China, it turns out, is responsible for a lot of the mercury that’s deposited into the Great Lakes. That little fact was an aside in a press release I received today from the International Joint Commission, an organization that advises the US and Canadian governments on matters relating to shared water bodies. A 2011 report […]
Canada
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THEATER REVIEW: 2013 Shaw Festival
In the four plays I just saw at the Shaw Festival, accident and unpredictability are constant, as are contradiction and reluctant confession. Some are triumphs, others anything but, but the liquid nature of identity is everywhere. Even the reliability of time is up for grabs. That’s the case in Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia” (Studio Theatre, through […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
THEATER: 2013 Shaw Festival
So far, I’ve seen only half the plays at this year’s Shaw Festival, so it wouldn’t be fair to draw final conclusions. But at this point the word for this season is — with exceptions — mediocre. Only director Jackie Maxwell’s production of George Bernard Shaw’s “Major Barbara” in the small Royal George Theatre transformed […]
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Stratford Festival
Assume you can manage one night at this summer’s Stratford Festival. Even then, it will be costly — B&B’s, the good restaurants, and tickets have risen dramatically in recent years. But if you’re willing to set the alarm for an ungodly hour to make the four-plus-hour drive in time, you can complete a four-play marathon. […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
THEATER PREVIEW: 2013 Shaw Festival
How long can you call yourself The Shaw Festival if you do hardly any Shaw? For most of the last 30 of its more than 50 seasons, the Festival in nearby Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, has mounted a dozen plays, more or less, between April and late October, including three or four by George Bernard Shaw, and […]
