Reviews

Shakesbeer, a company that focuses on bringing the spirit of original Shakespeare productions to modern audiences, presented Much Ado About Nothing for a short season in a cabaret setting. The vibrant, pacy and fun production was a joy to watch.

This play examines the life and relationship of the artists Paul Cezanne (Leslie Gurusinghe) and Marie Fiquet (Dominik Shields). The play is intriguingly set in both 1856 and 2020. The oscillation between the two time periods is well handled as the costumes and set clearly evoke the historical period but could also just as easily be a contemporary scene. The striking similarity between the time frames is continually reiterated throughout the text and is an important basis of the narrative.

Love, Loss and What I Wore is an amusing look at women and their matters of the heart, their wardrobes, and their accessories. Based on the best-selling book by Ilene Beckerman, Nora and Delia Ephron sourced additional stories from friends, including Rosie O’Donnell, and have added them to this chick-flick/chick-lit collection of monologues. The authors know something about this audience with Nora having written, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless In Seattle, and with Delia, You’ve Got Mail.

Usually when you see a show that feels very tight, very polished and beautifully finished, it is the result of a year or more’s planning by the director and many months of thought and preparation by the production team prior to rehearsal. Old Love feels like that - but it was in fact a very late replacement in the season, replacing not one, but two alternative productions slated for this season.