Rogers v. Rogers a tour de force for Toronto actor Tom Rooney

You can be forgiven for thinking Tom Rooney does not know who he is. The Toronto actor plays several characters in the play Rogers v. Rogers, currently being staged by Crow’s Theatre in the Ontario capital. The drama began its run on Dec. 2; it has been extended until Jan. 17. The first four weeks of the show were sold out. Rooney is the only performer in Michael Healey’s adaptation of the book by the same name written by the Globe and Mail’s former telecom reporter Alexandra Posadzki, who now covers financial and cybercrime for the publication. Over the course of an hour and a half, Rooney takes the audience through the machinations surrounding the takeover of Shaw Communications by Rogers Communications Inc. and the internecine battles among Rogers family members for control of the firm. Healey’s hero is Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell, who opposed the purchase of Shaw and used the full weight of the federal government to fight it. The antagonist is Edward Rogers, scion and namesake of company founder Ted Rogers. He is portrayed in the play as a weak, indecisive executive constantly seeking to prove himself to doubters on Bay Street and in his own family. An advisory on screen at the beginning of the one-act play states that it is a piece of journalism. That note is scratched out, followed by the notice that it is a documentary. That, too, is redacted and the final statement avers that this is all from the imagination of the playwright. The play’s program reiterates the message. “While it’s based on real events, make no mistake: this is a satirical work of fiction–facts have been nudged, conversations invented, and reality adjusted wherever it proved inconvenient,” the program states. Most of the show revolves around the Shaw takeover. Boswell sought unsuccessfully to derail the merger; Healey explores the legal arguments made around the takeover battle. He rehashes the details presented to the Competition Tribunal and looks at the intricacies of Canadian competition law. The Rogers company was granted the right to buy out its smaller competitor. A secondary plot involves the family dynamic in the Rogers clan. Ted and Loretta Rogers had four children, Edward and his three sisters. The sisters are portrayed as continual thorns in the side of their brother. The plot comes to a head when Edward, who has succeeded his late father as chair of the board, wants to fire company CEO Joe Natale, whom the telecom had lured away from Telus Corp. Loretta and her daughters vetoed the move. Lawsuits abound. Edward ultimately triumphs. Rooney takes on all of the roles in the dispute. He portrays Loretta as a chain-smoking dowager determined to protect her late husband’s legacy. Daughters Melinda and Martha are constantly at loggerheads with their brother. It is a battle that has gone on for years. When a college-age Edward gets his girlfriend pregnant, Melinda responds by hosting a christening for the child. Ultimately, Loretta dies and her daughters resign from the Rogers board, albeit with a healthy golden parachute. Rooney is mesmerizing as he takes on more than a dozen parts in the play. He switches characters easily, rarely confusing the audience as to who he is portraying from one moment to the next. Costume changes are minimal; the actor does it all with vocal inflection and stage gestures. Following its Toronto run, Rogers v. Rogers will move to Winnipeg’s Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in February. Plans to tour the show across other cities are hampered by Rooney’s commitments to the Stratford festival next summer. ppark@thewirereport.ca

Rogers v. Rogers a tour de force for Toronto actor Tom Rooney

People |
By Paul Park
|January 2, 2026

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Rogers v. Rogers a tour de force for Toronto actor Tom Rooney

People | By Paul Park |January 2, 2026

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

OPINION | Boswell woke up Canada’s competition watchdog. With his departure imminent, it must get to work.

Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell announces Jeanne Pratt as interim replacement as he prepares to step down

Marc Miller returns to cabinet as new minister of culture and identity

Related Stories

Rogers appeals Competition Tribunal’s exclusion of details about commissioner’s alleged inaction in data plan dispute

OPINION | Boswell woke up Canada’s competition watchdog. With his departure imminent, it must get to work.

Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell announces Jeanne Pratt as interim replacement as he prepares to step down

Tribunal to hear Rogers’ bid to compel documents from Competition Bureau in data plan dispute

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

People |
By Paul Park
|January 2, 2026