HIVE 3: if you see one theatre event in Vancouver this year...

HIVE has returned to Vancouver and solidified it's place as the best performance event this city has to offer.

HIVE 3 features a much smaller bar and socializing area than HIVE 2, a much larger concert area (emphasizing the after party which features live bands every night), and an extended hallway where much of the action takes place. The sterile white walls tower above you as you make your way down a Corridor of Theatre Insanity. Various sliding doors, with all manner of designs, decorations, and wall scribblings, add to the asylum atmosphere. These doors conceal performance spaces hosted by Vancouver's most experimental and innovative theatre companies. And most do not disappoint. Access to these performances is acquired in various ways; being handed a token, talking to a mysterious stranger, lining up in random areas next to costumed weirdoes, and so on. A HIVE info sheet is necessary to track all the shows and figure out how to gain access to them.

My HIVE journey began when I was invited to stand in a V.I.P waiting area and then whisked off to one of the above mentioned rooms. So began TigerMilk Collective's You Are Invited.... The clever conceit of this piece is that the audience is attending a friend's surprise party. When she arrives she is horrified to find us in her apartment and even more horrified by her all-too-perfect "friends". I thoroughly enjoyed the first two thirds of this show. The palpable sense of Pinter-like menace combined with the clever integration of audience, and some excellent stylized choices made for a great ride. Unfortunately it all culminates in some unneeded sermonizing resulting in a flat ending.

Radix Theatre offers a unique interpretation of a quarantine scenario in Fever. I was led outside the main venue by a group of doctors and made to wait outside a make-shift medical centre. The wait was long and as the show began I was frustrated by all the things I wasn't seeing as a result. However, once Fever got going it provided one of the most unique solo experiences offered by HIVE 3. I was offered a strange sort of meditation, listening to a bizarre narrative recording while doctors attended to me. The trance-like state evoked by this piece left me in a strange and vulnerable state and once it was over, returning to the chaos of the main venue was a shock.

Making my way back into the main hall, I worked through my fascinating Radix experience and jumped back into the fray, starting with Gas Heart's NAPathy.  Unfortunately, this show was not nearly as strong as Gas Heart's previous Dadist outing, The Gas Heart. Despite some great performances, brief moments of hilarity, and some clever satire regarding a dysfunctional family, the aimless script drops its points as quickly as it brings them up. It's basically the theatre equivalent of Family Guy - rather pointless and inherently random but funny.  There's also very little accountability with this kind of theatre as randomness, incoherency, and sloppiness can be justified as part of the aesthetic. This means quality never really has to be strived for, let alone achieved. Moreover, NAPathy's attempt to deconstruct "the family" feels rather dated and offers no new insights.

Thanks to a silver key I acquired earlier in the evening I was able to gain access to Pi Theatre's House/Home. The set consists of a two story facade of a house and features multiple doors and windows, of various sizes, from which the story is told. We eavesdrop on the inner monologues of a Husband and Wife via pre-recorded dialogue heard over individual headphones. This is not a happy marriage and what starts out as a rather cliche foray into a couple's relationship develops into something much richer. A third character sings and stripteases for the audience as the couple deals with their lack of lust. A inventive set design, great performances, and nuanced yet universal content add up to a great show.

Upon leaving House/Home I acquired an apron and gained access to The Only Animal's Sugar. This was the third show in a row I saw that dealt with the theme of domestic life, specifically domesticated women, and I couldn't help but wonder why HIVE in 2010 had become the location for commentary on the housewife. Anyway, Sugar begins with five 50's housewives braving a literal storm in their kitchen and then performing a mini-show for each of the ten audience members who are grouped in pairs. These hilariously inventive mini-shows consist of puppetry with dough, cookie cutters, and other assorted kitchen wear.

Up next, a recently acquired vinyl gave me access to November Theatre's Ana. This charming ode to analog is warm and fun but also a stretch too long. The audience forms a circle around a turntable in a dimly lit room and a woman discusses the physical and metaphysical differences between digital and vinyl recordings. A love story is concluded with the playing of a special song which some will love and some will find far too sentimental. I'm parked somewhere in the middle.

My evening concluded with the not-to-be-missed Electric Company's At Home with Dick and Jane. Definitely a winner in the innovation category. It begins with a video mocumentary featuring two pretentious artists, a playwright and a film director, who justify their adaptation of the Dick and Jane children's book. What follows is a presentation that blurs the line between theatre and film. The audience member is placed inside a makeshift film camera and observes the show through a peephole as he/she is pushed along a dolly track. The story of Dick and Jane is told through an impressive display of physical choreography and wordless action.

Then after 10:00 the shows start to pack up and a band takes the stage in the concert area. The British Columbians were rockin' hard on the night I went and everyone seemed buzzed from the excellent shows and the steady stream of beer, wine, and whiskey. As a whole, HIVE 3 is the best bang for your buck Vancouver has to offer. The alternative theatre scene is a great shape as long as events like this continue to grow and prosper.

HIVE 3 continues until March 20 at the Centre for Digital Media. For more information buzz here.