Directing
MULES
by Beth Graham & Daniela Vlaskalic (Premiere) | Theatrefront 2019
“Director Vikki Anderson has crafted a well-paced production with wonderful performances by Barrie as the girlish, trusting Crystal and Majumdar as her brittle high school friend Cindy. Even as things get increasingly desperate, the production exploits the absurdity of their situation through moments of verbal and physical humor. – Toronto Star
“A gripping play and production about the desperation of two women who chose a dangerous way of getting out of poverty and despair. Anderson stages the play with a tight ease and aggressiveness as the tension rises. Beth Graham and Daniela Vlaskalic are no strangers to creating plays that pack a punch. The writing here is bracing, muscular and compelling. Mules is a gripping play that will have you clutching the armrests. – The Slotkin Letter
“Vikki Anderson’s staging includes much physicality and humour, plus an abundance of gross-out moments that make the audience gasp. – NOW Magazine
“A 90-minute three-hander like Mules is not only a kilo and a half of fun, it’s small theatre’s sleeper hit of February. – Toronto Stage
“Vikki Anderson directs the play with a sure hand for emotional highs that may seem difficult to maintain for the whole performance. Outstanding work. – James Karas Reviews
THE ORANGE DOT
by Sean Dixon (Premiere, New Commission) | Theatrefront 2017
“The Orange Dot travels into mystical territory. The actors, working with director Vikki Anderson, set up a believable chemistry early on, which gives a strong framework for the move away from naturalism and into a fierce, angry sensuality in the play’s last third. – NOW Magazine
“If there’s a fine line between stupid and brilliant, Theatrefront’s staging of The Orange Dot under director Vikki Anderson is both stupidly brilliant and brilliantly stupid. It may just be theatre’s brightest colour scheme this month. – Toronto Stage
TOP GIRLS
by Caryl Churchill | The Shaw Festival 2015
“Vikki Anderson’s resonant production opens with an extended musical montage that might have been lifted from a John Hughes film, in which the historical women who populate the play’s famous first scene primp and dress themselves to the strains of Madonna’s “Holiday” and other hits of the era. – Buffalo News
“They’re competitive, angry and manipulative — especially, and unfortunately, towards each other. Luckily, Anderson eases this tension by having the actors change costumes and sets in full view of the audience, full of playful interactions between the cast mates. – Toronto Star
“... the most impressive scene comes at the end. In that extended scene, one of the most heartbreaking and genuine I’ve ever witnessed in a Shaw Festival production... – Buffalo News
“Vikki Anderson successfully brings together this powerhouse ensemble to direct a stirring play that will make you feel like you need a drink and a conversation - for me, two excellent gauges that a play is worth seeing. – Shalom Life
“There’s no doubt about it. The Shaw Festival’s new production of Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls is a dazzler of a show — provocative, invigorating, hilarious, heart-wrenching. – Capital Critic's Circle
“The show that made a triumphant arrival at the Court House can claim any number of attention-grabbing sequences, thanks to Vikki Anderson’s incisive direction and the astonishing work of her seven-member cast, almost all of them in a variety of roles. – Capital Critic's Circle
THE BULL, THE MOON AND THE CORONET OF STARS
by Van Badham | The Theatre Department 2014
Both Vikki Anderson’s direction and Monica Dottor’s choreography keep the action as lively as the rapid-fire dialogue. The action is sensually realized and sexually charged. A good sweat was had by all. A great ending to a dandy SummerWorks. – Slotkin Letter
Pederson and Vlaskalic have chemistry both comedic and sexual, and director Vikki Anderson holds tightly the reins on her performers as well as on the rapid-fire script. – Torontoist
The Bull, The Moon & The Coronet of Stars has a lot of good stuff going for it, namely strong direction from Vikki Anderson... – The Theatre Reader
GOOD PEOPLE
by David Lindsay-Abaire | Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre 2014
“Good People, tautly directed by Vikki Anderson, is a deceptively smart, insightful play. – Winnipeg Free Press
TAINTED
by Kat Lanteigne (Premiere) | Moyo Theatre 2013
“Director Vikki Anderson deserves credit for drawing such impassioned performances from the entire cast. – Stage Door
“Vikki Anderson has a very talented cast to work with. Her pacing of the play is excellent. She gives the audience time to catch their breath between highly charged emotional scenes. – Mooney on Theatre
4.48 PSYCHOSIS
by Sarah Kane | Necessary Angel 2013
★ 3 Dora Award Nominations for Set, Costume, Lighting Design
“Anderson’s choices and the silent scenes she inserts imbue 4.48 Psychosis with an astonishingly clear narrative. – J. Kelly Nestruck Globe and Mail
“In the hands of director Vikki Anderson, the piece may be full of anguish but it’s also an often exciting theatrical statement about the will to live. – Jon Kaplan NOW
“Anderson’s direction ensures that there is always a poignant moment to observe when the text becomes a barrage of the overwhelming or obscure.– Charlebois Post
THE MILL PART IV: ASH
by Damien Atkins (Premiere) | Theatrefront /Young Centre 2011
★ 5 Dora Nominations, Dora Award Outstanding Production: Mill Cycle
“…and their interaction, under Vikki Anderson's pitch-perfect direction, fills up much of the play. – Robert Cushman National Post
“...expands the characters’ emotional richness as they reveal, under director Vikki Anderson’s careful shaping, the relationships in this unusual but recognizable nuclear family. – Jon Kaplan NOW
ROMEO & JULIET
by William Shakespeare | Canadian Stage Company 2010
“One thing you can safely say about award-winning director Vikki Anderson, founder of Toronto’s DVxT Theatre Company; she has never been short of ideas. Her production of Shakespeare’s early tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, this year’s Dream in High Park, is full of them. Anderson certainly works well within the confines of the stage. Physically, this show is beautifully organized and shaped. She has also cast the show shrewdly. – Robert Crew, Toronto Star
THE LAST FIVE YEARS by Jason Robert Brown | The Grand Theatre 2010
“Vikki Anderson’s strong direction is nicely supported. – SceneChanges.com
TURN OF THE SCREW by Jeffrey Hatcher | DVxT Theatre Company 2009
★ 5 Dora Mavor Moore Nominations & 3 Awards for Outstanding Direction, Female Performance (Christine Horne) and Male Performance (Clinton Walker).
… a terrific production that carries you away to another world. – Paula Citron Classical 96FM
“Vikki Anderson, had the smart idea of staging the play as a follow-the-actors piece in the 1822 Campbell House Museum. If you are in the mood for a bloodless coup over Hallowe'en, DVxT Theatre has a treat in store for you – while keeping a trick or two up its collective sleeve. – Robert Crew, Toronto Star
CREON
by Ned Dickens (Premiere) | Stone Circle Project/Theatreworks, 2007
“Audiences were treated to an intriguing production, set by director Vikki Anderson in a Deadwood-style town where violence is close to the surface. – Jon Kaplan NOW
ST. CHRISTOPHER
by A. Shay Hahn (Premiere) | DVxT /Theatre Passe Muraille, 2005
“It is a very satisfying experience to watch a well-made play with a beginning, middle and end, well-acted, realistic characters, compelling dialogue, unpredictable plot, and provocative themes. – Paula Citron Classical 96FM
MOSLEY AND ME
by Adam Pettle (Premiere, New Commission) | DVxT/Canadian Stage 2003
“The talent of director Vikki Anderson is beyond questioning. And that cast! The role is Taylor made for Randy Hughson. Poch-Goldin conveys idealism and bitterness with equal conviction. Both are well guided by Anderson in their search for what makes them tick and ticking bombs. – Kamal Al-Solaylee, Globe and Mail
HAPPY DAYS
by Samuel Beckett | DVxT/Soulpepper Theatre, 2003
★ Dora Award Nomination for Outstanding Female Performance (Martha Burns)
“You can't get away from Beckett's dark undertones, though director Vikki Anderson’s production for Soulpepper has a soap-bubble lightness that's pretty amazing. Thank Anderson and Martha Burns, who shoulders the weight of the play as the self-centred Winnie, buried up to her waist in sand – here, in Anderson's design, a mound that more resembles a giant cow pie, surmounted by a proscenium arch – in the first act and up to her neck in the second. – Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine
“…the lightness of touch can presumably be attributed to Vikki Anderson, who is both the director and designer. The mound, as she has envisioned it, is an extension of Winnie herself; it spreads out around her like a hoop-skirt. There is also a false proscenium, which points up Winnie's own occasional awareness of being a character in what was once an avant-garde play. – Robert Cushman, National Post
“What this demands in an actress, however, is not self-conscious metaphor but narrow naturalism, an ability to make Winnie real, sympathetic and funny. That's exactly what Martha Burns does in the new Soulpepper production of Happy Days under the direction of Vikki Anderson, whose DVxT Theatre Company is co-producing the show – Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail
THE DOLL HOUSE
by Ibsen translated and adapted by John Murrell (Premiere, New Commission) DVxT 2001
★ 7 Dora Nominations - 7 Awards: Outstanding Production, Direction, Female Performance (Fiona Byrne), Male Performance (Ben Carlson), Set, Costume (Shawn Kerwin) and Sound Design (John Gzowski).
Director Vikki Anderson, who also serves as designer, keeps the pace brisk, and her slightly raised stage-atop-a-stage - with its twee drawing room framed on three sides by a clever, shadowy hallway - underlines the title with a subtlety often lacking in Ibsen’s symbolism. – Kevin Connolly, Eye Weekly
“Director and set designer Vikki Anderson succeeds in making this classic seem completely contemporary. – Christopher Hoile, Stage Door.
COYOTE UGLY by Lynn Seifert | DVxT, 1998
★ 5 Dora Award Nominations – 2 Awards for Outstanding Female Performance (Waneta Storms) and Sound Design (John Gzowski).
“The play is rife with black humour. Director Vikki Anderson, who also created the sun-bleached design, and composer/musician John Gzowski, whose live accompaniment atmospherically underscores the action, amplify the material’s desert gothic flourishes. This gives the production stylish coherence. – Vit Wagner, Toronto Star
TOP: Mules (Theatrefront) Eva Barrie & Anita Majumdar. Photo: Dahlia Katz. The Last Five Years (The Grand Theatre London) Mark Uhre & Julie Martell. Good People (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre) Eric Blais, Martha Burns, Tracey Nepinak & Patricia Hunter.
Design
DES FRAISES EN JANVIER – by by Evelyne de la Chenelière, directed by Jean-Stéphane Roy, directed for Théâtre français de Toronto
“French speakers will get more from the light, fast-moving production, but anyone can appreciate Vikki Anderson’s fallen-snow-and-blue-sky set and its crinkled-paper backdrop… – Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine
PATIENCE – by Jason Sherman, directed by Stewart Arnott for GCTC, Ottawa
“… all evolving on a set of vertical slats that morph into a dozen different performance spaces with perfect fluidity. Vikki Anderson’s set works beautifully. – CBC Radio One
MIDNIGHT SUN – by Maya Ardal, directed by Andy McKim & Patricia Van Stone for NAC
“…while Vikki Anderson’s set and costumes and Louise Guinand’s lighting convey quite beautifully the sense of a cold, rocky place in the middle of the ocean.– Natasha Gauthier, Ottawa Citizen
ALPHONSE – by Wajdi Mouawad, directed by Lynda Hill for Theatre Direct
“He makes on his moves in, on and around Vikki Anderson’s splendid set, part jungle gym and part dream-like staircase which neatly illustrates the childlike and non-naturalistic sides of the story. – Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine
THERAC 25 – by Adam Pettle, directed by Jordan Pettle for Factory Theatre
“Vikki Anderson’s set make a strong initial statement, and then surprises us by it unexpected flexibility. – Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star
THE DOLL HOUSE – by Ibsen translated and adapted by John Murrell, DVxT Theatre
★ Dora Award for Outstanding Set Design
“Director Vikki Anderson, who also serves as designer, keeps the pace brisk, and her slightly raised stage-atop-a-stage - with its twee drawing room framed on three sides by a clever, shadowy hallway - underlines the title with a subtlety often lacking in Ibsen’s symbolism. – Kevin Connolly, Eye Weekly
“Beautiful to look at... – Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine
THE YOKO ONO PROJECT – by Jean Yoon, Loud Mouth Asian Babes/Theatre Passe Muraille
“For a start, it looks great. The set (designed by Vikki Anderson) features a dazzling black-and-white checkered floor, on which stand panels of frosted screens. Dotted around are a large shinny silver box, a short white monolith and a couple of black pillars... – Robert Cushman, National Post
“... and in Vikki Anderson’s handsome design, a series of screens that suggest rice paper, and along with Bonnie Beecher’s lighting, splendidly integrates the two level theatre space. – Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine
“The setting is a contemporary art gallery, nicely summarized by designer Vikki Anderson who hangs a series of Japanese paper screens behind and above the stage. – Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail
HOWL – by Mark Cassidy, Threshold Theater/Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
“The clever set design by Vikki Anderson involves projecting slide and film footage of the era against a disjointed line of large white screens… – Vit Wagner, Toronto Star
“Screens and projections of 1950s-era advertisements helped create a feeling of stylish paranoia for this piece about the beat generation of social misfits.” – Glenn Sumi, Now Magazine
SHAKING THE FOUNDATIONS – by director Brydan Macdonald for Buddies in Bad Times
“Anderson’s set is stylish, leaning toward a sophisticated, decadent ‘30’s feel as it roves throughout the space, incorporating risers and stairways with ease. – Coulbourn, Toronto Sun
JUNIPER TREE – by Alan Cole & Maristella Rocca, directed by Josephine Le Grice for Red House at Tarragon Extra Space
“There’s not an element out of place in the production… to Vikki Anderson’ magical, hook-based design. – Jon Kaplan, NOW Magazine
DOWN HERE ON EARTH – by Rainer Wiens & Victoria Ward, directed by Thom Sokoloski for Autumn Leaf Performance
“Vikki Anderson’s set designs were simple, but had just the right monumentalism. – Urjo Kareda, Globe and Mail
“The evocative, spare set by Vikki Anderson and the emphatic lighting by Paul Mathieson add voltage to the dangerous electricity this presentation generates. – Geoff Chapman, Toronto Star
CHERI – by Colette adapted and directed by Paul Bettis for Tarragon Theatre
“The most consistent pleasures come from Jim Plaxton’s fin-de-siecle lighting and the sumptuous sets by Vikki Anderson - with their blousy, silky curtains hinting at the intimacies of the boudoir. – Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine
RANDOM ACTS – by Diane Flacks, director Alisa Palmer for Nightwood Theatre
“On the vast Buddies stage Vikki Anderson’s ghostly set evokes the spiritual coldness of the millennium. A versatile office space perches at an angle on various ramps, while on a white floor stand large white columns. – Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine
MEDEA – director Josephine Le Grice for Golden Fleece / Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
★ Dora Award Nomination for Outstanding Set Design
“On a stunning set created by Vikki Anderson, from elements both timelessly contemporary and beautifully classical... – John Coulbourn, Toronto Sun
“On Vikki Anderson’s bleakly stunning set – a sand coloured colonnade of doorways reminiscent of Giorgio de Chirico’s surreal cityscapes… – Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail
“…while Vikki Anderson’s stark set emphasizes Medea’s exiled loneliness with twinkling stars looking down on her troubled fate. – Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine
Medea (Golden Fleece Productions at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre).
Midnight Sun Maquette (Tarragon & NAC).
Other
Women in theatre take centre stage. Globe and Mail, 2022
MyTheatre Award Nominee: Vikki Anderson. My Entertainment World, 2015
Best of T.O. Director Who’s also a Designer. NOW Magazine, 2008
Vikki Anderson on Directing Samuel Beckett's HAPPY DAYS, Drama.ca, 2003
Designers set the bar high: Lately, the scenery is upstaging everything else in the theatre. Toronto Star, 1999.
Anderson, Designers set the bar high. Toronto Star, 1999