By Christopher Hoile | Stage Door

December 31, 2025

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The Best Productions of 2025

This past July saw the passing of two of Canada’s most beloved actors – Michael Blake and Joseph Ziegler. Blake, who died at age 53, performed in 25 productions at the Stratford Festival between 2011 and 2023 including the role of Albany in King Lear (2023), the title role in Othello (2019), Caliban in The Tempest (2018) and Macduff in Macbeth (2016). Blake was one of the finest Shakespearean actors of his generation. He brought a clarity and understanding to Shakespeare’s verse that few could match. I had hoped to see him carry on through all of Shakespeare’s major roles, but I am grateful to have seen him in those he did play. He was a major talent gone too soon.

Ziegler, who died at age 71, lit up the stage for ten seasons at the Stratford Festival where gave us an unforgettable Timon in Timon of Athens (2017); ten seasons at the Shaw Festival where he directed such triumphs as Harvey (2010) and Widowers’ Houses (2003); and was a founding member of Soulpepper where he played a deeply-felt Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman (2010), an imperious Pozzo in Waiting for Godot (2004) and an iconic Scrooge in the company’s frequent stagings of A Christmas Carol (2001 on). His production of Our Town (1999) became one of Soulpepper’s most treasured pieces. We will miss Ziegler whose acting and directing so beautifully combined passion and insight.

A strange characteristic of 2025 was the increase in the number of coproductions. We all know that production costs in theatre have radically increased, and this must be the reason that has driven three and even four theatre companies to collaborate on a single production. Some of the smaller companies, however, which used to produce their own shows, now seem to produce shows only in collaboration. This makes one wonder how a small company can maintain its identity if never produces work on its own.

In contrast, some small companies outside Toronto have been enriching Toronto’s theatre scene by taking productions of their own creation to the big city. Talk Is Free Theatre based in Barrie took four plays to Toronto – Blackbird, Both for Resting and for Breathing, Cock and Tales of an Urban Indian – all to high acclaim. Here For Now Theatre based in Stratford for the second year in a row took one of its plays to Toronto. In addition, theatre companies outside Toronto have taken shows to other theatres outside Toronto. Talk Is Free Theatre took its production of Sondheim’s The Frogs to the Shaw Festival, and Stratford-based Spontaneous Theatre became the first company ever to present works at both the Shaw Festival (Murder-on-the-Lake) and the Stratford Festival (Goblin:Oedipus) in the same season. Small companies benefit by showing their own productions to a larger audience and everyone benefits from seeing the courageous work small regional theatres can do.

Below are my lists of the best shows I reviewed in 2025. Obviously, it is impossible for one person to see all the theatre available in Toronto in one year, much less all that is produced in all of Ontario. So, with this caveat, read on.

Toronto:

In alphabetical order here is my list of the ten best productions in Toronto I reviewed in 2025. As usual, I have excluded productions, such as Mahabharata, that have previously appeared on this list.

Blackbird by David Harrower, Talk Is Free Theatre. A thrilling production of a play about a young woman confronting the man who molested her as a child, a story rendered incendiary by the performances of Cyrus Lane and Kirstyn Russelle.

Bremen Town by Gregory Prest, Tarragon Theatre. A hugely impressive play full of humour and compassion that uses a tale by the Brothers Grimm as a meditation on ageing and death. The cast of vibrant veteran actors alone was an argument against current gerontophobia in the theatre.

Bug by Tracy Letts, The King Black Box with Elkabong Theatre Projects. A devastating and uncannily relevant play that takes us into the paranoia of a conspiracy theorist who takes a vulnerable woman along with him. Phenomenal performances from Nicholas Eddie and L.A. Sweeney.

Fulfillment Centre by Abe Coogler, Coal Mine Theatre. A disquieting comedy in the form of 11 duologues about four lonely people who go about sabotaging their chances at future happiness. The was brilliantly designed and directed and Kristen Thomson gave a beautifully sympathetic account of the conflicted central character.

Garden of Vanished Pleasures by Cecilia Livingston & Donna McKevitt, Soundstreams. A chamber opera about the garden built by queer filmmaker Derek Jarman towards the end of his life. Gorgeous music and flawless performances depicted the courage to live and thrive under the threat of obliteration.

Josiah by Charles Robertson, Thousand Miles of Bricks Productions. The true story of Josiah Henson (1789-1883), a Canadian hero, who was born into slavery in the US and escaped to freedom in Canada, was given a tour de force performance by a commanding Cassel Miles, who played an astonishing 40 characters.

Octet by Dave Malloy, Crow’s Theatre, Soulpepper Theatre & The Musical Stage Company. In both form and content, this amazing a cappella musical depicts the struggles of eight internet addicts trying to regain control of lives they have ceded to technology, indeed, trying to relearn the importance of truly being alive in the present.

Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph Willibald Gluck, Canadian Opera Company. Robert Carsen’s production is an exquisitely minimalist representation of a world of shadows darkened by grief. With Bernard Labadie conducting, the marvellously expressive counter-tenor Iestyn Davies as Orfeo gave us an evening of sublime beauty.

Tales of an Urban Indian by Darrell Dennis, Talk Is Free Theatre. The TIFT production has been touring since 2009 and it well deserves its fame. The play’s central character, so fully embodied by Nolan Moberly, satirizes everyone, Indigenous people and Settlers alike, including himself, whose own identity we fear is gradually slipping away.

The Winter’s Tale by Christopher Wheeldon, National Ballet of Canada & The Royal Ballet. Wheeldon has made a lesser-known Shakespearean play the basis of a ballet justly hailed “an instant classic”. To Joby Talbot’s powerful, expressive score Wheeldon amazingly translates even the play’s most complex emotions into movement.

Outside Toronto:

In alphabetical order here is my list of the ten best productions outside Toronto that I reviewed in 2025.

Beyonsea and the Mothers by Teneile Warren, Green Light Arts, Kitchener. A wonderfully warm, inclusive, big-hearted play about recent Canadian immigrants from the Caribbean, self-understanding and learning how to make a home in a new place. 

Bluebirds by Vern Thiessen, Theatre on the Ridge, Port Perry. A stunning, deeply moving play about three Canadian nurses serving in France during World War I, notable for its formal structure and poetic language. Under Iain Moggach keen direction, the trio of actors played Thiessen’s text as if it were a piece of music.

Dear Liar by Jerome Kilty, Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake. Graeme Somerville and Marla McLean gave an impeccably funny and gripping account of this compilation of the correspondence of G.B. Shaw and famed actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell – a show that took us into the world of Shaw more fully than many recent productions of his plays.

Flight Risk by Meg Braem, Drayton Entertainment, St. Jacobs. Much loved Shaw Festival actor Peter Millard brought a 99-year-old World War II veteran to life in all his complexity in this Canadian play that argues that elderly people have far deeper emotions than young people imagine.

Forgiveness by Hiro Kanagawa, Stratford Festival, Stratford. Kanagawa powerfully presents the ironies of two of his grandparents – one, a Canadian soldier, held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II, the other, a Japanese-Canadian, interned in BC. The title suggests there is only one way to move forward.

Goblin:Oedipus by Rebecca Northan & Bruce Horak, Spontaneous Theatre, Stratford Festival, Stratford. If you thought Goblin:Macbeth was funny, wait till you see these. In the hands of the Goblins, Sophocles’ tragedy was never so outrageously hilarious or, strangely enough, so insightfully staged.

Murder-on-the-Lake by Rebecca Northan & Bruce Horak, Spontaneous Theatre, Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake. The Shaw Festival hasn’t seen a play this funny for more than 20 years. Northan invites a volunteer from the audience to solve a murder on stage. The show is brilliantly imagined and Shaw actors prove as adept at improv as they are at complex cerebral drama.

My Narrator by Norm Foster, Lighthouse Festival, Port Dover. One of Foster’s most experimental plays proves to be one of his best. Two characters have their own narrators who try to guide their lives, but reality and storytelling come into uproarious conflict. Metatheatricality has never been so funny.

Ruby and the Reindeer by Mark Crawford, Here For Now Theatre Company, Stratford. Full of wit and common humanity, the action leads to an astounding surprise. Stratford veterans and the super-talented Tabitha Campbell as Ruby made this a resoundingly joyful experience. Look for this Christmas play to be picked up by theatres across the country.

The Wind Coming Over the Sea by Emma Donoghue, Blyth Festival, Blyth. A play infused with traditional Irish songs about Henry, a young Irishman who emigrates to Canada seeking a better life for his family. Gil Garrett provided outstandingly effective neo-Brechtian staging, and Landon Doak gave a soulful, heartbreaking performance as Henry.

Christopher Hoile

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By Submission to The Haldimand Press

October 16, 2025

BRANTFORD—An upcoming speaker series aims to inspire local business leaders to take a fresh look at what it means to create a supportive and inclusive workplace.

During October and November, four events will be held across the Grand Erie and Waterloo regions, with each event featuring a speaker who will offer strategies to build dynamic workplaces that embrace and empower all employees.

“Real inclusion doesn’t exclude anyone,” said Danette Dalton, Executive Director of the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie, lead organizer of the speaker series. “Inclusive workplaces value and respect every person and every age demographic – that’s how you build trust and community.”

Dalton said that inclusion has become increasingly politicized, sometimes leading to division and hopelessness, rather than building unity and trust.

“We’re hopeful that people who attend these talks walk away with deeper empathy, broader understanding, and actionable strategies for building workplace teams where everyone feels like they belong,” she said.

      The four speakers are:

• Sky McLaughlin, a consultant who helps business leaders to create a workplace culture of belonging. October 22 at the Wilkin Family Community Centre, 169 Grand River St. N., Brant County.
• Nicki Straza, who will speak about nurturing a workplace where every generation can flourish. November 12, Six Nations Polytechnic – Brantford Campus, 411 Elgin St.
• Michael Schiel, who empowers business teams to achieve peak performance through high performance coaching and neuroscience. November 12, Hampton Inn & Suites, St. Jacob’s, as part of the Growing the Workforce Conference.
• Keka Dasgupta, a marketing/PR expert who will speak about breaking down barriers in the workplace. Also featuring Dr. Oliver Masakure of Wilfrid Laurier University. November 27, Lighthouse Theatre, 247 Main St., Port Dover.

You can register for some or all of these events by checking out the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie’s social channels (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Blue Sky) or going to Beacons.ai/wpbge. (Edit: you can also click on the link below).

The Inclusive Speaker Series is sponsored by Brant County, Norfolk County, Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Brant Human Resources Network, Six Nations Polytechnic, Wilfrid Laurier University, the Brant County Chamber of Commerce, Ladies Who Lead, Cornerstone Capital Financial Group, and the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie. 

This Employment Ontario project is funded in part by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario.

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By Mike Renzella | The Haldimand Press

September 4, 2025

PORT DOVER—Life moves fast as John – the lead character in Lighthouse Theatre’s final production of their 2025 summer season, Here on the Flight Path – knows all too well.

A newspaper columnist and recent divorcee whose ex took everything but the shirt on his back, John has found himself living in the upper corner apartment of the Aurora. This faded building on the rough side of town is where John’s initial exuberance for his newfound freedom is slowly giving way to feelings of aimlessness, loneliness, and isolation.

The action revolves around John’s relationships with three neighbours, all of whom come to occupy the apartment next to his over a period of time. Set on the apartment’s rooftop balcony under neon-bathed lights, John slowly learns some deep lessons about himself as each successive relationship plays out.

The play is performed by just two actors: Reid Janisse as John, and Julia Dyan as all three of his neighbours: Fay, Angel, and Gwen. It’s a Lighthouse debut for both actors, though both have a list of acting credits that include popular TV shows like The Boys, Umbrella Academy, Murdoch Mysteries, and What We Do In The Shadows.

The pair shines brightly. Janisse effortlessly controls the show’s tone as a master of the deadpan reaction planting some pathos into a character who slowly proves to the audience – and himself – that there might be more to be seen than the sad sack aimlessly sliding through life who we meet in the show’s opening moments.

In her three roles, Dyan is the perfect foil for Janisse. She can make you forget that you’re watching the same actor, disappearing into each successive role and imbuing each with their own unique personality and traits. Impressively, the two actors generate a different flavour of chemistry as each successive relationship plays out.

“What I love about Here on the Flight Path is that it reminds us how every person we meet leaves a mark, no matter how brief their appearance in our lives,” said show director Derek Ritschel. 

Written by Lighthouse regular Norm Foster, the play exhibits all the traits Foster’s fans love him for: easy, relaxed dialogue; a sack full of zingers, one liners, and double entendres that had the audience in stitches on opening night; and a solid lesson to be learned before the curtain falls.

The apartment set is an impressive sight, creating a realistic approximation of the two rooftop apartments, bathed in warm light and topped with a neon pink ‘Aurora’ sign that gives the play a fun ‘Los Angeles in the 80s’ vibe.

Here on the Flight Path is playing now until September 13 at Lighthouse Festival Theatre in Port Dover. It moves to Port Colborne’s Roselawn Theatre September 17 to 28. For tickets or more information, visit lighthousetheatre.com or call 1-888-779-7703.

That’s not all for Lighthouse though. With a fall and winter schedule full of upcoming musical tribute performances, and season topper Memories of the Rat Pack running in Port Dover from September 16 to 27 and Port Colborne from October 1 to 5, there’s plenty to look forward to until Lighthouse returns for their 2026 summer season.

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After studying journalism at Humber College, Mike Renzella desired to write professionally but found himself working in technical fields for many years. Beginning in 2019 as a freelancer, he joined the team full-time later that year. Since then, Mike has won several awards for his articles thanks to his commitment to presenting an unbiased, honest look at the important news and events shaping our community.