Did you know that your version of Internet Explorer is out of date?
To get the best possible experience using our website we recommend downloading one of the browsers below.

Internet Explorer 10, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.

Photo by Creative Commons

BAD ROADS

  • A Crow's Theatre Production
  • Natal’ya Vorozhbit
  • Andrew Kushnir
  • Nov 7 - Dec 3, 2023
  • Tickets start at $50
  • One hour and 55 minutes with no intermission
  • Studio Theatre
Buy Tickets
  • Details
    NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

    In the Donbas region of Ukraine, a war is raging, and people want to understand why. Based on astonishing testimonies from the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, BAD ROADS explores the heartbreaking effects of conflict on intimate relationships and a country’s social fabric. 

    Ukrainian playwright Natal’ya Vorozhbit deftly intertwines themes of love, sex, trauma, loss, and resistance through powerful and darkly comic episodes exploring, most of all, of what it is to be a woman in wartime.

    Ukrainian Canadian Andrew Kushnir is an award-winning playwright, director, activist, and artistic director of the socially engaged theatre company Project: Humanity, a leading developer of verbatim theatre in Canada including Towards Youth: a play on radical hope, and Freedom Singer at Crow’s Theatre. His production of Casey and Diana at the Stratford Festival was named “the most moving play of 2023” by the Toronto Star.

    “Bad Roads feels like more than a play – it’s a kind of portal” explains director Andrew Kushnir. “How do we, in our part of the world, connect beyond the headlines of the past 19 months? Sometimes it takes a piece of theatre to help us grasp the complexity of a place, its people, its struggle, its mysteries, and riddles. Just showing up to experience this deeply humane play is a remarkable act of solidarity.” 

    An inside look at BAD ROADS with director Andrew Kushnir and actors Seana McKenna, Diego Matamoros, and Shauna Thompson.

    AUDIENCE ADVISORY:
    BAD ROADS includes stage depictions of physical, emotional, and sexual violence as is both typical in wartime and distinct to the Ukrainian context. For further information regarding the content of the show, please contact the Box Office.
     
     
    READ THE REVIEWS
    The Globe and Mail "Critic's Pick"
    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/reviews/article-bad-roads-a-brutally-revealing-ukrainian-play-about-war-in-the-digital/
     
     
    Intermission Magazine
    https://www.intermissionmagazine.ca/reviews/bad-roads-crow-s/
     
    BroadwayWorld
    https://www.broadwayworld.com/toronto/article/Review-BAD-ROADS-at-Streetcar-Crowsnest-20231113
     
    Slotkin Letter
    https://slotkinletter.com/2023/11/review-bad-roads
     
    Ludwig van Toronto
    https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2023/11/15/scrutiny-natalya-vorozhbits-bad-roads-harrowing-theatre/
     
    Next Magazine
    https://nextmag.ca/review-crow-theatres-bad-roads-is-a-gut-churning-essential-experience/
     
    Front Mezz Junies
    https://frontmezzjunkies.com/2023/11/12/crows-theatre-bad-roads/
     
    Our Theatre Voice
    https://www.ourtheatrevoice.com/items-2/'bad-roads'-by-natal'ya-vorozhbit-with-translation-by-sasha-dugdale
     
    A View From the Box
    https://aviewfromthebox.net/2023/11/14/crows-theatres-bad-roads/
     
    Opera Ramblings
    https://operaramblings.blog/2023/11/13/sex-death-and-despair-a-ukrainian-tragedy/
     
    Istvan Dugalin Theatre Reviewer
    https://istvandugalin.com/2023/11/11/bad-roads-crows/
     
    Jame Karas Reviews
    https://jameskarasreviews.blogspot.com/2023/11/bad-roads-review-of-play-about-russias.html
     
    Torontonicity
    https://torontonicity.com/2023/11/12/bad-roads-crows-theatre-review/
     
    MEET THE COMPANY

    Brilliantly bringing the stories to life are a powerhouse company of actors including, Andrew Chown (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Crow’s Theatre; Shakespeare in Love, Citadel Theatre), Katherine Gauthier (Five seasons at Shaw Festival; A Doll’s House, Soulpepper), Craig Lauzon, (The Darkest Dark, Young People’s Theatre; Detroit, Coal Mine Theatre), Diego Matamoros (Founding member of the Soulpepper Theatre Company; Earl of Gloucester in King Lear, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, England),  Seana McKenna (30 seasons at the Stratford Festival; Things I Know To Be True, David Mirvish/The Company Theatre), Michelle Monteith (The Seagull, Soulpepper; Public Enemy, Canadian Stage), and Shauna Thompson (Orphans for the Czar, Crow’s Theatre; Prodigal, The Howland Company/Crow’s Theatre).

    The award-winning design team includes set and properties designer Sim Suzer, costume designer Snezana Pesic, Lighting Designer Christian Horoszczak, and Sound Designer Thomas Ryder Payne (The Master Plan, Crow’s Theatre).

    The leading Ukrainian playwright of her generation, “a Ukrainian Sarah Kane” (The Guardian), Natal’ya Vorozhbit premiered BAD ROADS at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2017, and wrote and directed the feature film version, Ukraine’s official Oscar selection, in 2020. Since premiering in Kyiv in 2018, BAD ROADS has become an undeniable hit and an important representation of wartime life in Ukraine.

    PERFORMANCE NOTES
    Post-show Talkback in the Theatre:
    • Thursday, November 23
    Pre-Show Chat in the Lobby @ 1pm:
    • Sunday November 26
    Mask Required Performances:
    • Tuesday, November 14 @ 8:00pm
    • Sunday, November 19 @ 2:00pm (also a Pay-What-You-Can performance)
    “A masterly and woundingly memorable evening.” The Independent

    “Complex and compelling.”     The Times

    💎 Subscribe & Save! Purchase a four or six ticket flexible subscription and save up to 30% compared to single tickets!
     
    SUPPORTING SPONSOR
    Nancy Lockhart
  • Dates & Times
  • The Team

    CAST

    • Andrew Chown - He, Soldier 1
    • Katherine Gauthier - She, Teenage Girl
    • Craig Lauzon - Commander, Soldier 2
    • Diego Matamoros - Head Teacher, Vasya
    • Seana McKenna - Woman 1, Vasya's Wife
    • Michelle Monteith - Woman, Teenage Girl 2
    • Shauna Thompson - Woman 2, Teenage Girl, Girl

    CREATIVE

    • Natal’ya Vorozhbit - Playwright
    • Sasha Dugdale - Translator
    • Andrew Kushnir - Director
    • Sim Suzer - Set and Properties Designer
    • Snezana Pesic - Costume Designer
    • Christian Horoszczak - Lighting Designer
    • Thomas Ryder Payne - Sound Designer
    • Anita Nittoly - Fight and Intimacy Director
    • Katey Wattam - Artistic Resilience Specialist
    • Liliane Stilwell - Stage Manager
    • Sabrina Weinstein - Apprentice Stage Manager
    • Lisa Nighswander - Head of Props
    • Ellie Koffman - Head of Wardrobe
    • Sabrina Pye - Set Design Apprentice