James Jordan: Vaudevillian is billed as family-friendly, and James Jordan delivers on that promise in spades! It’s a magical comedy show for more than just the kids—the adults in the audience were certainly having a fabulous time watching card tricks, trying to understand how sleight of hand is faster than the eye and being amazed by a man who is willing to let live mousetraps snap onto his fingers. His expressions alone are enough to make you laugh out loud!
We enter the theatre to see James Jordan vamping upbeat tunes at the piano. He welcomes us to the show,...
Grey with blackened edges. Mark Hughes’ life reads like a modern reboot mashup of Lost Weekend, Reefer Madness, The River’s Edge and Sleepers. Or maybe Breaking Bad with less horrific murder.
Tragedy + Time Served = Comedy was dramaturged by TJ Dawe, whom Hughes considers his mentor in getting this riveting monologue together. From the opening narration that describes the imperfect social construct that is the corrections and criminal justice system, to Hughes’ willingness to work with the reaction of his audience, this is an experience that few will forget or fail to be moved by.
Jen Derbyshire, a unique, hilarious, talented monologist and certified insane person, tells a story based on her own experience in the world of mental health. She states that she has been certified as insane eight times! Jen turns the audience into a mental health review board to help determine her current state of sanity.
The audience gets thrown into topics that most people know very little about, fear a lot, and don’t like to talk about. Derbyshire’s delivery is passionate and brave. She shares her personal tragedy with dignity and an intelligent sense of humor: she can make you laugh...
The show opens with a glimpse of the sisters, Mattie and Maybelle Haydell (played by Donna Kay Yarborough and Sadie Bowman), bickering as they set up. Over the whole show the two sisters break up their songs to argue about their respective histories since their high flying nineties duo broke up in ‘93—and about the restraining order Lyle Lovett placed against Maybelle. They recount their history in bits and pieces, from the innocent childhood songs their grandpa told them about red-headed peckers, to their meteoric rise to stardom from their humble laundromat venues, to the halls of “country royalty,” to...
Mattie and Maybelle Haydell (Donna Kay Yarborough and Sadie Bowman)
At the very beginning when Jennifer Martin started speaking about her childhood, I couldn’t follow the connection of the scenes. She seemed to be flitting about with different people and topics that were seemingly unconnected, but as all of the pieces of the story began to align, her childish way of speaking started giving off undertones of dread. Long before anything poignant has been said or done, you know it’s coming. As the story unfurls like a black rose, you’re brought to a very dark place full of possibilities of happiness but never shedding the permeating feeling of loneliness....
Produced by RAGMOP, Falling Awake is a delightful creation written and performed by Nayana Fielkov & Matthew “Poki” McCorkle. The duo won a spot in the annual lottery held by the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals leading to a cross-country tour with this newly created surreal play that wanders between sleep and consciousness.
Upon entering the theatre, we hear strains of old-timey instrumental music. The set is sparse -- a table and two chairs, random dishes on the table, a clothesline with white frilly garments and what turns out to be a bed. As the show opens, a woman is...
Rich insights into the power of love, courage and ritual in the face of great trauma are at the heart of this drama. Its message of compassion resonates both with classical tragedies and with our own contemporary anxieties about terrorism. It is timelessly relevant.
The play is set in the Scottish countryside, beside a stream, seven years after the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 in which 270 people died. Grieving the loss of their own family members, and suffering from the trauma of witnessing body parts, metal fragments, and bodies still strapped to their seats falling from...
What a delightful concept! This show has an array of talented artists from dancers to musicians to actors and more. Each tent provides the participant with a unique experience of sharing with a group their life experiences. The artists then perform an improvised performance in their métier based on what the participants shared. I had the opportunity to meet with 4 performers in 3 separate tents: Yukari Komatsu, John Park and Miho Suzuki, and lastly Zachary Ibrahim.
As two other ladies and I were ushered into the first tent I noticed just how peaceful everyone was. It really...
From the moment you enter the theatre, the play has already begun. Two men, Shane Adamczak playing Frank and St John Cowcher playing Al , are already on the stage clearly establishing their characters before you even sit in your seat. Adamczak being the rigid somewhat nerdy janitor and Cowcher being the slovenly couch-potato, their characters are the perfect juxtaposition for a comedy.
The Ballad of Frank Allan really worked to engage all of your senses. As the duo begin to speak, their voices carry you through the heartwarming story with a rapid staccato nature that keeps you...
Pig farmers are proud people. They have to be. Their families shoulder burdens both absurd and poignant. Bennett’s family history, in this second chapter of my experience with the walkabout bard, spinning his tales of family chaos to an intimate room in Granville Island’s Waterfront Theatre, nicely blends the traditional yarn-spinning of the Outback poets with multimedia, audience participation and familiarity. My Dad’s Deaths feels like the annual catch-up at a reunion, a chance to relive the stories of past reunions and expand on our knowledge of quirky families and how they got so quirky in the first place....
