SLEUTH – REVIEW OF 2026 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

The 2026 Shaw Festival is up and running without the beautiful Royal George Theater which is under construction. The old Court House Theater which has not been used for years is back in service with productions of Sleuth and Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense. A New Work In Progress is promised 

Funny Girl, Amadeus and One For The Pot are playing at the Festival Theatre. The Wind in the Willows, Heartbreak House and Ohio State Murders play at the Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre.

Anthony Shaffer’s Sleuth is probably one of the best thrillers ever written. It opened in 1970 and has been adapted for two films, most famously one with Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine in 1972.

The play is set in a manor house in Wiltshire, according to the program, the home of Andrew Wyke (Patrick Galligan) a cultured gentleman and a brilliant writer of murder mysteries. He has invited Milo Tindle (Sepehr Reybod), a man of Italian origin and much lower social standing, to his house to discuss his adulterous relationship with Mrs. Wyke.  Wyke knows about the adultery and has no objection to Milo marrying his wife provided  he can take care of her. Wyke is a gentleman and he worries about Tindle and his wife.

Philip Mayfield as Inspector Doppler and Patrick Galligan 

as Andrew Wyke in Sleuth. Photo by David Cooper.

Milo may not have the financial wherewithal to do that so Wyke suggests that he rob Mrs. Wyke’s expensive jewelry, sell them and pocket a lot of money from it. The two begin planning the robbery with the expert Wyke doing most of the thinking. The plan seems failproof. The plot of the play proceeds from there and there are a few surprises. The main characters are Wyke and Tindle but there is also Inspector Doppler (Philip Mayfield), Detective Sergeant Tarrant (Liam McNulty) and  Police Constable Higgs (Stanley Rushton). I praise the performances of the actors but you will have to see the play with its incredible twists and brilliant plot development to find out what is going on with the police characters. It is jaw-dropping and I am not about to disclose any more details.

Galligan gives a bravura performance as the wily, polite, snobbish and devious Wyke describes himself as a sexual performer of Olympic status. But he is generously willing to allow Tindle to marry his wife. He is energetic, expressive and knowledgeable about murder and robbery. Wonderful work by Galligan.

Sepehr Reybod as Milo Tindle and Patrick Galligan 

as Andrew Wyke in Sleuth. Photo by David Cooper.

Tindle is no idiot but he is outsmarted and outclassed by Wyke. He is skeptical about the robbery but with Wyke’s brilliance and the help of whiskey he agrees to do it, but do not underestimate Tindle’s intelligence, perseverance and imagination. Reybod has a tough role and by the end of the play you will come to appreciate the brilliance of his performance and give him a standing ovation.

The set designed by Sim Suzer shows a very well-appointed living room with bookshelves, a fireplace and the usual coffee table and chairs. The costumes by Joyce Padua provides suits for the gentleman and a couple of other items of clothing as necessary.

Director Peter Fernandes maintains control of the action and the brisk speed of the play. He does not allow our attention to waiver.

In other words, Sleuth is an extraordinary production that you will enjoy and not soon forget.
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Sleuth  by Anthony Shaffer continues in repertory until October 9, 2026, at the Court House Theatre as part of the Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com

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

JEEVES & WOOSTER – REVIEW OF 2026 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas 

Jeeves and Wooster are, of course, the immortal characters created by P. G. Wodehouse  and made famous in his books and television series. With Robert and David Goodale’s adaptation titled Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense their fame has reached the stage as well and the Shaw festival has produced the adaptation at the Court House Theatre for its 2026 season.

The show is done by with only three actors Damien Atkins as Jeeves, Jeff Irving as Bertie Wooster and Travis Seetoo as Seppings who play ten (?) characters? I lost count. The play depends on the extraordinary imagination of the adapters and the outstanding talents of the actors and the adeptness of director Brendan McMurtry-Howlett.

That is complimentary but it does not say enough about the imagination and adroitness of the actors. Wooster (Jeff Irving) starts the show by telling us a story and his gentleman’s gentleman Jeeves (Damien Atkins) appears in perfect form for the role. Then the action picks up speed as Jeeves brings on the set (yes, he decorates the stage) and the other characters begin appearing. Atkins transforms himself into Aunt Dahlia in one of the numerous costumes that he will wear. The costume changes by the characters are done as quickly and efficiently as you are ever likely to see on stage. I should add that one of the characters has to get out of a bathtub. This is slower but even funnier.

Travis Seetoo as Seppings, Jeff Irving as Bertie Wooster
 and Damien Atkins as Jeeves in Jeeves & Wooster
 in Perfect Nonsense. Photo by Michael Cooper.

Inspector Spode comes on but we need more than a costume because he is tall. Grab some books from the bookshelf and he becomes tall. We then need him to become nine feet. Wheel in a stand where he can step on it and walk into a costume appropriate for a very tall man.

That is impressive and the costume changes hold true for the newt-lover Fink-Nottle, the nasty Sir Watkyn, his daughter Madeline, cousin Stiffy Byng the butler Butterworth, Mr. Spode and I am sure I have missed someone. We hit the target when we see Sir Watkin and his niece Stiffy appear simultaneously with the actor wearing the costumes of two characters on different sides of his body. He turns from side to side to represent each character as they address each other.

There is a plot of course. Uncle Tom, Aunt Dahlia’s husband has an obsession with owning certain objects d’art. He wants a silver cow-creamer which is in the possession of Sir Watkyn in his mansion. Wooster must steal it and deal with his friend Fink-Nottle’s engagement to Madeline and what do we do with Stiffy and the investigation into the robbery of the cow-creamer? Or with Madeline’s engagement. She puts Wooster on notice that if things do not work out with Fink-Nottle he is next in line in the game of matrimony.

The world of Jeeves and Wooster is the well-off English upper crust in the 1930’s and their silliness, such as the pursuit of the silver cow-shaped creamer and the game of love and marriage. Regretfully I cannot reveal any more information about the plot because you may not be a Wodehouse reader or Jeeves and Wooster fam and I do not want to spoil the play for you.

The sets starting from Wooster’s apartment in London to Aunt Dahlia’s house in the country, to the English countryside and a two-seater being driven there and the bedroom there and other locations that I may have missed are brought on with the same speed and comic aplomb as if  by magic. Set and Costume Designer Sim Suzer gets full marks. Kudos to Lighting Designer Kaileigh Krysztofiak for his imaginative work. 

The acting by Atkins, Irving and Seetoo deserves nothing less than a standing ovation. They speak with an English accent and they do it well and of course, representing men as well as women. A standing ovation describes their success. Director McMurtry-Howlett obviously had to orchestrate the almost countless moves to keep the show moving at a breakneck speed and producing the laughter that the play calls for.

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Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense by Robert and David Goodale from the works by P.G. Wodehouse continues in repertory until October 10, 2026, at the Court House Theatre, Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com.

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

WAITING FOR GODOT and THE HOBBIT - REVIEW OF 2026 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTIONS

Reviewed by James Karas

The Hobbit at the Avon Theatre and Waiting for Godot at the Festival Theatre wrapped up opening nights week (May 25 to May 30, 2026) at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario. Seven plays in six days is an experience to be savored especially when the productions are of the highest quality.

The Hobbit is based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien which has been adapted for the stage by Kim Selody. It is this year’s Schulich Children’s Play sponsored by the Schulich Foundation. Children are the target audience of the production and quite appropriately The Hobbit is an adventure story.

The wise and seriously hirsute Gandalf (Tim Campbell) with white beard to his stomach, hair to his shoulders and big walking stick launches the adventure. He recruits hobbit Bilbo Baggins  (Richard Lee) out of his happy retirement to lead twelve dwarfs to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and its vast treasure from the dragon Smaug (also played by Tim Campbell). This is serious business done on dramatic sets with stupendous lighting and special effects. Bilbo is hired as a burglar. The leader of the Dwarfs is Thorin Oakenshield (Aaron Krohn).

The Hobbit may compete with Homer’s Odyssey and the adventures of Odysseus with Cyclops, Anthropophagi and murderous Sirens. Tolkien/Selody have dwarfs, trolls, giant spiders, goblins elves, trolls and other creatures that live in Middle-earth.   

Members of the company, The Hobbit. Stratford Festival 2026. 

Photo: David Hou.

The play has more than thirty characters played by nine actors. The roles they play as stated above are guaranteed to fascinate the youngsters. The other actors with multiple roles are Heidi Damayo, Sara-Jeannie Hosie Derek Kwan, Michael Man and Jennifer Villaverde.

The costumes are out of the world or in Middle-earth or to be exact in Tolkien’s imagination. Th real source for the costumes is the immense creative talent of Ting-Huan and Christine Urquhart. Lighting Designer Michael Walton does unbelievably fantastic effects with the lights. The extraordinary sets are designed by Lorenzo Savoini. One cannot praise these people enough because no adventure story would be effective without their contributions.

Director Pablo Felices-Luna handles the handful of actors with the numerous roles, the changing scenes and complexities with expertise and the youngsters should enjoy the production.

In short, it is a fantastic show that should grab the attention of the young ones and their parents or guardians.

Waiting for Godot

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot has kept the attention, fascination and wonder of audiences, scholars and readers for more than seventy years. The play is produced regularly and people leave the theatre wondering what the hell was going on. There is really no answer except “what you see is what you get.” You may think you know what you see but you may never know what you get or what you are supposed to think of what you get. I hope that is completely confusing.

The Stratford Festival production directed by Molly Atkinson features Tom McCamus as Estragon, Paul Gross as Vladimir, Jonathan Goad as Pozzo the slave owner and David W. Keeley as Lucky the slave. Gordon Paul Miller and Asher Albert Waxman alternate as the Boy.

In a desolate area with a bare tree, the two tramps talk about nothing and have nothing to talk about except that they are waiting for Godot. One of them is beaten and we get the impression of nothingness. We do not know of nothingness nor of who or what Godot is or that he exists.                                                                                                                                                

Tom McCamus as Estragon, Paul Gross as Vladimir 

and Jonathan Goad as Pozzo, Waiting for Godot. Stratford Festival 2026. 

Photo: David Hou.

Atkinson uses the large Festival Theatre stage to add to the void that the characters occupy.

In McCamus and Gross, Atkinson has some of the best talents to play the tramps with Goad and Keeley delivering fine performances in the secondary roles. Estragon is beaten up, has trouble with his shoes and is truly pathetic. Vladimir tries to be optimistic but that does not change anything even when they try to play games.  Waiting for Godot has humour and in some productions, it is played almost as a comedy. Atkinson directs an orthodox production which has some laughs but she does not overdo it.

Pozzo holds Lucky the slave at the end of a rope and the Latter does not say much. It is a pathetic scene on top of a pathetic everything without engaging our sympathy as in a non-Beckett play.

A passing thought. How about looking at Waiting for Godot as a metaphor for life, our life, the world. A meaningless void in which we kid ourselves that someone will come , a redeemer, something and we kid ourselves that he is coming and we should wait for him??/

The Hobbit  by Kim Selody adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel opened on May 30 and will run in repertory until October 23, 2026, at the Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett opened on May 30 and will run in repertory until July 31, 2026 at the Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ont. www.stratfordfestival.ca

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

SOMETHING ROTTEN! - REVIEW OF 2026 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas 

Welcome to the return of the Stratford Festival’s 2024 musical extravaganza, Something Rotten.

The production and the audience’s reception can only be described in superlatives but I will begin and end with outstating praise for Director and Choreographer Donna Feore. I suggest that she is the alpha and omega of the production without forgetting the busload of highly talented performers and behind-the-scenes people who bring the show to us.

Something Rotten is a musical that satirizes modern musicals by poking fun at them while two of the characters are trying to write one themselves.  Set in the age of Shakespeare, two brothers, Nick (Mark Uhre) and Nigel Bottom (Henry Firmston) try to earn their daily bread in the theatre. There are many writers around but an arrogant William Shakespeare (Jeff Lillico) dominates the trade.

The two brothers try to emulate Shakespeare. He is writing a play that sounds like ham. Is it about eating Danish pastry with ham and eggs? Is it a ham omelet? Some day musicals will dominate the theatre and you will get a Fidler sitting on a roof and a musical called Cats and many other such titles. Things are changing and the first song tells us, “Welcome to the Renaissance” and is followed by “God I Hate Shakespeare.” There are numerous comic references to modern musicals.

With book and music by Karey Kirkpatrick, music by Wayne Kirkpatric and book by John O’Farrell, the trio covered the music, the comedy and plot of the show brilliantly. After that it was the performers, actors, singers and dancers, under the direction and with the choreography of Donna Feore who put it all together. The people on stage come up to fifty, give or take, if I counted them accurately. I know of smaller villages. 

Members of the company, Something Rotten! Stratford Festival 2024. 

Photo: David Hou.

If you are curious about that busload of performers, here is the breakdown. There is the main cast and we have the Acting Troupe followed by The Ladies of the Renaissance and The Bard Boys. We also have the Chefs, and the Renaissance Writers, Astrologers, Townspeople, Puritans, Eggs and Omelets, and the Swings. OK?   

Nick and Nigel consult Nostradamus (a hilarious Dan Chameroy) who predicts the future. Shakespeare was two years old when Nostradamus died but don’t bother me with details. OK, the Nostradamus of Something Rotten is the nephew of the real one! There is Shylock (Steve Ross) who wants to invest in a musical but he can’t because he is a Jew. They find a way. And there is the snooty Lady Clapham (Nehassaiu deGannes) who must be obeyed so she can invest. Bea Bottom (Starr Domingue) is a delightful wife and Portia (Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane), a lovely Puritan who delights and surprises. Yes, she is the lawyer who talks about the quality of mercy. The Puritans led by Brother Jeremiah (Juan Chioran), Portia’s father, are a pain in the unmentionable. I may add that the production is not as fastidious as I am  in its use of colourful language. Colourful? Make that dirty jokes and sexual puns that are just delightful.

From left: Mark Uhre as Nick Bottom and Dan Chameroy 

as Nostradamus, Something Rotten! Stratford Festival 2026. 

Photo: Ann Baggley.

Let’s get down to business and find a suitable subject for a musical. The brothers consider their options. How about Richard II. Too late. Shakespeare has one. How about The Black Death? I don’t think so. What about Omelet, The Musical? The humour, boisterous action, the songs and the gorgeous dance routines keep the audience enthralled.  

We get a dance routine done by the eggs and one done by the omelets. These are just two of the fantastic choreography that Donna Feore produces. She never hesitates to put a group of dancers on the stage who do fantastic numbers. The audience jumped to its feet and gave the performers lengthy standing ovations in the middle of the performance. Plus, an uproarious one at the end of the show.

I can heap praise on the actors/singers/dancers and the backstage artists but that will simply delay your effort to get a ticket and enjoy a great production.
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Something Rotten!, book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, music and lyrics by Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick, opened on May 29  and will continue in repertory until October 31, 2026, at the Festival Theatre, 55 Queen Street, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

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

DEATH OF A SALESMAN – REVIEW OF 2026 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a great play by an American playwright and the Stratford Festival has staged it again to its credit. The production is dramatic, superbly conceived and acted but I take issue with the set.

Willy Loman, the salesman of the title, is a man at the end of his rope. Based in New York City, he travels throughout New England, as far as Boston, showing samples and trying to sell to store buyers. Willy dreams of wealth and of achieving success in 1950’s America by being well liked.

He has instilled the same spirit in his two sons and lives with the conviction that you can “make it” without hard work.

Tom McCamus gives a signature performance as the pathetic Willy. He looks exhausted but tries to maintain his pride and belief that he and especially his sons can succeed in business despite lacking any tools such as education, integrity and hard work. He is ill-tempered and frequently explodes until he is forced to realize that his dreams and his sons’ chances of success are non-existent. McCamus takes us through the trajectory of Loman’s life with superb acting.

Willy’s sons, Biff (Joe Perry) and Happy (Josh Johnston) are products of their father’s illusory dreams and hopes for them. Biff returns home after spending time in the West as a farm worker and in jail. He thinks he can approach a successful acquaintance and get money from him to go into business with his brother. He ends up walking out with the man’s fountain pen. He did not finish high school because he caught his father committing adultery.

                                

Tom McCamus and Lucy Peacock as Willy Loman and Linda Loman.

The brothers are shallow liars and pretenders in  a terrific scene where they lie about their achievements to pick up two women and abandon their father in the restaurant,

Miller provides an illusory example of easy success in Uncle Ben, Willy’s imaginary brother who made a fortune in Africa. David W. Keeley, dressed in a white suit, appears as the ultimate example of success but it is all an illusion.

Miller also provides examples of decency and success in Willy’s neighbor Charlie (Matthew Kabwe) and his son Bernard (Raymond Strachan). Charlie gives money to Willy pretending it is a loan and offers him a job. Bernard tries to help Biff with his studies. His neighbors are successful through hard work. In this production they are black and that drives the message of how to succeed in America with unerring accuracy considering the current racist attitudes.

The most powerful and sympathetic character is Willy’s wife Linda, played by the powerful Lucy Peacock. Linda sees and knows everything but she says little and tries to support her husband and keep the family together. A stunning performance.

The problem I have is with Scott Penner’s set. The Lomans live in a mortgaged house in Brooklyn. It is surrounded by tall buildings on three sides and some windows are lit. Willy Loman famously arrives carrying his cases of samples and walks into his house. In this production he walks into the yard of his house. We see a table and a fridge and when the sons come on stage there is a bed and some furniture to the right of the “kitchen.” The problem is we are still outside and the set is incongruous, and simply wrong. Surely, we could have had a view of the tenements and a view of the kitchen and the boys’ bedroom. This was unacceptable

Death of a Salesman is a great play and director Dean Gabourie does impressive work in bringing it to the Avon Theatre. It is a cohesive, moving and indeed a splendid production. Except for the sets.  _____________________

Death of a Salesman  by Arthur Miller opened on May 28 and continues in repertory until October 31, 2026, at the Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

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