Courtney Castelino - Page 3

Meridian Theatres @ Centrepointe and Shenkman Arts Centre have announced the first half of their 2025-2026 season and it is lineup of shows that will appeal to the whole family! Find details of all the shows announced so far so you can get your tickets early, as these are extremely limited engagements.

​​​​​​​Kitsune is the newest brainchild from the creators of Kimiko, a past hit at the Ottawa Fringe Festival. Part storytelling, part puppetry and part circus act, Kitsune has been promoted as one of the few family-friendly shows.

Jack and Diane vs. Technology, produced by Joint Puddle Productions, is a quirky adventure story where the title characters use newfound technology intended to make their lives easier – and it ends up doing anything but.

There are very limited chances left to see Slade Wolfe Enterprises Limited's production of After Shakespeare, starring Lexi Wolfe at the 2025 Ottawa Fringe Festival.

Do you love a good detective story? Imagine yourself sitting by the fire, playing chess against a certain pipe smoking, violin wielding brainiac? Or perhaps dining on a Nile River cruise with a mustachioed gentleman who has a self-proclaimed abundance of little grey cells? Hopping into a psychedelic caravan full of foot long sandwiches and a cowardly Great Dane?

Bob Marley: How Reggae Changed the World is unlike other shows at the Ottawa Fringe Festival this year. Duane Forrest combines storytelling, history and music and creates a feeling of warmth and harmony within the audience in one short hour.

What did our critic think of HESPERUS PHOSPHORUS! at Arts Court Theatre?

What did our critic think of THE BUNKER at Odd Box? Head down into The Bunker until June 21st at the Ottawa Fringe Festival. In this play within a play, we meet two brothers; one (Andrew Broaddus) is an actor and the other (Martin Dockery) is a playwright. Together, they are supposed to be putting on a performance of play about America. The problem? Despite his best intentions, the playwright never actually got around to writing it.

What happens if you die, but you are not quite ready to face judgment? What are your options? Can you choose to hover at Death’s door, never crossing the threshold? How long will Death let you linger?

The Death of a Swan, presented by Moth & Firefly Theatre Collective, opens with great promise. The apparent apparition of William Dorsey Swann (the first drag queen in America, played to perfection by Aurel Pressat) sets the stage for a history lesson.

Strings Attached is a gut-wrenching two-person play that explores themes of mental illness. The show delves into how it feels to have a monster in your head. Even as you attempt to rationalize and to fight against it, it haunts every waking moment, filling your head with feelings of inadequacy and self-loathing.

Martin Dockery is a master storyteller. With a self deprecating humour, sincerity and charisma, Dockery’s shows are always a must-see for me. A staple on the fringe circuit now for years, Dockery has mastered his technique.

For my first show of the 2025 Ottawa Fringe Festival, I chose Divine Masculine: A Rhapsody at Theatre de la Nouvelle Scène. Written and directed by Navneel Agnihotri and presented by Agni Creative, The synopsis sounded intriguing: “With a soundtrack ranging from Kendrick Lamar to Bollywood classics, this story of two couples explores the social construction of masculinity, cultural and racial fetishism, and the bridges and barriers we build in expressing love.”

Ottawa Little Theatre’s latest play, a presentation of Michaeal McKeever’s 37 Postcards, opened last night. With the show’s entire run coinciding with the Ottawa Fringe Festival, OLT needed to pick a show that can compete with the mass of theatre offerings around the city over the next two weeks. 37 Postcards is up for that challenge; the show is charming, witty, well paced, and features a superb cast with impeccable comedic timing.

See Lindsey and the rest of the cast of 37 Postcards from June 11th through June 28th at Ottawa Little Theatre.

Lexi and Andrew shared their thoughts on the show, including the surprising relevance of Shakespeare 500 years later, and why you should see the show.

With so many options, it can be hard to decide which Fringe show to see, so Karine and Stephanie have made a case for why you should see theirs.

Orpheus opened its final show of its 2024-2025 season with its presentation of Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man. The Music Man centers around Professor Harold Hill (Kody Cannon), a travelling salesman-slash-con artist, who has newly arrived in sleepy River City, Iowa.

What did our critic think of BEETLEJUICE at National Arts Centre?

What did our critic think of MAHABHARATA: PART 2 - DHARMA THE LIFE WE CHOOSE at National Arts Centre? See it on stage in Ottawa until May 24th,  before it heads to Manhattan’s Lincoln Center. Tickets are available at the link below.