Best theatre of 2024 from Toronto, Stratford and Shaw | Canada Voices

It’s hard to fully take the pulse of Canadian theatre right now. The past year saw eye-popping deficits, controversial cancellations and ill-advised lawsuits – but also extended runs, big swings on new work garnering international attention and a boom in the Toronto commercial sector.

Here are the 10 shows, in chronological order, that most impressed Globe and Mail theatre critics J. Kelly Nestruck and Aisling Murphy in Toronto and at the Stratford and Shaw Festivals in 2024.

Dana H., Crow’s Theatre presentation of the Goodman Theatre, Center Theatre Group and Vineyard Theatre production

So many of the great avant-garde American theatre productions of the past decade have not made it to Toronto as the city’s international festivals have flailed or failed. But director Les Waters’s brilliant production of this hair-raising Lucas Hnath play about the harrowing abduction of his mother did, thanks to Crow’s. Its fascinating and disturbing form saw actress Jordan Baker uncannily lip-synch to real interviews with Dana Higginbottom; an unsettling theatrical metaphor for the disassociation that can follow trauma. J.K.N.

The Inheritance, Canadian Stage

In the afterglow of 2023’s exhausting two-part epic Fall On Your Knees, I’ll admit I was a little wary of The Inheritance, another six-hour marathon at Toronto’s Bluma Appel Theatre. But The Inheritance was a major win for Canadian Stage, directed with heartbreaking flair by Brendan Healy. Actor Qasim Khan has had a big year – in less than six months he played starring roles in Hamlet, Hedda Gabler and The Inheritance – but his wrenching portrayal of Inheritance protagonist Eric Glass remains my favourite. A.M.

Women of the Fur Trade, Native Earth in association with National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre & Great Canadian Theatre Company

Seeing Frances Koncan’s playfully anachronistic satire inspired by Louis Riel shortly after revisiting Tom Stoppard’s first success Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead in its fine Neptune Theatre revival made me feel like the two playwrights on the rise were having a conversation across time; both absurdist-influenced plays see brilliant minds tackle a well-known story from the perspective of side characters. Directors Renae Morriseau and Kevin Loring’s production got Koncan’s comic style just right – as did the central trio of actors, Kelsey Kanatan Wavey, Cheri Maracle and Lisa Nasson. J.K.N.

Age Is a Feeling, A Soho Theatre and Haley McGee production presented by Soulpepper in association with Luminato Festival Toronto

When Haley McGee’s Age Is a Feeling won its prestigious Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022, I desperately hoped a local theatre would bring the solo show, about growing up while your body breaks down, to Toronto. Thankfully, Soulpepper did – and it was worth the wait. McGee and director Mitchell Cushman have long been great collaborators – The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale was similarly excellent – but Age Is a Feeling saw McGee reach new heights of emotional poignancy and writerly sophistication. A.M.

One Man, Two Guvnors, Shaw Festival

It was another strong year artistically for Niagara-on-the-Lake’s repertory theatre company run by Tim Carroll with Kimberley Rampersad – but this delightful commedia dell’arte-inspired, skiffle-inflected romp directed by Chris Abraham with an ensemble led by Peter Fernandes was just pure fun. As I said I would in my review, I bought tickets and went back – and, though I knew all the jokes already, ended up doing a spit take at one of Jade Repeta’s ridiculous line readings. My apologies, again, to the man in front of me. J.K.N.

Salesman in China, Stratford Festival

Leanna Brodie and Jovanni Sy’s fascinating, layered, bilingual (English and Mandarin) drama about the Beijing People’s Art Theatre’s production of Death of a Salesman in 1983 was the most rapturously reviewed new play of the season – garnering praise from the Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal and New York Post as well as Canada’s critical corps. Adrian Pang and Tom McCamus gave tremendous performances as the show’s dual protagonists, Chinese actor and translator Ying Ruocheng and American playwright Arthur Miller. Back on stage at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre in January if you missed it. J.K.N.

Life of Pi, Mirvish Productions

While the roaring return of The Lion King to Toronto stages is certainly welcome, a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker was the most memorable big cat of the commercial theatre season. Director Max Webster’s moving production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s adaptation of Yann Martel’s book about a teenager lost at sea found the right balance between puppetry with philosophy – with a central performance by Divesh Subaskaran and a denouement that were divine. Mirvish can make odd choices in what it brings in from Britain versus Broadway, but this was a necessary repatriation of Martel’s story. J.K.N.

Wonderful Joe, Ronnie Burkett presented by TO Live

Ronnie Burkett’s solo puppet show about gentrification and aging hit me like a train when I saw it in October. Burkett’s puppets have always been breathtaking, but Wonderful Joe was particularly special for its writing, with piercing allusions to the condo-ification of downtown cores across Canada. The story of Joe and his dog, Mister, will haunt me forever, as will the final scene, in which Joe offers parting advice to a young schoolgirl named Getty. If I had to pick only one favourite piece of theatre from this year, Wonderful Joe was it. A.M.

I Was Unbecoming Then, Next Stage Theatre Festival

A 14-person a cappella musical would be an ambitious undertaking in any context. But at the 2024 Next Stage Festival in Toronto, I Was Unbecoming Then emerged as a standout piece of programming that heavily featured newcomers to the city’s theatre scene, all of whom knocked this project out of the park. Each song was perfectly in tune, and director Ilana Khanin exquisitely tapped into the show’s portraiture of mid-2000s girlhood (complete with velour tracksuits and rolled-down Uggs). I so hope for a remount in 2025. A.M.

Big Stuff, A Baram and Snieckus production in association with Crow’s Theatre

Listen, I hate a recency bias as much as the next person, so I thought long and hard about including Big Stuff, recently extended at Crow’s Theatre until Dec. 22, on this list. But Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus’s simple show about grief and objects is just divine. Add whip-smart director Kat Sandler to the mix, plus a whimsical cardboard set by Michelle Tracey, and you have a gorgeous, heartfelt comedy that ought to tour the country ASAP. A.M.