*Transmission* is an hour-long exploration of human disappearance relayed through the story of a brother and sister. While travelling abroad, the sister simply vanishes, leaving her brother to cope with an irresolvable loss. It is probable that she has been abducted and tortured, but there is no way to confirm her fate. The narrative is non-linear, and unfolds through text, movement, and the occasionally blistering use of music and lights.
Lucia Frangione’s *Holy Mo* once again graces the stage of "Pacific Theatre":http://www.pacifictheatre.org/ this month. I had the pleasure of witnessing the Holy Mo trinity of Follie (Katharine Venour), Bufoona (Erla-Faye Forsyth) and Guff (Julia Mackey) as they led audiences through the story of Moses in *Holy Mo*, followed by a short ‘pee break’ (as explained by Follie, and more commonly referred to as intermission), then through the story of King David in *Spew Boy*.
Holy Mo; Katharine Venour, Erla Faye Forsyth, Julia Mackey; photo by Damon Calderwood
Stretched across the "Vancouver Playhouse":http://vancouverplayhouse.com stage is a polished example of 20th century naturalism: a civil rights era Mississippi kitchen, the kind of kitchen where African American servants used to prepare meals for white landowners. The detailed reproduction is fitting for an adaptation of August Strindberg’s *Miss Julie*, a play that is emblematic of the rise of 19th century naturalism. The original story took place in the kitchen of a country estate in Sweden. In Miss Julie: Freedom Summer, a new version by Stephen Sachs, the setting is transposed and the master-servant dynamics are grafted onto American black-white race...
Caroline Cave and Kevin Hanchard, Miss Julie; photo: David Cooper
In Jennifer Baichwal’s film "Manufactured Landscapes":http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=manufacturedlandscapes (which follows celebrated landscape photographer "Edward Burtynsky":http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/) there is a sequence so powerful it gets my vote for most distressing glimpse of the future award. In China Baichwal films a woman, looking like a peasant from the dark ages, as she roasts circuit-boards to melt the solder and retrieve valuable components.
Lost in the roasting circuit-boards; photo: Chris Randle
It has taken a couple of days for my estrogen levels to make their way back to normal. Whose idea was it to send a fertile 29 year-old woman to cover a show full of unbearably adorable scraggly east side kids [Ed’s note: it was Maryse, she volunteered]? I don’t usually have to resist the urge to run on stage and ruffle the actors’ messy hair, nor am I normally as forgiving of such a fidgety cast. Of course, when the actors are no older than 14, one has to make exceptions…
=Messing with Maryse's estrogen, the kids in That Night Follows Day
_Nanay_ (pronounced: nu-nai) is the Filipino word for mother. *Nanay* is the project of a talented group, including a university professor, researchers, actors, creative team, political advocates and the testimonials of Live-In-Caregivers who have come from the Philippines. It is a living play, in which the audience divides into groups and walk through various vignettes representing the homes and experiences of those involved with the Live-In-Caregiver Program (LCP).
For the second production in a row, the thought “maybe I shouldn’t be reviewing this show” crossed my mind. But for very different reasons. Last time, the trust required to take a leap of faith with an artist was never created for me. This is not an issue with James Long and Maiko Bae Yamamoto of "Theatre Replacement":http://www.theatrereplacement.org/. I trust these guys implicitly. Their work is always thoughtful and challenging and never descends into obscurity or randomness. I’ll go anywhere with them. *That Night Follows Day* is no different. Well, it is different in one important regard, they are...
Real kids in That Night Follows Day; photo: Tim Matheson
Analytically, this is a tough work to discuss. *Live From a Bush of Ghosts* isn't a play or a dance piece, nor is it a concert or a video instillation; it manages to be all these things simultaneously. It's a contemporary art mash-up that in less talented hands could easily have become a snarled and tangled mess. It bears an ambitious mandate and for the most part succeeds at it. The piece, produced by "Theatre Conspiracy":http://www.conspiracy.ca/ and part of the ongoing "PuSh Festival":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php?mpage=home, ends up being a live performance version of a very good concept album, dense and...
From the Zooropian Star Chamber, Live from a Bush of Ghosts; photo: Chris Randle
*Gaudrath* is a somewhat misleading title for this modernistic urban fable by Eric Hopkins, produced by Back Burner Productions. The central story is certainly driven by the enigmatic character after which the play is named (played by Andrew Cromey, but the real thematic meat of the show is courtesy of the Golem (Leeman Kessler), Gaudrath’s violent companion made of clay and loosely based on the supernatural creature from Jewish holy stories.
