John Doyle Writer

Come on out this weekend in . Part of Doors Open Toronto...
"Haven", a beautiful dance piece performed at Ireland Park, right by Billy Bishop Airport, Sat 2 pm, Sunday, 4 pm.. dance , music song...

Haven - Canada Ireland Foundation Haven is a response, through dance and music, to the plight of the famine refugees commemorated in Ireland Park.

The new Netflix series "Legends" hasn’t got the praise or attention it deserves, yet. Highly recommended. At first it appears a conventional undercover-crime drama, cooked up with a touch of the British feelgood story about ordinary people achieving triumph. Then it isn’t that at all. It’s the 1990’s & Margaret Thatcher's wants to rid streets & housing estates of hard drugs. Except she won’t spend money on this war on drugs. So a group of Customs Agent are sort-of trained & mandated with infiltrating drug gangs. Usually at work, they check suitcases at the airport or ferry terminal. This would be near-comedy if it weren’t so dangerous. The secret team of ordinary folk turned secret agents is led by Don (Steve Coogan, who is superb). About 3 episodes in (there are 6) you realize the depth & sophistication of this storytelling. One episode cliffhangs in Liverpool as The Stone Roses song I Wanna Be Adored creeps slowly into the soundtrack and, right there, you realize Legends is brilliant. Enjoy.

Legends | Official Trailer | Netflix To win the war on drugs, a group of everyday customs officers, untrained in espionage, were sent undercover into some of Britain’s most dangerous gangs. Insp...

POSTPONEMENT: Regret to report our play "Shelter" (directed by Richard Rose, written by me) will not be staged as scheduled in May, in the new Corleck building. The Corleck (run by the Canada Ireland Foundation) is beset by construction & structural problems and will not open fully until much later than planned. We hope the Foundation will continue to support its staging. Next year, 2027 will be the 180th anniversary of the Irish Famine Crisis in Canada, in particular in Toronto. With that in mind the govts. of Ireland & Canada have created "Canada-Ireland 180" a culture project to showcase work by Irish and Canadian artists & performers. We sure hope that includes us, since "Shelter" is about precisely what happened. After public Readings in Toronto and New York City, we know it is good. (And any Theatre in Canada interested in accessing Funding from Canada-Ireland 180, should reach out to us. Deadline is soon.)

Heavily recommended: The Singers, Oscar-nominated Short Film, now on Netflix. Extraordinary work by all involved, for Canadians - a scene in which a guy goes to the bathroom, starts singing Lightfoot's Early Morning Rain and the end music is by Leonard Cohen. Uncanny. Enjoy...

The Singers | Official Trailer | Netflix THE SINGERS follows a group of down-on-their-luck men as they find unexpected connection and catharsis through an impromptu singing competition at a neighbor...