summerworks
Aftershock: the insides need work
From the first words uttered onstage, I was elated. The rhythm and timbre of the dialogue suggested a lost Michel Tremblay play, with gorgeous repetitions, layered character conversations. However, things quickly become absurd, and then macabre, and then they fell apart.
Post-Eden: multimedia spectacle
This multimedia spectacle from writer/director Jordan Tannahill and presented by Suburban Beast (part of the SummerWorks festival) is an engagingly cinematic take on suburban angst - a topic which has been thoroughly exhausted by popular film and television but is refreshed in Tannahill's capable ha
Kayak: the joy of discovery
The joy of festivals is the sense of discovery. The sense of the unknown. And mostly the sense of possibility. With especially troublesome scheduling this year, not everything can be seen by everyone. We pick some shows, and some we leave up to fate.
Molotov Circus: a flawed delight
There is something charming and heartwarming about the fact that the quirky tight-knit family of artists and performers of modern lore still do exist. In the case of Molotov Circus (currently on as part of SummerWorks), Winnipeggers Arne Macpherson and Debbie Patterson are joined by their offspring, budding teenager Gislina, and youngster Solmund in the telling of a tale about a travelling family of Russian circus performers who struggle to keep a modicum of normalcy about their lives despite their unusual lifestyle. This proves to be most challenging for rebellious Albina (Gislina) who yearns to plant roots and seems determined to do so by any means possible.
word! sound! powah!: wisdom and beauty delivered with high energy
In word! sound! powah!, the third installment in monodramatist d’bi.young.anitafrika’s incredible matrilineal saga that started with the Dora award-winning blood.claat, anitafrika offers a distinctly different perspective.
Episode 14 - Happy 2nd Birthday Plank Magazine!
Our heroes chatter about the history of Plank Magazine and basically blabber about whatever pops into their brains. It snuck up on us but Plank is just over two years old and a cranky magazine at that.
Neanderthal Arts Festival: theatre that knows how to grunt
As reported here at PLANK at the beginning of the year, Vancouver is about to experience a new arts Festival. An initiative of Left Right Minds and Upintheair Theatre the inaugural Neanderthal Arts Festival takes place this summer at the Cultch.
New Summer Festival Needs a Name: win free tickets
Vancouver is getting a new performing arts festival and your help is needed in naming it.
SummerWorks: the last roundup
Summer 2009 may seem sometime ago (especially by internet standards) but really was it so far back? Justin Haigh submitted his final round-up of mini-reviews for Toronto's SummerWorks Festival right in the middle of the Victoria and Vancouver Fringe Festival madness. We had to table the reviews - and Justin's take on the overall Festival experience - until now, when we've had a bit of a chance to catch our breath.
