Best Theatre of 2022

I think I only saw 3 or so live theatre events in 2021, so it was not worth posting about them last Dec.  2022 was a much different and better story.  I probably saw close to as much theatre as I did in 2019 -- and maybe even more as in some cases I was trying to go out of my way to support companies that had just barely made it through the pandemic.  This post was fairly accurate, and I saw most of the events listed, though a couple were postponed one more time.

Perhaps somewhat incredibly this list is not everything I saw, but only the theatre pieces/events I enjoyed and got something out of seeing them.  

Jan.-Feb.: Nothing.  Everything was rescheduled due to Omicrom

March: 
Gloria @ Crow's Theatre

April:
George F. Walker's Orphans for the Czar @ Crow's Theatre (Eric Peterson had a moderate-sized part)

Annie Baker's The Antipodes @ Coal Mine Theatre (nowhere near as compelling as The Aliens, but still pretty interesting)

Sara Ruhl's In the Next Room @ Alumnae Theatre (I knew one of the actors in the production but didn't know he was in it until I got there!)

García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba @ Buddies in Bad Times

May:
David Yee's Among Men @ Factory Theatre (a fictionalized encounter between Milton Acorn and Al Purdy.  I wavered on this but am glad I went.  The A-frame set was pretty incredible.)

Michael Hollingsworth's The Cold War Part One @ Video Cabaret (so very, very glad that Video Cabaret came back from the near-dead.  I'm hoping they do Part Two next year, and ideally do the two in repertoire; I'd go again for sure.)

June:
Two Weird Tales @ Red Sandcastle (Kafka's Metamorphosis and a Lovecraft story (The Mountains of Madness?) done with puppets (and in the latter case prestidigitation as well))

RUR: Torrent of Light @ Tapestry Opera (actually in the OCAD building)

Hamlet @ Stratford Festival (I was so glad to be back and taking the Stratford bus.  That said, I really didn't like this production very much, which was too modern and poorly thought through for me, though the cast got a lot of love from the critics)

July:
Detroit @ Coal Mine Theatre (Eric Peterson was also in this but in a small role)

Kamloopa @ Soulpepper (glad I gave this one a shot)

Henry V @ Driftwood Theatre (The Bard on the Bus tour came back to Withrow Park this summer!  Henry V was a distillation of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V!)

Mashup Pon Di Road (this was a Caribbean-inspired clown show put on outdoors at the Bentway near Fort York)

Toronto Fringe! (back in full swing.  I saw quite a few things with the best being the Crack of Doom (a musical), Aliya Kanani: Where You From, From?, Juliet: A Revenge Comedy, An Evening with Devon & Jackie, and Bubble Babz)

August:
Anne Marie MacDonald's Hamlet 9/11 @ Stratford Festival (I liked this much, much better than their Hamlet)

The Trojan Girls or The Outhouse of Atreus @ Outside the March/Factory Theatre (This was pretty amazing.  The cast doubled all their parts and were constantly running from the inside stage to the outdoor space (and the audience split themselves in two groups).  Went back a second time to see the inside part first.)

Sky Gilbert's Who's Afraid of Titus @ Red Sandcastle (an abridged version of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus reimagined as a promenade show)

Sept.:
August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean @ Shaw Festival (was really hoping Shaw would do more August Wilson but it doesn't seem likely at this point)

Apocalypse Play, or Bundle of Joy @ Common Boots Theatre.  (This was outdoor theatre at Hillcrest Park.  It was quite strange, unapologetically feminist theatre)

King Lear @ Soulpepper

Chekov's Uncle Vanya @ Crow's Theatre (again with Eric Peterson!  A solid production but not actually the best I've even seen)

Jeff Ho's Cockroach @ Tarragon

Oct:
Rajiv Joseph's The Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo @ Crow's Theatre (quite good but dark and a pretty depressing view of human nature)

The Ex-Boyfriend's Yard Sale @ Outside the March (hosted by Soulpepper) (cancelled twice but worth the wait!)

Nov.:
Chekov's Three Sisters @ Hart House/Howland Company (a very solid production.  sadly this seems to be one of only a handful of productions at Hart House, which hasn't returned to regular programming yet)

Requiem for a Gumshoe @ Red Sandcastle (so very strange -- a mix of Lovecraft, Norse mythology, vampires, werewolves and Raymond Chandler.  Entertaining but it should have been 15-20 minutes shorter)

The Waltz @ Factory Theatre (a sequel of sorts to Prairie Nurse)

Our Place @ Theatre Passe Muraille (very strong play about undocumented visitors from the West Indies oversaying their visas and working in a restaurant in Scarborough and the different paths they took)

Hannah Moscovitch's Post-Democracy @ Tarragon (a play with some truly unredeemed characters)

Gay for Pay @ Crow's Theatre (a slightly updated version of the Fringe hit)

Dec:
Entrances and Exits @ Tarragon Theatre/Howland Company (a wholly improvised show - I went and saw it twice)

It really was a very good year for theatre, and the fact that we were emerging from a pandemic makes that even more incredible.  If I had to chose the best of the best, I think it would be Hamlet 9/11 at Stratford and The Trojan Girls (Outside the March presented at Factory Theatre).  Followed closely by Our Place, The Ex-Boyfriend's Yard Sale, The Cold War Part One, and then maybe The Crack of Doom from the Fringe.  I was a little disappointed that Shakespeare Bash'd didn't make a return appearance like so many other companies (Driftwood and Video Cabaret in particular), but they are going to be back in Feb. 2023!  Granted they are doing King Lear (and I've seen that a couple times too often now), but I'll still go to show my support.  George Brown is also going to be back doing live performance, and I've got a couple dates booked in April, so something else to look forward to in 2023.