Toronto Star
March 16, 2010
article written by Richard Ouzounian
It looks like two of this city’s leading ladies will be deserting Hogtown this summer for the lowlands of Scotland.
Both Kristen Thomson and Sharron Matthews have been invited to take part in this summer’s Edinburgh Festival.
Thomson will be at the Festival proper, performing her Canada-wide success I, Claudia in the legendary Assembly Hall from Aug. 6 through 31.
After that, a month-long tour of England is to follow, with a run in the West End of London as the planned-for final destination.
This is the same Crow’s Theatre production, directed by Chris Abraham, that was such a triumphant part of Young Centre’s season last year and has been earning rave reviews from audiences and critics alike since it debuted at Tarragon Theatre in 2001.
When I first reviewed the show, I called Thomson’s portrait of a young girl coping with the aftermath of her parents’ divorce “blissfully funny and unexpectedly touching,” and it remains that nearly a decade later.
While Thomson is shaking up the venerable festival with her work, Matthews will be doing the same thing at the more rough and ready Fringe.
Her multifaceted cabaret performance that has been delighting Toronto audiences for years will be at The Space@Surgeon’s Hall, Nicolson St. from Aug. 16 to 28.
Her Scottish appearance will be part of what Matthews — with her typical gift for understatement — is calling her “World Domination Tour,” beginning with her debut at Joe’s Pub at the New York Public Theatre on Lafayette St. on June 5 and 6.
If you’d like to see what we’re sending abroad these days (and would like to help her raise some money for travel expenses, since the Canada Council has denied her any help), drop by Buddies in Bad Times on April 16 and 17 to share in the fun.