From the moment you enter into the theatre you are made to feel welcomed. Real life mother, Asha and son, Ravi greet the audience with a handshake, a smile, a personal introduction and food! Delicious vegetarian samosas are handed out. With the taste of Indian spices and the warmth of a hello, the stage is set to settle in for the next 90 minutes and hear a true family story, the story of finding a wife for Ravi in the traditional Indian way. A tradition that has come into conflict with the Canadian born and raised son.
Both characters connect...
Ravi & Asha Jain onstage (photo by Erin Brubacher)
Sometimes it is simply wonderful to see theatre with new eyes. It was my privilege to attend the Arts Club Theatre's new production of Mary Poppins with a young friend of mine (who is a seven year-old named Tania). Since Tania wasn't able to make the show on opening night (because the 8 pm curtain is getting past her bedtime), we went to the Sunday matinee at 2 pm.
We arrived at the Stanley Theatre and stood in line to collect our tickets from the box office. Once in the lobby (after waiting in another line), we pre-ordered orange juice for intermission (which Tania told...
The Arts Club is producing Venus In Fur by David Ives. A hit Off-Broadway that transferred to the Great White Way where it garned significant acclaim (including a Tony award for the female lead), this play offers its audience an intriguing 21st century take on a novel from 1870.
We meet Thomas (Vincent Gale) first - a playwright and first-time director who is attempting to adapt this same novel by Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch for the stage. Thomas has seen a number of young women that day who are all vying to play Vanda and none are satisfactory. As he starts to walk out...
When I see a play like Other Desert Cities, I realize how very different American culture really is. In Canada, our politics just do not have the same strongly opposing points of view. Red versus blue, Republicans versus Democrats, conservatives versus liberals. And in this Arts Club production, created by a Canadian artistic team, I wonder if we can ever truly understand the depths of this dichotomy.
On its face, Other Desert Cities is a family drama set in the heat of Palm Springs, California on Christmas Eve 2004. Liberal daughter and novelist Brooke Wyeth has returned from the East Coast to visit...
Cast of Other Desert Cities (photo by David Cooper)
This musical took Broadway by storm about 10 years ago - and it’s still a damn funny show. It has puppets! Naked puppets! Sex with naked puppets!
And even better, Avenue Q aims to make you think. Featuring puppets of all colours, races and orientation, the show mercilessly mocks our age of political correctness with dazzling musical numbers such as “If You Were Gay”, “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” and “The Internet Is For Porn.” Though Avenue Q is not authorized or approved by the Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop, puppets such as porn-addicted Trekkie Monster and...
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. It's the second stop on a major Western Canadian tour from Calgary to Vancouver to Edmonton to Winnipeg to Saskatoon to Nanaimo. Not too shabby for a recent group of mostly UVIC grads led by Jacob Richmond (writer/director/music/lyrics), Britt Small (director), Brooke Maxwell (music/lyrics/music director) and Treena Stubel (choreography/staging).
The Arts Club is bringing to the stage a holiday one-man show. Starring Ryan Beil as Crumpet, The Santaland Diaries offers one elf's experiences in the New York world of Macy's Santaland. And if you like your Christmas entertainment on the sarcastic side, this may just be for you.
Written by David Sedaris, The Santaland Diaries began as a radio essay read by the author on National Public Radio in 1992. An overnight sensation, it was the author's first big break and led to him continuing to share his diary entries with radio listeners monthly. The onstage version was...
Ryan Beil as the Macy's elf named Crumpet (photo by Tim Matheson)
OK, The 39 Steps isn’t a straight-up theatrical rendition of the classic thriller film of the same name. And that’s just fine. The play is very funny, with compelling acting and imaginative use of stagecraft to keep the audience engaged.
The play follows the trials and tribulations of Richard Hannay, a man on the run for a crime he didn’t commit. While rambling through the English countryside on the lam from Scotland Yard, he finds himself immersed in a mysterious spy plot with consequences that could affect the future of the nation. Along the...
Diana Coatsworth and Martin Happer in the Arts Club Theatre Company’s production of The 39 Steps. Photo by David Cooper.
Anyone who has had the misfortune of listening to me blabber on about playwrighting will have heard the following: theatre uses simplicity to convey complex ideas. In working through my own scripts I identify what I think of as “literary conceits” versus “theatrical moments”. By literary, I mean those ideas that are best savoured in the mind; ones that make you look up from a page and ponder for a few moments. Because of its relentless, forward movement, theatre doesn’t easily allow for these sorts of mental breaks. Any moment that puts an audience into a reflective state also pulls...
Our heroes review Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. It is not really a musical nor a work of theatre - it is something in between. Fun and filled with great performances and loud music. How could that be bad?
