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    Brief Encounters 19: Definitely NOT Noel Coward
    Posted May 13th, 2013 by Reg Tupper · Vancouver

     

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    Tea: Mirror of Soul: Reflection, Beauty and Contrast
    Posted May 8th, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

     

    Tea: A Mirror of Soul is an exotic, symbolic, operatic exploration of the role of tea in Eastern culture. This unique piece is playing at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre for four nights only: May 4, 7, 9 and 11.

     

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    Highgate - Slow Burn
    Posted May 1st, 2013 by Allyson McGrane · Vancouver

    We muse little on the cult of death in 2013. Instead of funerals, everyone is invited to attend a celebration of life. But a funeral is what it is. A memorial service. A remembrance of a soul gone from this earth.

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    Giselle: Haunting and Magnetic
    Posted April 26th, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    Ballet BC’s Giselle is running for 3 nights only at the Queen Elizabeth theatre. A contemporary re-imagining by choreographer José Navas, this performance is both accessible to the uninitiated and bursting with artistic depth, passion and integrity.

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    Three Sisters: Challenging Their Audiences
    Posted April 8th, 2013 by Reg Tupper · Vancouver

    In their production of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Jane Heyman and Jesse Johnston, together with the company of The Only Child Collective, have offered up a rare gift to Vancouver theatre-goers.

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    Corps de Walk: They Have Landed Walking
    Posted March 27th, 2013 by Alex Lazaridis Ferguson · Vancouver

    The techno-dance aliens have landed. There are twelve of them. They wear beige unitards, have their hair pasted to their skulls and their eyes whited out. The unitards give them the look of shaven Caucasian babies, with adult sexual organs straining to break free of the latex epidermal membrane.

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    2 Pianos 4 Hands: A Great Accomplishment
    Posted March 22nd, 2013 by Reg Tupper · Vancouver

    The difficulty in writing about a show such as 2 Pianos 4 Hands is that there is very little left to say that hasn’t been said or repeated in the 16 years and 5,000 performances that have elapsed since it appeared, to great acclaim, in its first incarnation at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto.

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    Broken Sex Doll - That's What I'm Talking About!
    Posted March 16th, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    Drawing from a number popular dystopian themes, Broken Sex Doll is a slick, silly, scifi satire. Kinda like if Ray Bradbury had written Grease.

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    Magic Flute: Reviewer Resorts to Rhyme
    Posted March 12th, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    I’ve been struggling to make full sentences of this review, the performance was so image-heavy. So I thought I’d start out with some images:

    Rolling sky, luscious mountains, fog and mist and forests green,
    lovers through the landscape running,
    clowns and antics in their dream.

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    Extraction: An experiment indeed
    Posted March 6th, 2013 by Allyson McGrane · Vancouver

    The 2013 Alcan Award winner is Theatre Conspiracy. Their newest show, Extraction, is a bilingual documentary-style theatrical experiment that explores the connections between China and Canada in both Mandarin and English. Inspired by the real life experiences of two men and one woman, Extraction offers interesting viewpoints but little depth.

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    Terminus – Disturbingly Funny
    Posted March 3rd, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    The director's notes for Pi Theatre's Terminus include descriptions such as “classic storytelling. It's an explosive yarn full of chill, spills and a few dark laughs”. . . “surreal, violent tales with an urban focus.”

    I'm really not sure I can provide a more accurate description than that.

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    Holmes and Watson: Something Different
    Posted March 1st, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    Holmes and Watson Save the Empire is a musical farce produced by First Impressions Theatre running in North Vancouver until March 16th. The writers Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner flew in from Oregon to direct the Canadian premiere of their script.

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    Haunted: More Material than Ethereal
    Posted March 1st, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    Haunted by Daniel Karasik is the winning script from the 2011...

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    I, Malvolio: A Tragic Clown
    Posted February 2nd, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    “Why are you laughing?” Inside the framework of an educational character study, Tim Crouch's I, Malvolio presents a heart-rending portrait of the nature of bullying. Gently confrontational, Crouch asks his audience to look at the relationship between laughter and cruelty and, I hope, sympathy.

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    Still Standing You: So Much FUN!
    Posted January 31st, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    I'd really like come comments on this one because I liked it so much that I wonder if it's just me. I loved everything about this piece, from the stand-up type intro to the general silliness and occasional gross-ness that ensued, to the touchingly beautiful body-images. I found Pieter Ampe and Guilherme Garrido's performance refreshing, open and engaging.

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    Testament: A Brave and Important Piece
    Posted January 26th, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    “If King Lear had understood differential equations, he would have proceeded differently.” Not to give you the impression that Testament is a light analysis of King Lear that doesn't take itself seriously. The actors in She She Pop and their fathers open up a frank discussion about familial obligation, the nature of love and...

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    Encore: A Breathtaking Journey
    Posted January 25th, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    Encore at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre is a collection of reprised popular works from the previous two seasons at Ballet BC. This ”best of” performance consists of three acts separated by two intermissions. While each piece has a unique mood and message, they share a strength of choreography and provocative imagery.

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    Ride The Cyclone - Glee meets Frankenstein meets A Chorus Line
    Posted January 23rd, 2013 by Allyson McGrane · Vancouver

    Coming soon to a theatre near you - a new Canadian musical about six teenagers killed in a roller coaster tragedy in small-town Saskatchewan! Atomic Vaudeville brings a revamped version of Ride The Cyclone to the Arts Club Granville Island Stage under the auspices of the PuSh Festival.

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    Photog: An Imaginary Look at the Uncompromising Life of Thomas Smith
    Posted January 23rd, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    Photog: An Imaginary Look at the Uncompromising Life of Thomas Smith is an ambitious, experimental work combining video, verbatim text and physical theatre to tell the story of a life in conflict photography. The script is developed from a number of verbatim interviews with award-winning war photographers and journalists, and incorporates images from their work.

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    Svadba/Wedding: Alternately Playful and Haunting
    Posted January 22nd, 2013 by Danielle Benzon · Vancouver

    Before the performance began, Ana Sokolovic came up on stage to say a few words. Some of those words included “please don't follow along in your program”. Not that she needed to worry. The program is in English, the opera is in Serbian, I would never know which words were which.

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