Jo Ledingham Theatre Reviews

Under Milk Wood

Jericho Arts Centre until April 30, 2023
Metro Theatre May 5-14, 2023
Hard-drinking, hard-living, hard-loving writer Dylan Thomas set Under Milk Wood, originally produced as a radio play for the BBC in 1954, in LLareggub, a fictitious seaside town in south Wales. Spelled backwards, Llareggub is “buggerall”. Such irreverence and playfulness with words infuses Under Milk Wood.

Gordon Law, Diana Sandberg (as Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard) and Peter Robbins in Under Milk Wood. Credit: Nancy Caldwell

Stupid F*cking Bird

The Cultch Historic Theatre to April 23, 2023
Superior direction by Mindy Parfitt and stellar performances by everyone, Stupid F*cking Bird is packed with tremendous sympathy for the human condition and the timely questioning of the function of theatre: then as now.

Nathan Kay as Con and Kerry Sandomirsky as Emma in Stupid F*cking Bird. Credit: Emily Cooper

Black & Rural

Pacific Theatre to April 15, 2023
Spell-binding. You know a theatrical performance has had an effect when there is a long silence before the applause. It’s as if applauding will break the spell.

Shayna Jones in Black & Rural. Credit: Sarah Race

Hedda Gabler

Jericho Arts Centre to April 16, 2023
The hallmark of a great play is that across all time and boundaries, a character – like Hedda Gabler – remains enigmatic, potent, fascinating and elusive. Is she a villain or a victim?

Hayley Sullivan as Hedda Gabler and Nick Rempel as Judge Brack in Hedda Gabler. Credit: Nancy Caldwell

What a Young Wife Ought to Know

Performance Works to April 1, 2023
Many Canadian women have become complacent about birth control and abortion thanks to the efforts of (mostly) women who fought hard for reproductive agency. It wasn’t always easy and it was often dangerous, sometimes lethal.

Our Ghosts

Firehall Arts Centre to April 2, 2023
Written by Vancouver playwright Sally Stubbs, Our Ghosts is a love story that spans almost seven decades. But of those years, Vic and Moira were actually together for only a few.

Corina Akeson as Kate, Barbara Pollard as Moira and Raugi Yu in various roles in Our Ghosts. Credit: Matt Reznek

Sense and Sensibility

Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre until April 2, 2023
Under Rachel Peake’s direction, Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility could not be prettier, more charming or more entertaining. Or, arguably, less like Jane Austen.

Nyiri Karakas as Elinor and Amanda Sum as Marianne in Sense and Sensibility. Credit: David Cooper

The Wrong Bashir

Firehall Arts Centre to March 12, 2023
The Wrong Bashir found the right audience on opening night if gales of laughter are any indication. From the curtain opener – with all the members of the multigenerational Ladha family racing back and forth, in and out of the wings, arms and hands waving – to the surprise at curtain fall, the sold-out crowd at the Firehall had a grand time.

Neha Devi Singh as Najma Ladha, Aman Mann as Bashir Ladha and Seth Ranaweera as Sultan Ladha. Credit: Matt Reznek

The Woman in Black

At Jericho Arts Centre to March 5, 2023
The Woman in Black is the second longest running non-musical play in West End history (after Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap). There’s good reason for its popularity: some folks love to get the wits scared out of them and others love to get a good laugh at their own susceptibility. Either way, The Woman in Black is good entertainment and this is a fine production of an old thriller.

Starwalker

At The York Theatre until March 5, 2023
I love opening nights: the anticipation, the buzz, the noisy lobby before the show; the audience ready, willing and eager to be transported. And the opening of Starwalker was, as opening nights go, a blockbuster.

Dillan Chiblow as Eddie Starwalker and Jeffrey Follis as Levi in Starwalker. Credit: David Cooper

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