Tag: review

Meet The Beat Magazine 2025 Theatre Reviewer Jo-Anne Bishop

by Richard Young

Jo-Anne will be reviewing local theatre productions for The Beat Magazine 2025. If your company would like your show reviewed, contact richardyoung@thebeatmagazine2025.ca.

Background and Experience in the Arts

My background in the Arts started with an early love for music and dance. I attended my first concert at 10 years old (Helix at the Sarnia Arena in 1983!) and began tap and modern jazz dance lessons around the same time. My love for live theatre was built through school trips to the Stratford Festival to see plays like Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth, and a trip to Toronto for The Phantom of the Opera, which quickly became my all-time favourite.

I dreamed of performing for many years, but being too self-conscious to audition in high school, I sat on the sidelines and instead reviewed music and theatre for our school newspaper. In 2013, I finally pushed my fears aside and was cast in my first play, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, as Carol Wyman, the only female writer on the Max Prince show. I have since performed in productions of Birth (Jillian, 2016), Hamish (Annette, 2023) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Mrs. Alexander, 2024).

Previous Reviewing Activities

SCITS, Sarnia, Ontario – High school newspaper reviewer for Music and the Arts

London Fringe Festival, London, Ontario, 2012-2015

Independent Reviewer and Blogger (Theatre in London and The Pollyanna Papers), 2015-2016?

Why am I jumping back into the fray now?

After performing for a few years, I’ve decided to take a break from the grind of auditioning, rehearsing and performing. While I love it immensely, it’s a lot of work. Performing has given me a whole new perspective and appreciation of what goes into a production and the ability to look at reviewing with a fresh set of eyes.

Thoughts about the London arts and culture scene, especially local theatre

Hoo wee! London has such a wealth of talent, from youth to adults. Every time I see a play, I am amazed at how talented our actors, directors, producers, set/prop/costume/light/sound designers are. I don’t think causal observers realize just how much goes into making a production from the audition to the curtain call. It is a huge undertaking, and to think our theatres produce such world-class productions on some very tight budgets is astounding, especially at the community theatre level, where volunteers do everything.

Sadly, since COVID, I have witnessed a huge decline in attendance at performances, and it breaks my heart. I have also noticed a sad lack of reviews lately, which I find are necessary to give people an idea of what to expect and a reason to go to the theatre.

So, before I can put my feet on the stage again, I want to help put bodies in the seats. We need to reignite a love for theatre and the arts in this city.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer writer for The Beat Magazine 2025, please contact Richard Young, Publisher & Content Manager, at richardyoung@thebeatmagazine2025.ca. We are seeking writers and reviewers for local music, visual arts, fiction, poetry, and prose.

LONDON FRINGE PERFORMER HIGHLIGHTS: MARIA COLONESCU & JENN WEATHERALL

by Richard Young

PERFORMER HIGHLIGHT: MARIA COLONESCU

Maria is an internationally produced, award-winning playwright, director, actor, and everything in between. She holds an MFA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (University of London). Her diverse practice includes training in Butoh and somatic performance and leans into immersive, non-traditional, site-responsive theatre that puts the audience in a position to influence the experience, highlighting personal and social accountability and community building. Since moving to the Region of Waterloo in 2022, Maria has curated, produced, and directed a radio-drama series for Kitchener’s Midtown Radio (2023); co-wrote and directed an immersive, participatory, art-heist theatrical experience for the KW Art Gallery’s annual fundraiser (2024); co-founded the Treading Theatre Festival in Kitchener (2025); and premiered 9 original plays.

Maria directs and performs in her original play, The Companion. She also performs in her play, Everything I Didn’t Get to Say (In a Collection of Petals).

PERFORMER HIGHLIGHT: JENN WEATHERALL.

Jenn is an actor, playwright, artist, muralist and mother. She spent her twenties attending George Brown Theatre School and running away to NYC. In her thirties she made two beautiful babies. And in her forties she recovered from ‘adulting’ and got back to who she is at her core…an artist.

Jenn’s plays have been performed in many festivals including Darkcrop, HamilTen, She Speaks, and Unhinged. This is Jenn’s second experience within a Fringe Festival. Last year No Lilies was performed in the Guelph Fringe and received the award for outstanding performer. She recently participated in a playwrighting workshop with Daniel McIvor and is working on a piece to be performed in the Unhinged Festival of Disturbing Theatre in Waterloo in October.

She wrote No Lilies by the side of the river in St. Jacobs overnight two years ago (with many skunks lingering close by) and is excited to step back into that space again in London.

To purchase tickets to Maria and Jenn’s shows, and get more information about the London Fringe, visit www.palacetheatre.ca/london-fringe

London Fringe Shows and Performers Highlights – Jenn Weatherall & Maria Colonescu

by Richard Young

Best friends, Jenn Weatherall and Maria Colonescu, are presenting a double bill – No Lilies & Everything I Didn’t Get to Say (In a Collection of Petals), while Maria is performing one of her own, The Companion, at this year’s London Fringe.

“They are haunting, emotional pieces that explore life and death, strength and fear, words never said, loss and pain,” says Jenn. “Our shows are the only all women productions in the festival, and we are the only two female playwrights in the festival. Maria is the only female director.”

Show Highlight: The Companion at Procunier Hall

We should all be so lucky to have that one, constant companion, there for us in our most difficult moments – patient, honest, kind. Or should we? Even the things we thought we knew could change in an instant. The Companion is an intense, demanding, cerebral two-hander that will have you confront life’s big moments: terrifying and hilarious, gentle and cruel. You will be captivated by two superbly challenging performances from Maria Colonescu and Andre Furlong and leave the theatre thinking about what it all means.

Show Highlight: Everything I Didn’t Get to Say (In a Collection of Petals) at Procunier Hall

Sometimes, words fail. Sometimes, you don’t get to say the words at all. Sometimes, words are not necessary to begin with. Everything I Didn’t Get to Say (In a Collection of Petals) is a colourful journey into the past, revisiting moments that went wrong, moments that went just as they should have, and moments that only happened in an imagined alternate reality – all through the beautiful and fragrant lens of flowers and their world of meaning. A fever-dream of story-telling, poetry, and botany, all packed into 20 minutes!

Show Highlight: No Lilies – at Procunier Hall

Preparing for any big life event can be terrifying. Perhaps if we were free to strip away all the pressures and expectations put upon us by those around us, society, even ourselves…maybe then we could experience life with a purity so many of us search for. No Lilies is an exploration of just that; of finding the strength to reject everyone else’s wants and putting yourself first to encounter your life with complete transparency and truth.

This is a piece that was written as part of Flush Ink Productions’ annual “Write or Flight” program. It was performed both in Flush Ink Productions’ Unhinged Festival of Disturbing Theatre, and the Guelph Fringe Festival in which it was awarded Outstanding Performance.

To purchase tickets and get more information about the London Fringe, visit www.palacetheatre.ca/london-fringe