Stratford Festival's ‘As You Like It' is not as you know it — with one risky swing that somewhat misses
STRATFORD — I like my Shakespeare served with a side of risk. None more so than a work like 'As You Like It,' one of the most popular plays by the Bard, which a professional critic will likely see more than several times throughout his or her career.
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Toronto Sun
2 days ago
- Toronto Sun
Actor Valerie Mahaffey, 'Northern Exposure' Emmy winner, dies after cancer battle
Published Jun 01, 2025 • 1 minute read Valerie Mahaffey seen at the Los Angeles Industry Screening of Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures "Sully" at The DGA Theater on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, in Los Angeles. Photo by Steve Cohn / Steve Cohn/Invision/AP Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Celebrated actor Valerie Mahaffey, whose stage, film and television work ranged from Shakespeare to the hit 1990s series 'Northern Exposure,' died at age 71 after a battle with cancer, according to a statement released Saturday by her publicist. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Mahaffey died Friday in Los Angeles, according to publicist Jillian Roscoe. 'I have lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses. She will be missed,' her husband, actor Joseph Kell, said in a statement. Survivors also include their daughter, Alice Richards. Mahaffey's stage, film and television work included the soap opera 'The Doctors' more than 45 years ago and encompassed roles in the TV series 'Young Sheldon' and 'Desperate Housewives.' She appeared in the movie 'Sully' with Tom Hanks, directed by Clint Eastwood, and played Madame Reynard in 'French Exit' with Michelle Pfeiffer. She won an outstanding supporting actress in a drama series Emmy award for her portrayal of hypochondriac Eve on 'Northern Exposure.' Mahaffey also appeared on television in 'The Powers That Be,' 'Big Sky,' 'Seinfeld,' 'Wings' and 'ER.' Her film credits include 'Jungle 2 Jungle,' 'Senior Trip' and 'Seabiscuit.' As a child, Mahaffey lived in Indonesia, Nigeria, England and Texas. Sports Sunshine Girls Columnists Sunshine Girls Toronto & GTA
Globe and Mail
3 days ago
- Globe and Mail
Antoni Cimolino's well-acted Winter's Tale wrestles with oddities in Shakespeare's script
Title: The Winter's Tale Written by: William Shakespeare Performed by: Graham Abbey, Yanna McIntosh, Sara Topham, Austin Eckert, Tom McCamus, Marissa Orjalo, Tom Rooney, André Sills Director: Antoni Cimolino Company: Stratford Festival Venue: Tom Patterson Theatre City: Stratford Year: Until Sep. 27, 2025 'A sad tale's best for winter,' little Mamillius tells his mother when she asks for a story. As if spoken into existence, the events that follow are very sad indeed, with disastrous implications for Mamillius (Philip Myers on opening night of The Winter's Tale), his mother (Sara Topham) and his sister (Marissa Orjalo). When we next see the tiny prince, it's as a memory – a tiny child forever playing in a starlit afterlife. Oft-considered one of Shakespeare's 'problem plays' for its odd structure, The Winter's Tale begins with one of the Bard's more twisted psychological tests: King Leontes (a superb Graham Abbey), out of his mind with doomy rage, accuses his pregnant wife Hermione (Topham) of infidelity with King Polixenes (André Sills). When she denies the accusations, the play turns tragic: Her newborn daughter Perdita (Orjalo) is exiled to the coast of Bohemia, while the mother and her toddling son die of heartbreak. The play, so very dark in its first half, is a brooder that, for a while, rivals King Lear or Romeo and Juliet. But after intermission, the work mutates into a pastoral comedy with a decidedly light ending, and in Stratford Festival artistic director Antoni Cimolino's production, those halves never bind together in a way that makes for a satisfying story. Down the street at the Festival Theatre, Chris Abraham helms a pastoral comedy with similarly disparate acts. But in As You Like It, Abraham interrogates the relationship between the genre's form and its content in a way that feels intentional and bold; here, the fault lines in Shakespeare's dramatic structure are left to echo. Cimolino leans hard into each tonal shift – the shimmer of early childhood, the draconian gloom of Leontes's court, the Midsommar-esque merriment of Perdita's newfound clan – and often the production is enjoyable. But the momentum of the first act, led by Abbey in a tour de force performance as the tortured king, fizzles out by the time we get to know Perdita and her adoptive family. And once Perdita's surrogate father (played by Tom McCamus) steps aside for his daughter to rediscover her noble heritage, the play is all but over – an 'all's well that ends well' predicated upon, among other things, a sentient statue. Oddities in the play's dramaturgy aside, Cimolino offers a stylish, well-acted production that goes toe to toe with the heavier hitters being staged in the Avon and Festival theatres. Topham is heartbreaking as Hermione, Orjalo buoyant and jovial as Perdita. McCamus, once more this season sharing the stage with Tom Rooney, is breezy and droll as the pastoral shepherd, and Rooney is similarly amusing, clad in fabulous faux facial hair alongside Sills. Lucy Peacock, costumed in an Angels in America-style set of enormous wings, oversees the whole affair as Time, ushering the mortals in Leontes's orbit through the tribulations that accompany a long life on earth. It's perhaps Francesca Callow's costumes that shine the brightest in Cimolino's production, luminous gowns and flower crowns that suggest a happier, simpler life in the fabled land of Bohemia. A few mismatched hairpieces aside, the fashion of this production is top-notch, as airy as the springtime celebrations that open the play's second half. Other design elements, however, are less impressive. Douglas Paraschuk's sparse set sees lace doilies hung from the ceiling that raise and lower in accordance with Time's demands. There's a neat visual effect that sees the strips of fabric project interesting shadows onto the Tom Patterson Theatre stage, but the choice feels otherwise ungrounded, and strangely minimalistic against Callow's luxurious costumes. And, to address the elephant – or bear – in the room, Shakespeare's most famous stage direction is executed here somewhat disappointingly. 'Exeunt, pursued by a bear' is one of the playwright's wilder directives, and in Cimolino's production, the bear is neither an actor in a suit nor a puppet (nor even a projected beast). No: The bear, in this case, is a sound cue. In a lesser year of Stratford Festival programming, this convincingly-acted Winter's Tale would be a must-see – and indeed, die-hard Bard fans can rest assured Cimolino's production is perfectly fine. But if a dramaturgically rigorous pastoral is what you're after – or theatre tech that briefly makes you forget the constraints of live theatre – I'd suggest checking out the fest's other offerings first.
Toronto Star
4 days ago
- Toronto Star
Stratford Festival's much-awaited ‘Macbeth' — with motorcycles and violent gangs — is a feeble letdown
Macbeth 2 stars (out of 4) By William Shakespeare, directed by Robert Lepage. Until Nov. 2 at the Avon Theatre, 99 Downie St., Stratford Ont. or 1800-567-1600 STRATFORD — I shudder when I think about how much money was poured into the Stratford Festival's latest 'Macbeth,' which opened Wednesday at the Avon Theatre. Inside The program of director Robert Lepage's production, created in collaboration with his company Ex Machina, is a four-page insert listing the hundreds of donors who have bankrolled this revival, which will tour to Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa next year. Indeed, it's an expensive, extravagant and altogether epic endeavour. And yet, this highly anticipated staging amounts to nothing more than a feeble letdown, despite some glimpses of brilliance and its starry cast of Stratford favourites. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Lepage sets his version of the Scottish Play in the context of the Quebec Biker War, a drug-related turf war between two motorcycle gangs that terrorized the city of Montreal for nearly a decade, leaving more than 160 people dead between 1994 and 2002. Ariane Sauvé's set drops the audience into the heart of the action. Its centrepiece is an imposing two-storey motel, frequented by Macbeth (Tom McCamus) and his fellow outlaws, dressed in leather (the costumes are designed by Michael Gianfrancesco) and riding on spiffed-up motorcycles that zoom around the stage. Impressive as this mise-en-scène is, however, Lepage's high-concept and heavily edited treatment feels like it's constantly trying to square a circle. Any attempt to draw parallels between these 'Macbeth' characters and the historical figures involved in the Quebec Biker War only proves futile. Tom McCamus as Macbeth in 'Macbeth.' David Hou/Stratford Festival Is King Duncan (David Collins) supposed to represent former Hells Angels leader Maurice Boucher? Is the story meant to depict the warring factions and hierarchy within a single group — or between two opposing gangs? None of this is entirely clear. Lepage says in his program note that any director leading a production of 'Macbeth' should 'choose a context in which contemporary audiences can better grasp the twists and turns of the intrigue and the psychological complexities of the characters.' But instead of offering clarity, his own concept — as typical of most Shakespeare productions placed in a setting that's based on a real historical event — merely adds more confusion. The most laughably ridiculous moment: when Macduff (Tom Rooney) and his gang of burly biker men start chopping down Birnam Wood to use as 'camouflage' as they stage their final attack on Macbeth. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW If you're able to look past these incongruities, there are bright spots to this production — at times imaginative and cheeky, throwing reverence to the wind. In particular, some of the design elements conceived by Lepage are stunning. Perhaps his greatest coup de theatre comes right at the top of the show: In his prologue, two assassins steer a small boat into the middle of the lake. In it is the traitorous Thane of Cawdor, his head tied up in a gunny sack. The men strap him to a pair of concrete blocks, then push him overboard, setting forth a chain of events that will see Macbeth driven to madness by his own ambition and thirst for power. Later on, Lepage pulls off yet another. I'm loathe to spoil what it is, but it involves a scorching scene transition between Banquo's murder and Macbeth's banquet (depicted here, of course, as a backyard barbecue cookout). There's a cinematic feel to much of this production. (After the prologue, in fact, Lepage projects a series of opening credits onto a screen at the front of the stage.) But in the end, these visual set pieces feel more like self-serving gimmicks, some of which hinder instead of help to serve the story itself. Members of the company in 'Macbeth.' David Hou/Stratford Festival Sauvé's set is so large and unwieldy that the scene transitions, particularly in the first half, take far too long, killing any sense of momentum. Those motorcycles are also so overused that by the fifth or sixth time they're rolled out, I wondered if Lepage was just trying to justify the expense of making them. A poorly conceived production of 'Macbeth' can be redeemed by a strong set of performances. But that's not the case here. Throughout, I rarely got the sense from this ensemble that they're living in a world of hypermasculinity and violence. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW With his deep, sonorous voice, McCamus' rather traditional take on Macbeth is cold and calculating. But though great in the first half of the play, McCamus overdoes his subsequent scenes of madness. Writhing on the floor, like a helpless creature, it feels as though he's playing a caricature of Macbeth rather than the character himself. As Lady Macbeth, Lucy Peacock delivers a performance that's similarly one of diminishing returns. She's terrifyingly domineering and manipulative early on, goading her husband into murdering Duncan and seizing the crown. Peacock's voice, almost maniacal, flirts between complete seriousness and carefree glibness. But Peacock's interpretation of Lady Macbeth's famous sleepwalking scene feels surprisingly dull, with her speech lacking both energy and a coherent through-line on opening night. From front-left: Tom Rooney as Macduff, André Sills as Ross and Austin Eckert as Malcolm with members of the company in 'Macbeth.' David Hou/Stratford Festival Graham Abbey fares far better as Banquo, Macbeth's friend-turned nemesis. But both Collins and Rooney are uncharacteristically stiff and, at times, unintelligible. (The poor sound amplification, and the fact they're all miked, is part of the problem.) Among the bikers, however, it's André Sills and Emilio Vieira who are most convincing, as Ross and Lennox, respectively. Kudos to Maria Vacratsis, as well, who plays the Porter (the motel manager in this version) and milks the laughs with her sexually charged speech in the second act. The witches (played by Aidan deSalaiz, Paul Dunn and Anthony Palermo) are portrayed as a trio of transgender prostitutes and drug addicts, scorned by Macbeth, yet whose prophesies lead to his downfall. This is a fascinating take, but one that I felt could be presented more sensitively. You really could say that about this production as a whole. Brash and bold yet lacking in its finer details, it's proof that no amount of money nor special effects can correct for a misguided vision.
