“This play has made possibly the best use of the Westbury that potentially I have ever seen. The third act…I am reeling from it…its funny and haha and then all of sudden we are snapped back to reality and it is scary”

“Under Ritchie’s direction, the actors have a compelling and alert, natural spontaneity about them, in the cross-weave of fragments, interruptions, silent pauses. There’s a wild go-for-the-gusto theatricality about this bold play. And in this ambitious indie venture Ritchie and his designers really dig in. Post-electric lighting, with its eerie off-the-grid sources, is an imaginative challenge; kudos to Tessa Stamp’s design. Hillyard’s choreography is a collage of 20th century pop-culture riffs and trends, remembered by non-pros. The Act III dance is a mesmerizing mash-up of stylized classical theatre, grandly Broadway gestures, the can-can…”

“Mr. Burns, a post-electric play under the perceptive and creative direction of Andrew Ritchie, is distinctive and insightful. You certainly can’t take exception to the talent in this local production – which succeeds in brilliantly illuminating the playwright’s daring concept. The large cast are all well-known and highly skilled local performers adept at realizing their characters through sharply observed, subtle traits. They seamlessly morph from their characters into the comic personas of The Simpsons while recreating the voices of some of the best-known unseen TV voice actors working today.”

“Is pop culture what we derive our meaning, our ethics, our morality, from?” says Ritchie of a play whose three acts happen, successively just after the apocalypse, seven years, then 75 years later. “Pop culture is a time capsule,” says Hillyard. “But you don’t get to decide what to put in…. That decision is for the masses to make.” The Simpsons, says Ritchie, becomes the oral tradition, evolving, transforming over time.”

“They all made me laugh, think, appreciate the need for art in terrible times, and leave feeling hopeful. Which is probably their intent.” ”

“It’s show time in Edmonton theatre: what to not miss this season on E-town stages”