onto throughout the performance.

The poor student that Gilda has fallen in love with is the lecherous and narcissistic Duke of Mantua. Tenor Ivan Ayon Rivas has the vocal and physical equipment for the role from his lascivious conduct at court to his description of women in “La dona e mobile” when visiting  a brothel at the end of the opera. Rivas sings with poise, assurance and gusto.  Women are toys to be played with and tossed out.

Veteran conductor Mark Elder led the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in a superb  performance of the score in a richly thought out and outstanding production of Verdi’s classic.

This is a solid and outstanding production that does not need outlandish effects like a casino or an apartment building, even an orgy.
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Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi with libretto by Francesco Maria Piave continues with some cast changes until April 23, 2026, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. www.roh.org.uk

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

SHADOWLANDS – REVIEW OF PLAY ABOUT C. S. LEWIS IN LONDON

Reviewed by James Karas

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) had a play written about him and it was produced on Broadway, in London’s West End and in many other places. Why?

He was a brilliant scholar at Oxford and Cambridge Universities and earned well-deserved fame as an expert on 16^th century English literature. Broadway? He wrote a series of children’s books like the Narnia Chronicles that were bestsellers. You may have seen some of them at the Shaw Festival and many other theatres. But a play about him in the West End? He wrote 30 books? He is described as a Christian apologist. Did religious dedication qualify him for a play?

The answer to all the above is probably N0 but in middle age, at 54, he met a woman eighteen years younger than him, they became friends and the relationship had enough material to produce Shadowlands, a poignant, lyrical, captivating, often funny play that is now showing at the Aldwych Theatre in London. A movie was made based on the play.

The woman was Joy Davidman (1915-1960), an irrepressible American widow and admirer of Lewis. She was a talented writer in her own right. He invited her to Oxford for a visit, and they were attracted to each other as friends, platonically of course because, I guess, it had never occurred to Lewis that sex between couples existed.

Hugh Bonneville as C. S. Lewis, Jeff Rawle as 
Major W. H. Lewis and Maggie Siff as Joy Davidman. 
Photo credit Johan Persson

Despite the antipathy (is that polite enough?) of Lewis’s stuffy colleagues, the friendship blossoms and Joy asked him to marry her. She only wanted him to become her husband so she can get British citizenship and, as Hamlet would say, not for country matters. They got married secretly in a civil ceremony (remember he is religious). Joy became ill with cancer and Lewis learned the pain of death and separation that will result if when friend dies. He decided to marry her in a religious ceremony, and they lived together, politely again, as man and wife. Her cancer went in remission, and they had several years of life together,

The play has some humorous moments, like when Joy meets Lewis’s colleagues and when they are getting married in the civil ceremony. Rings? Pause. There are no rings. The platonic friendship continued and the agony of illness and death overwhelm us. Of the many characters that appear, few make a significant impression except perhaps for Lewis’s brother, the decent Major W. H. Lewis (Jeff Rawle).

Hugh Bonneville of Downton Abbey fame plays Lewis with humane and scholarly bearing in a nice contrast to Maggie Siff’s down-to-earth Joy. The two carry the play with wonderful poise that entrances us with laughter and tears.

The set by Peter McKintosh features huge bookshelves at the back and sides of the stage that are largely dark. Director Rachel Kavanaugh prefers spotlights to lighting the entire stage for much of the production. Howard Harrison is the lighting Designer. More lights would have been preferable to reliance on spotlights and darkness.

Shadowlands is a wonderful play about the intellectual life of an Oxford University genius who meets a down-to-earth woman and the unlikeliest of relationships thanks to William Nicholson gives us a marvelous play.
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Shadowlands by William Nicholson continues until May 8, 2026, at the Aldwych Theatre, London, England. https://www.shadowlandsplay.com

James Karas is the Cultured Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

 

  

“OH, MARY!” – REVIEW OF FARCE ABOUT MRS. ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN LONDON

Reviewed by James Karas 

“OH, MARY!” by Cole Escola is ostensibly a play about Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of the great president. It has nothing to do with her life but instead is an overrated farce that relies on grotesque and non-stop overacting. It is now playing at the Trafalgar Theatre in London.

Mary (Mason Alexander Park - yes she is played by a man ) bursts onto the stage, clearly deranged and frantically looking for her bottle of booze. She  screams and screeches and is out of her mind. Her long skirt flies above her knees showing that she is wearing polka dot underwear. We will see them many times.

Lincoln appears and tells her that there is a war on and the country is fighting the south. “The south what? asks Mary. It is a decent line that does not bear repeating but it is repeated. Everyone overacts to the point of being tiresome and humour the is forced to the limit.

An officer described as Mary’s husband’s assistant in the program (Oliver Stockley) bends over in front of Lincoln and the latter is ready to hump him. A bit later we will see Lincoln invoking his deity and his assistant will  emerge from under  his desk and we know exactly what he was doing. He tells us about sperm to make sure we know that he  was fellate the president.

Oliver Stockley, Katie O'Donnell, Mason Alexander Park. 

Photo: Manuel Harlan 

Mary’s Chaperone (Kate O’Donnell) has a secret that she does not want to disclose to her. Well, she does and it’s about a scoop of ice cream that fell on her lap and you can guess the precise location and the pleasure it provided.

Mary wants to be a cabaret singer for which she has no talent. Lincoln hires a tutor to teach her to become an actor. His intention is to keep her away from the bottle and his choice is a second-rate actor called John Wilkes Booth (Dino Fetscher). Yes, that one. 

In a note in the program, author Escola and director Sam Pinkleton explain that they took a “seemingly stupid idea” about Mary Lincoln wanting to become a cabaret star and treat it with “the utmost care and sincerity” and bombard us with jokes and plot twists and leave us surprised. What we get is overdone farce, repeated jokes that  are not funny and, I say it again, overacting that I cannot believe is allowed in the West End and presumably did well on Broadway.

Except for a scene in a theatre where Lincoln is assassinated by Mary (surprise) with Booth and a cabaret where Mary sings shortly after the assignation, the set design by dots shows a desk and a sofa. The gaudy costumes for Mary and her chaperone are by Holly Pierson.

A comment about audience reaction is necessary. Although many of us sat in stunned silence watching this unbelievable production, most people found it hilarious. The raunchy bits were greeted with howls of laughter and the reaction at curtain call was enthusiastic.

Which brings us to the conclusion that there is no accounting for public taste.

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“OH, MARY!” by Cole Escola, directed by Sam Pinkleton continues at the Trafalgar Theatre, 14 Whitehall, London. www.trafalgartheatre.com

JAMES KARAS IS THE CULTURE EDITOR OF THE GREEKK PRESS, TORONTO

THE TEMPEST – REVIEW OF 2026 PRODUCTION AT SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE IN LONDON

Reviewed by James Karas 

The small Sam Wanamaker Playhouse keeps Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre active during the winter months. I caught Tim Crouch’s production of The Tempest. Crouch as the star and director has tailored the production it his ideas and has made it suitable for the very small stage and tight quarters of the playhouse in general. There is no thunder or lightning and no wild storms but a very good presentation of the text within those limitations.

Crouch plays the deposed Duke of Milan as the conqueror of the island where he brought civilization to the natives of whom we meet only two. The first is the spirit Ariel (Naomi Wirthner) who is his faithful servant but wants to be set free. The other is the wild and not quite civilized Caliban (normally played by Faizal Abdullah) who is more resentful than thankful even though Prospero reminds him that he has taught him to read.

He raised his lovely daughter Miranda (Sophie Steer) on the island and she has seen no other people until she meets the hunk Ferdinand (Joshual Griffin) and you don’t need me to tell you the rest.

This Prospero is gentler than imperialistic and although he became a magician thanks to the books that he brought with him in the end he throws them away and is ready to return to his Dukedom in Milan. Crouch both as director and star handles the play with gentility and may help us to understand his temporary imperialism because of the circumstances. 

Joshua Griffin as Ferdinand, Naomi Wirthner as Ariel, 

Tim Crouch as Prospero and Sophie Steer as Miranda in The Tempest 

c. Marc Brenner

Antonio, the brother that deposed and exiled Prospero becomes his sister Antonia (Amanda Hadibque), and we have no difficulty accepting her as such. Wirthner, who plays Ariel, has a conspicuously displayed artificial leg and is somewhat overweight. Blind casting is de rigueur and we have no right to complain or comment about it provided the performance is sound. Can you have a spirit like Ariel with such severe limitations? I think it takes guts to cast someone like Wirthner and kudos to Crouch for doing it.

Caliban was read script in hand by Finn O’Riordan replacing the indisposed Faizal Abdullah. The theatre does not have understudies and O’Riordan did a commendable job in the role.

Caliban is in the hilarious scenes with Trinculo (Merce Ribot)  and Stephano (Patricia Rodriguez) as they plot to kill Prospero and take over the island. I think we lost some humour without the original actor playing Caliban and leaving the other clowns doing the scenes with one hand tied behind their backs, so to speak.

Crouch has an attraction to candles and we saw the cast holding them, moving them around, blowing them and lighting them.

The costumes looked like “whatever you wore when you came to work, will do” and they did not bother me at all. This looked like an intimate production and costumes may have been superfluous.

This is a very attractive and intimate production worthwhile seeing for many reasons.
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The Tempest  by William Shakespeare continues until April 12, 2026, at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, 21 New Globe Walk, London. www.shakespearesglobe.com

James Karas is Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

BROKEN GLASS – REVIEW OF ARTHUR MILLER’S PLAY AT YOUNG VIC, LONDON

Reviewed by James Karas

Broken Glass is a 1993 play by Arthur Miller that is rarely produced. It is a gripping drama about being Jewish that receives a stunning production by the Young Vic Theatre. Miller was a Jew but he never dealt with Jewishness as directly and as powerfully as he did in Broken Glass.

Phillip Gellburg (Eli Gelb) is a Jew in New York in 1938 when the Nazis are in full control of Germany and have just achieved a friendly takeover of Austria. His relationship with his Jewishness is complex. His wife Sylvia (Pearl Chanda) is obsessed with the treatment of Jews in Germany, especially the image of Jews being forced to scrub streets with toothbrushes while being ridiculed by other Germans. But her husband is not sure about his support of Jewish refugees. His job is enforcing mortgages.

Sylvia becomes paralyzed from the waist down and there is no physical explanation for her condition. Dr. Hyman (Alex Waldmann) can find no explanation for her condition, and he digs into the relationship of the Gellburgs and tries to find the emotional act that triggered paralysis.

Sylvia’s sister Harriet (Juliet Cowan) is a sympathetic character and listens to her sibling, Margaret (Nancy Carroll) is Dr. Hyman’s exuberant and slightly wacky wife.

Stanton Case (Nigel Whitmey) is Phillip’s employer and a highly successful Jew who is interested in business and his accomplishments as a Jew. We have a balanced cast for the unfolding drama that combines the personal relationships among the main characters and the larger subject of Jewish identity in a world of antisemitism.

 A Scene from Broken Glass at the Young Vic Theatre, London

The catalyst for the plot development is Dr. Hyman who is attracted to Sylvia but dedicated to finding the deep-rooted secret to her condition. Phillip’s complex relationship with Sylvia unfolds slowly and dramatically. Phillip’s relationship with his employer develops into an explosive situation. Director Jordan Fein keeps a tight grip on the many strands of the drama to the final bitter end. There is no solution and the fine-tuned drama, done staggeringly well, has an ambiguous end.

The acting is outstanding. Gelb gives a superb performance as the confused and mendacious Phillip who has many issues to resolve. Chanda as Sylvia, is equally unable to come to grips with reality. She has our sympathy, but it takes a long time to understand her. Marvelous work. Dr. Hyman presents us with issues of medical ethics, but we do not doubt his desire to dig into the lives of people until he can find a solution. A sympathetic character done exceptionally well by Waldmann.

Carroll, Cowan and Whitmey carry the secondary roles with ability and aplomb.  

The production is done in a theatre-in-the-round on a single set. The play is set in the office of Dr. Hyman, the Gellburg bedroom and the office of Stanton Case. Set Designer Rosanna Vize has created a single set for the entire play. The large playing area is surrounded by couches laden with hundreds of newspapers. This is what Sylvia is reading as she obsesses about the fate of the Jews in Germany. A part of the stage is used for Hyman’s and Stanton’s offices. In one end of the stage there is glass window and we see Sylvia and her sister behind that glass in the opening scene with Phillip and Dr. Hyman. The characters are on stage most of the time. A great touch of staging.

The costumes designed by Sussie Juhlin-Wallen emphasize Phillip’s obsession with wearing a three-piece black suit and Sylvia’s attractive physique. The other characters wear suitable 1930’s attire.

The lighting by Adam Silverman provides a brilliantly lit stage for the office scenes and subtle and alluring tones for the bedroom scenes.

Broken Glass may not rank with Death of a Salesman and All My Sons (what does?) but I found it a riveting play and express my surprise that it is almost completely ignored from the Arthur Miller canon of productions.
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Broken Glass by Arthur Miller in a co-production by Young Vic, Soto Productions and Rachel Sussman, Brian & Dayna Lee continues until April 18, 2026 at the Young Vic Theatre, 66 The Cut, Southwark, London. youngvic.org/

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

QUEEN MAEVE - REVIEW OF 2026 PRODUCTION AT TARRAGON THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas

Judith Thompson is back at 71 with a captivating new play called Queen Maeve that is now playing at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. The ads show a determined woman of a certain age holding a large sword and probably stabbing someone. In case your knowledge of Irish mythology is sparse, you should know that Maeve is described by one source asstrong-willed, ambitious, cunning, promiscuous, and an archetypal warrior queen.

The play’s main character is Mrs. Nurmi (Clare Coulter), an elderly woman in a nursing home in Cornwall. She is crotchety, impatient and demanding. She has some mobility problems but that has not affected her ability to express herself. To put it colloquially, she is a tough cookie. And oh yes, do not call her Mrs. Nurmi. She is Queen Maeve.

Queen Maeve/Mrs. Nurmi is looked after by Siobhan (Caroline Gillis), a caregiver of extraordinary ability, common sense, patience and forbearance. Gillis plays the role wonderfully.

Queen Maeve is Mrs. Nurmi's alternate and of course imaginary personality. She is visited by her grandson Jake (Ryan Bommarito) who travels by bus from Sudbury. Mrs. Nurmi shows genuine affection for her grandson. He wants money from her to do podcasts about the stars. She becomes suspicious that her grandson wants the money for drugs and becomes Queen Maeve. She takes her sword to fight him off. 

Sarah Orenstein and Clare Coulter in Queen Maeve

Her daughter Georgia (Sarah Orenstein) visits after many years of separation. I am not sure what grievances the mother and daughter have against each other but Mrs. Nurmi or is it Queen Maeve considers her daughter’s conduct unforgiveable. There seems to be no room for forgiveness or reconciliation or understanding.

Mrs. Nurmi shows anger and obstreperous behavior even against the kindly and basically wonderful Siobhan, so we have some difficulty appreciating her unforgiving conduct towards he grandson and daughter. We can understand her refusal to give money to Jake when she knows he will spend it on drugs.

Thompson does not provide enough details about Mrs. Nurmi’s behavior and her taking the personality of a mythical queen may be more than just quirky conduct. Alone and perhaps horribly lonely even with Siobhan as her caregiver may have had more serious effects on her than we can imagine. There is a secret to Mrs. Nurmi’s conduct but what is it?

The questions that we may want to consider are whether Mrs. Nurmi was visited by anyone at all or are they like Queen Maeve figments of her imagination. Is that the mystery at the

heart of Thompson’s play? There is no resolution that I could discern at the end of the play.

The acting is superb with Coulter doing an outstanding job. She is on stage during the entire performance and deserves kudos for perseverance, subtlety and stunning work. Bommarito does excellent work as the desperate conniving grandson who tries to extort money from his grandmother when she knows that he is on drugs. Orenstein gives a praiseworthy performance as a daughter who cannot get an ounce of forgiveness from her mother.

With a tough woman who thinks she is Queen Maeve and her visitors, we cover a lot of territory but there is a mystery at its core, and I have several guesses whirling in my mind, but I will keep them to myself. Go see the play and make up your mind about it.

The set by Ken MacDonald consists of a simple room in a nursing home with an ordinary bed and some furnishings. The presence of Siobhan as caregiver makes it look fine but Mrs. Nurmi’s behavior gives one the chills.

The penultimate bow goes to Mike Payette for his fine and careful directing. The final bow and standing ovation go to Judith Thompson. Don’t stop. We need more plays from you.

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Queen Maeve by Judith Thompson in a Tarragon Theater production continues until  March 29, 2026, at the Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave. Toronto, Ontario.  www.tarragontheatre.com

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

A MIRROR - REVIEW OF 2026 ARC PRODUCTION AT 918 BATHURST THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas 

When you walked into 918 Bathurst St. Toronto to see Sam Holcroft’s play A Mirror, you are given a nicely printed white card stating, “Welcome TO THE WEDDING OF LEYLA AND JOEL.” Leyla (Jonelle Gunderson), the bride, walks down the aisle solemnly and joins the groom Joel (Paul Smith). The Registrar (Nabil Traboulsi) begins the wedding ceremony and the bride and groom exchange vows and we read THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE written on the back of the Welcome card. It is not exactly a familiar wedding but we take it for what it is.

The Best Man (Craig Lauzon) interrupts the proceeding to announce that this is a sham wedding and is in fact the performance of a play without a license. He invites people who feel uncomfortable to leave the theatre. One person does.

To quote Dorothy, we are certainly not in Kansas or any part of the civilized world. The Oath of Allegiance makes it clear that we are in a totalitarian police state. The transition away from Kansas is sudden and without explanation but then we get to the beginning of the play.

The bride becomes Mei, a  diffident secretary in the ministry of culture. The groom becomes Adem Nariman, an aspiring playwright who has submitted a play to Celik (Traboulsi) for approval and production. The wedding party has become the office of a totalitarian police state. We have a transition from the sham wedding to the office  of Celik in the ministry of culture. What happened to the actors who were putting on an unlicensed play? What play were they putting on?  

Celik in the same three-piece suit and black gloves that he wore as the wedding Registrar has turned into an officious and frightful commissar. Adem has been hauled in for a play that he has submitted for approval not for performing anything. And Mei works for the ministry. This is confusing.

Jonelle Gunderson, Nabil Traboulsi and Paul Smith, 

Photo: Kendra Epik - ARC

Celik as the tough censor has a lot to say to Adem about what he considers as appropriate for the stage and wants him to write something optimistic and not something depressing. The state does not want people to be exposed to certain things.

Adem is defending his writing as realistic and objects to Celik’s censorship. The playwright is a brave cog in the bureaucratic wheel but he is put under pressure to comply and compromise in order to survive.

Holcroft deals with the repressive state with dramatic effects and director Tamara Vuckovic and the cast bring out the horrors and abuses of totalitarianism. At times it feels heavy-handed, familiar and perhaps repetitive but it is all there.

Vuckovic tries to be helpful with the following comments in the program:

What’s so gripping about Sam Holcroft’s A Mirror is its architecture. The

mirrored structure isn’t a stylistic flourish—it is the engine of the play.

Scenes return, reframed, and suddenly what we thought we understood

begins to shift beneath our feet. Instead of inviting the audience to watch

a story about perception—they experience their own perceptions being

challenged in real time. Questions of censorship, authorship, identity, and

the fragile boundary between fiction and reality are embedded directly in

how the story unfolds.

What I thought I understood may have shifted beneath my feet but I probably did not understand in the first place. I did not feel my perception challenged and the boundary between fiction and reality seemed all too real to be considered fragile.

A Mirror was presented at 918 Bathurst St. Toronto which looks like a former church that has  been converted into a performing arts center. There is a raised platform which may have been an altar or a pulpit but serves just as well as a stage. The set by Nick Blais features sheaths of flowing white curtain material with a few chairs and other furniture the emphasis being on white.

I should add that near the end someone appears to remove Celik. He is a Celik look-alike but there is insufficient explanation to diffuse the confusion created in the two hours’ duration of A Mirror. A disappointment.
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A Mirror  by Sam Holdcroft in a production by ARC will run until March 28, 2026, at 918 Bathurst, 918 Bathurst St. Toronto Ontario. arcstage.com

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

SHUCKED – REVIEW OF 2026 PRODUCTION AT THE PRINCESS OF WALES THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas

The first and last time I heard the word corn in a song was in South Pacific when Mary Martin sang I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy  and gleefully intoned “I am as corny as Kansas in August.” It has been a long coffee break but Shucked, the musical now playing at the Princess of Wales Theatre more than makes up for the lapse of time. In fact, it is all corn, corny, corn pone and well, OK there is no popcorn. Shucked is a fable about a town in Corn County that relies on corn for everything until it stops growing.

It is a love story and a wonderful tale about a community meeting hardship and working itself out of it. The plot is replete with jokes that I will reprise to the best of my memory in bold letters.

If a paper airplane does not fly, it becomes stationery.

We are in a mythical town where people live happily, speak with a southern accent, grow corn and the town beauty Maizy (Danielle Made) and the hunk Beau (Nick Bailey) are planning to get married. But we have a crisis. The corn no longer grows. We start the musical with the song “Corn” sung by Story Tellers 1 and 2 (Maya Lagerstam and Joe Moeller) and the ensemble. Put the wedding on hold. We have complications and more than two hours to kill before we get to that.

If the world was nice, mosquitoes would be sucking fat instead of blood.

The-Cast of The North American Tour of SHUCKED 
(Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

The brave Maizy goes to Tampa, the big city, in search of a solution and she meets another hunk, Gordy (Quinn Vanantwrp). He is a podiatrist who presents himself as a corn doctor and has some unsavory traits but she overlooks them. Gordy comes to the Corn County to solve the corn crisis and check out Lulu (a hilarious Miki Abraham) who has Time and Money and  a few other things to offer. He is interested in all of them and does not feel beholden to lovely Maizy to whom he proposed marriage. OK, he is a conman.

If you put sugar on bullshit, it does not become a brownie. Now you tell me!

We have wise Grandpa (Elijah Caldwell), Peanut (Mike Nappi) and Tank (Kyle Sherman) who round off the denizens of the town together with the ensemble. They make up a wonderful community that deliver the “wonderful” jokes that belong to Corn County with panache.  

It’s like telling someone to go to hell and the hoping he has a safe trip.

The plot takes us through the gamut of complications accompanied by easy-to-take tunes like “Travellin’ Song”, to “Woman of the World” to “Maybe Love” to “Corn” more than once. They are lovely songs that are sung more than competently without making huge demands on the singers. There are a few flourishes but its largely Corny and reminiscent of the 1970’s TV show Hee Haw.

The horse was 20 to 1 to win. Yeah, but the other horses came in at 12:30.

The scenic design by Scott Pask looks like the skeleton of a huge barn with lots of barrels (full of whiskey) rolled around. The costumes by Tilly Grimes are Texas cornpone  

Politicians are like diapers; they have to be changed frequently and for the same reason.

The musical is by Robert Horn (book), Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally (music and Lyrics) and the wonder is that they created something unlike most musicals that come from Broadway. Veteran Director Jack O’Brien handles the details of the production with Choreographer Sarah O’Gleby taking care of the dances.

I may not have my virginity but I still have the box it came in.

I repeat, it’s a simple fable with a love story and a wonderful community that faces a crisis with forbearance and humour to the delight of all.  
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Shucked by Robert Horn (book) and Brandy Clark and Shane McNally (music and lyrics continues until April 5, 2026  at the Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. West, Toronto, Ontario. www.mirvish.com

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto. 

THE SURROGATE - REVIEW OF 2026 GRIPPING DRAMA AT CROW’S THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas 

The Surrogate is a gripping drama now playing at Crow’s Theatre in Toronto. It is a new play by Mohsin Zaidi (his first) and deals with the complex subject of two married gay men trying to have a child using a surrogate mother in Louisiana. That is a large canvas to paint on.

Sameer (Fuad Ahmed), a Muslim, is a hotshot lawyer from New York and comes from a wealthy family. Originally Canadian, he is married to Jake (Thom Nyhuus), a writer who has not published anything but is hoping to turn their experience of becoming parents using a surrogate mother into a book. Jake and Sameer proclaim their love and kiss each other passionately even though Sameer has a penchant for having sex with other men.

Marya (Sarena Parmar) is a Muslim and has agreed to be the surrogate mother to help the men. She believes that the child will be a Muslim and she needs money to pay the medical bills of her very ill husband.

Thom Nyhuus and Fuad Ahmed in The Surrogate 

The play takes place on a single set designed by Scott Penner consisting of a hospital bed with a large mirror on top where Marya is lying. We are in Louisiana where surrogacy agreements are not recognized.  Christina (Antonette Rudder) is the nurse in charge, a no-nonsense woman who knows what she is doing. The fifth character is Qasim (Siddharth Sharma), a hotblooded young man and the son of Marya.

Zaidi packs the play with incidents but at times I felt there were too many complications and the author and dramaturge Christopher Manousos could have eliminated some of the without losing the impact of the drama. Sameer is a mama’s boy of a domineering woman and he wants to provide her with a grandson. We never see her but we learn that she does not want to see her son’s husband.

And what if Marya wants to keep the baby? In Louisiana legally she can do that. Can she be transferred to Texas where the law recognizes those agreements? The question of medical expenses arises but Sameer states that he can cover them no matter what. He is litigation-happy and at times arrogant and threatens to sue the hospital if he does not get his way.

Nurse Christina has her own issues with giving birth and the firebrand Qasim is so upset with what is happening he spits in Sameer’s face.

Problems, issues, encounters and arguments arise in quick succession keeping (us?) rivetted to the plot developments. Marya has had a seizure and there is uncertainty about giving birth by Caesarian section or waiting for the child to develop. There are significant dangers either way. Who has the right to decide, Sameer and Jake under an agreement not recognized in Louisiana or Marya’s son?

The small Crow’s theatre provides an intimacy that gives additional power to the stunning performances by the cast. We are kept on the edge of our seats as the prospective parents encounter medical uncertainties, tension between them, being put aside by Nurse Christine and having to deal with the fear of losing their child to Marya or death.

The dramatic intensity created by the various conflicts is relentless and one does not know where to turn. What we do know is to heap praise on the five actors for their exquisite acting. Ahmed as Sameer is arrogant, concerned, bombastic, cowed by his mother, and a lover. A complex character beautifully defined. Nyhuus as Jake loves Sameer but he is unsure of himself, has doubts and fears and is financially dependent on Sameer. Superb acting. Kudos to Rudder as Christina who has to balance a lot of arguments that are aimed at her.

I will not disclose the dramatic finale .

The whole performance lasting 95 minutes is orchestrated and controlled masterfully by director Christopher Manousos.  
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The Surrogate  by Mohsin Zaidi, in a production by Here For Now Theatre in Association with Crow’s Theatre, House and Body, and BCurrent Performing Arts will run until March 29, 2026, at Crow’s Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto, Ontario.  http://crowstheatre.com/

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Torono

LITTLE WILLY – REVIEW OF 2026 RONNIE BURKETT PUPPET SHOW AT BERKELEY ST. THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas

Little Willie is a puppet show that springs from the fertile imagination of Ronnie Burkett and is performed by him handling the marionettes, several volunteers on stage and the audience.

The numerous puppets that he manipulates and provides the voices for are clever, entertaining, occasionally foul-mothed and very funny. Little Willy is Shakespeare and the puppets are staging Rome and Juliet, as you may have guessed, irreverently and hilariously. There are other skits in between that are not always completely comprehensible but the opening night audience seemed to know what was happening before it even happened and proved one of the most enthusiastic audiences, louder even by opening night standards.

There are numerous characters like Esmé Massingell, Rosemary Focaccia, Major-General Lesley Fuckwad, Jolie Jolie; Miss Lillian Lunkhead, Mrs. Edna Rural, Schnitzel, Dolly Wiggler and volunteers picked from the audience with hilarious results. The “characters” have various personalities and tell some wonderful stories, both humorous and sad. The show Burkett tells us is unscripted and he had to adlib many sequences. In fact on several occasions, he had to ask his prompter Cystal to tell him where he was.

The focus of the show, as much as there is a focus in this free-wheeling production, is a performance of Romeo and Juliet. The title Little Willy is a clue if you need one.  

A couple of cast members from Little Willy. Photo: Dahlia Katz

We get some introductory remarks about the feuding families and the star-crossed lovers. It  will all lead to a hilarious rendition of the death scene of Juliet but a lot more will happen before that happens. Who will play Juliet?  How about the diva Eme? Or perhaps the slightly elderly Miss Lillian? Then there is Edna from Alberta who describes movingly her life and the wonderful fairy Schnitzel. There are other characters as well that display Burkett’s mastery as puppeteer and writer of raunchy scenes and touching segments.  We meet a motley group of characters with stories to tell an audience whose enthusiasm seemed boundless. Willy appears, too, of course.

Burkett is an expert at using audience members to produce laughter. A young woman is called on stage and she is shown how to produce the “orchestra” out of a box and conduct it by turning a knob. She is hilarious. Two young men are recruited, one an actor, and they remove some clothes and again Burkett uses them to get gales of laughter.

The last volunteer is also an actor and he is called to volunteer to play Romeo with a puppet Juliet in the final scene of Shakespeare’s play. He strips his upper body of clothes and lies down, dead. He needs the vessel from which he drank the poison. He does not have one and Burkett provided him with one by lowering it to him from above. He needs a dagger for Juliet  to stab herself with. He is provided with one from above. Resounding laughter.

The scene rises to screaming hilarity when Romeo put the dagger on his crotch and Juliet keeps reaching for it. She asks him to keep the dagger up so she can fall on it and kill herself. She keeps reaching for “the dagger” and brings the house down with howls of laughter Just another brilliant stroke by Burkett. And did I mention the dancing sausages?

There are many people working behind the scenes.  John Alcorn gets credit for music, sound design and lyrics. Kim Crossley gets credit for costume design. But Little Willy is the brainchild of the imagination, mental and physical dexterity, writing and, in a word, genius of Ronnie Burkett.
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Little Wilily by Ronnie Burkett, in a production by Burkett’s Theatre of Marionettes presented by Canadian Stage, opened on February 27 and will run until April 5, 2026, at the Berkeley St. Theatre, 26 Berkeley St.  Toronto, Ont.  https://www.canadianstage.com/

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

THE NEIGHBOURS - REVIEW OF 2026 PRODUCTION AT TARRAGON THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas

The Neighbours of Nicolas Billon’s play are an ordinary couple, living in an ordinary neighbourhood and gossiping about the people in their neighbourhood whom they invite for regular barbecues. They are Simon (Tony Nappo) and Denise Armstrong (Ordena Stephens-Thompson), the main characters in the play along with the mysterious neighbour  Au Yung Wei (Richard Tse). He sits in a chair reading for the duration of the play except for a minor exchange with Denise at the end. 

Simon and Denise are discussing events of the past but they are also talking directly to the audience. They give the impression of a loving couple who have a daughter studying psychology at Stanford University on a scholarship. There is no indication of what city they are living in and we do not want or need to know.

As we listen to their chat, addressing the audience, we sense cracks developing in the loving relationship of the couple. One of their neighbours has been caught keeping a young girl, Kayla, in a cage in his basement for twelve years. He kidnapped her when she was ten years old.

Ordena Stephens-Thompson and Tony Nappo. Photo: Jae Yang

How could that happen and how could it go on for twelve years without detection?

Simon and Denise consider themselves decent people and we have no reason to doubt them. Or should we?  If they were in Germany during World War II they would have helped the Jews, according to Simon.

Billon paces the play deliberately and methodically as direct and inadvertent revelations surface. Simon helped their neighbour construct the cage that was to be used for raising big dogs.  Did they see any dogs being raised? Did they not suspect or question or consider what was going on in the basement next door?

The loving relationship between Simon and Denise shows strains as the self-justification or running for moral cover increases. Is it genuine lack of sufficient evidence to take steps to uncover the truth? Is it wilful blindness? Is it moral cowardice? Is it a natural human reaction?

Richard Tse in The Neighbours. Photo: Jae Yang

All these issues are raised explicitly or implicitly as Nappo and Stephens-Thompson wrestle in brilliant, nuanced performances with the text of this wonderful play. I will not disclose the ending for obvious reasons.

The set and props by Kelly Wolf in the Tarragon Theatre’s Extra Space is as simple as it can get. Two chairs and a coffee table for Simon and Dense on one side and a chair and a coffee table with a reading lamp for Wei. No tricks, no gimmicks, just the polished text of a marvellous play that keeps us riveted to its brilliant development. I was  confused by the presence of Au Yeung Wei. Is he a neighbour who minds his own business and has nothing to say about the kidnapping even after it has been discovered? Did he know nothing about and now that he presumably knows what happened he has nothing to say? Is he a suspect? I think we deserve some more information about him rather than watching him read his book and imagining things about him.

Director Matt White delivers a nuanced production by keeping a perfect pace and plot development. Things sink in slowly and deliberately in a wonderful night at the theatre.

The Neighbours by Nicolas Billon in a Green Light Arts production in association with Tarragon Theatre continues until  March 15, 2026, at the Tarragon Theatre Extra Space, 30 Bridgman Ave. Toronto, Ontario.  www.tarragontheatre.com

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

CINDERELLA – TRANSMISSION OF 2022 MET PRODUCTION IN 2026

Reviewed by James Karas

On January 1, 2022, New York’s Metropolitan Opera did something unusual. It transmitted Jules Massenet’s opera Cendrillon, to movie theatres around the world as part of its Live in HD from the Met series. The performance was sung in English and the shortened version being transmitted was intended to entertain children as well as adults. The opera was given its English name, Cinderella and was shown only once. Four years later that performance was transmitted again on February 21, 2026

The full opera directed by Laurent Pelly, opened at the Met in April 2018. But this transmission of a shortened version running 1 hour and 47 minutes presumably to account for introductory and closing remarks was done without intermission.  The 2018 production lasted 2 hours and 50 minutes.

The shortened version eliminated some characters and scenes but told the Cinderella story effectively. Do not mix Massenet’s Cinderella or Cendrillon with Rossini’s La Cenerentola. They are very different. 

This performance starred the lovely mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as the abused Cinderella who dreams of going to the fancy ball in the palace. Leonard is vocally and physically captivating, exuding innocence and gorgeous sounds. In the meantime, her hideous step-sisters with the help of their mother (distinguished mezzo Stephanie Blythe) prepare to go to the ball and snag Prince Charming (mezzo soprano Emily D’Angelo) as a husband. The sisters and their mother dress in puffed up clothes, sport awful hairdos, play for laughs and are splendid at it.  

We meet Cinderella’s father Pandolfe, (bass baritone Laurent Naouri) a henpecked man under the thumb and abuse of his second wife, Madame de la Haltière. He had Cinderella with his first wife. Naouri is vocally fine and presents a pathetic but decent man. 

The catalyst of the story is the Fairy Godmother sung by Jessica Pratt who appears spry in a fancy gown with vocal flourishes and awakens the dreaming Cinderella. She promises her a beautiful gown, glass slippers and a horse-drawn carriage to take Cinderella to the ball.  In the beginning, Prince Charming looks like an emotionally troubled teenager but when he looks at Cinderella and she looks at him and we hear their gorgeous duet, well, we can recognize love when we see it. 

                                Isabel Leonard in the title role of Massenet's "Cinderella." 
                                            Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera

But Cinderella has a midnight curfew and she dashes out in the nick of time, leaving one   of her glass slippers behind. And you know the rest.

Choreographer Laura Scozzi provides some comic and beautiful ballet sequences performed by the Met Opera Ballet. Emmanuel Villaume conducted the entire production.

The costumes by Laurent Pelly are fairytale suitable. The wicked stepsisters and stepmother, as I said, are dressed and act to evoke laughter. In their costumes puffed at the middle they look like they may fly off. The Fairy Godmother’s gown is beautiful and otherworldly. Cinderella looks stunning in the gown the Fairy Godmother provides and she is gorgeous and on our side. The actors that draw the carriage to the ball wear horses’ heads and are very friendly.

The set by Barbara de Limburg consists of a series of moveable panels on three sides of the stage with French writing on them. The panels have a number of doors that facilitate entry and exit of characters. Is the French writing on the panels to remind us that this Cinderella is really Cendrillon?

The full-length production of the opera was directed by Laurent Pelly and there was no indication in the program as to who shortened it and made it more suitable for children. Credit is given to Kelley Rourke for the English translation. One cannot fault the Met for the initial transmission in 2022 or for the reprise in 2026. Trying to attract children to the opera is a laudable effort.
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Cinderella being a shortened version of Cendrillon by Jules Massenet was initially performed and transmitted from New York’s Metropolitan Opera House on January 1, 2022, and again on February 21, 2026, at select Cineplex theatres across Canada. For more information go to: www.cineplex.com/events

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

EUREKA DAY – REVIEW OF 2026 COAL MINE THEATRE PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Eureka Day is  brilliant play that gets a stunning production by Coal Mine Theatre. It is a searing satire of “liberal, progressive idealists” who are trying desperately to be fair, all-inclusive and reaching decisions by consensus.

 We are in Berkeley California at the private Eureka Day elementary school. In is October 2017 and the executive committee is meeting in the school library. There are two men and three women. Don (Kevin Bundy) is the head of the school and he is meeting with the executive committee members. Eli (Jake Epstein) is eager, talkative, and enthusiastic in his views on consensus and inclusiveness. Suzanne (Sarah McVie) is white, equally enthusiastic as she tries to prove that she is a decent person who believes that consensus is the way to make decisions. Meiko (Stephanie Sy) is Oriental and holds the same principles on principle. Carina (Sophia Walker) is black and like the others, except for Don, has a child in the school.

 A pupil gets the mumps and the question is what should the school do about it? The five discuss various options. Close the school; insist that all children get vaccinated. Oops. Vaccination may be terrible for your child or it may cause death. Trying to reach a consensus is impossible, especially under Don’s wishy-washy behavior. He is described as a good captain until he sees the iceberg.

The committee calls for a virtual meeting with parents or guardians of the pupils. It turns into a hilarious affair with Don speaking to the parents who are posting comments on a screen behind the committee. The audience pays attention to Don’s comments, they engage in other conversations, they write non-sequiturs or conspiracy theories or just plain idiocies. The public meeting is a disaster. 

Jake Epstein, Sarah McVie and Stephanie Sy 
in Eureka Day.  Photo by Elana Emer 

There is a petition that all pupils should be vaccinated and dramatic scenes by committee members of vaccinated child having serious side effects and being put in an induced coma with uncertain results. In another horrific case, a child dies because the parents refused to vaccinate the child.

Eureka Day was written before Covid-19 and the subsequent inanities of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, or the psychotic behavior of Trump and Co. but it  is a powerful and funny play because it exposes the impossibility or perhaps ridiculousness of attempting to make decisions by consensus. They want to respect all points of view. Nobody is wrong and we try for consensus. There are people who believe the earth is flat. How do we deal with them? There are people who believe in intelligent design in the creation of the universe by a Judeo-Christian deity whereas others take a different view. Try reaching a consensus on that as well as many other issues.

The discussion continues among these nice liberals but author Jonathan Spector has a couple of plot twists that I will not disclose.

The set by Steve Lucas  and Beckie Morris shows a library with children’s books and chairs. Nic Vincent’s lighting design is good and useful in indicating time changes.

The play is tough on actors and the director. They interrupt each  other, try to appear reasonable and get through the havoc of the virtual meeting with the irreverent parents. Kevin Bundy as Don can barely keep his sanity as he tries to steer a course that does not exist.  McVie as Susanne tris to hide her racism until it leaps out. Meiko is having an affair with Eli under the pretense of his “open” marriage. His wife knows about the affair and she sends hourly text messages to Meiko referring to her unkindly and colloquially as a member of the oldest profession.  

Carina proves a more skillful worker under the consensus regime than the rest. The praise I give to the cast is enormous and unstinting; the same praise is earned by director Mitchell Cushman. A stunning job that gives us a superb production of a marvelous play that no one should miss.
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Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector will  run until March 1,  2026, at the Coal Mine Theatre, 2076 Danforth Ave. Toronto, (northwest corner of Woodbine and Danforth). www.coalminetheatre.com/

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto