The Canadian premiere of Post Secret: The Show is happening at the Firehall Arts Centre. With a cast of three plus a guitarist, the show promises an exploration of the worldwide phenomenon that is found online at postsecret.com. Below you'll find Twitter commentary and interactions about the performance on opening night.
TWITTER COMMENTARY FOR YOU:
@allysonmcgrane At opening for Post Secret: The Show @FirehallArtsCte + see lots of people (young crowd). #PSVancouver #yvr
@allysonmcgrane Show tagline is "Free your secrets and become who you are." Is that why we're invited to leave secrets on the bathroom mirror? #PSVancouver
REPLY FROM @PostSecretShow ...
Cast of Kahlil Ashanti, Nicolle Nattrass, Ming Hudson (photo by Emily Cooper)
This year Music on Main is bringing us a December celebration of music for the winter solstice. Featuring five musicians with two world premieres, the evening is intended as the first of many annual winter solstice concerts. Happening at Heritage Hall, there is a feeling of warmth and gathering on when the days grow short and the nights so long.
The premiere performance of Nightmare Before the Nutcracker is happening at Vancouver's own Rio Theatre on December 5 and 12. Meant as an alternative, Gothic take on the Christmas classic, this performance features a mash-up of music, burlesque, circus and Tim Burton characters. For adults only.
Written by Chris Murdoch, the script features characters from The Nutcracker as well as Tim Burton films such as A Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice and Mars Attacks! It tells the story of young Clara at Christmas who finds herself entering a mystical world where her Nutcracker Prince is none other than Edward Scissorhands...
Voodoo Pixie - one of the show's burlesque performers
Things near + far premiered last night at the Firehall Arts Centre. Created by a trio of mid-career dance artists (Anne Cooper, Ziyian Kwan and Ron Stewart), the show features two pieces. Each is called Dwelling and both are approximately 30 minutes in length. The first comes from a young choreographer (Josh Martin of 605 Collective) and the second from senior choreographer (Tedd Robinson of 10 Gates Dancing). It means we experience an evening of dance that crosses generations and geography.
The first piece of the evening is from Josh Martin. It's on an open stage with a bright whitedance floor. The stage...
Ziyian Kwan, Anne Cooper & Ron Stewart (photo by Chris Randle)
Ballet BC’s performances are always a pleasure, but No. 29 playing Nov 6-8 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre literally left me speechless. Each of the three pieces within the production was completely different, but there was a theme, a through-line of tension that built throughout the evening and culminated in resounding applause.
1. Slack jawed in wonder
The opening piece, A.U.R.A (Anarchist Unit Related to Art), created Jacopo Godani, was first performed by Ballet BC in 2012. Clad in cleverly designed body suits that (from where I was sitting) convincingly disguised their gender, the dancers writhed and mutated on stage with a...
A.U.R.A., Choreography: Jacopo Godani, Dancers: Darren Devaney & Andrew Bartee, Photo credit: Michael Slobodian
The Four Horsemen Project is a “multi-disciplinary extravaganza” based on the work of four experimental poets from Toronto in the 80s who called themselves the Four Horsemen. The production is certainly psychedelic. And dated. Experimental poetry is fun, but it is no longer new enough to warrant a 90 minute production without something else to hold our interest. The Four Horsemen Project is essentially a staged concept exercise. It’s slick and clever, but it left me craving a deeper meaning.
Almost an interactive documentary on the Four Horsemen themselves, almost a story about the relationships of the characters of the...
Don’t miss Stickboy, a contemporary opera written by Neil Weisensel and Shane Koyczan playing at the Vancouver Playhouse Oct 23 – Nov 7.
I don’t know if you’ve seen the posters around town with phrases like “Nobody likes you.” scribbled in white on a vast black background. It's an evocative campaign. This opera got under my skin. As it was supposed to. I hope it gets under yours. My response was anything but objective:
As the lights dimmed my inner defiant child hunkered low...
You don’t have to be a fan of the Evil Dead films to enjoy this musical spoof playing at the Norman Rothstein Theatre, but you are going to feel a little left out if you’re not. The best thing about the evening was being surrounded by enthusiasts, on stage and off, everyone there was committed to having a silly, gory, geeky, good time. The atmosphere extended all the way out of the splash zone and spilled into the lobby.
This is not high brow humour, but it is well-executed. The set was more high-tech than I had been expecting,...
4000 Miles by Amy Herzog, directed by Roy Surette, is a play about distance. But perhaps not, perhaps it's about journey. Or perhaps it's about how we're all closer than we thought.
It was weird seeing such an intricate box set after coming straight off the Vancouver Fringe, but I appreciated all the subtle lighting effects and the atmosphere it created. As a personal preference I don't really like naturalistic sets, but I can see the appeal and if anyone is going to do it, the Arts Club is the right place for that sort of thing. It makes theatre feel a lot...
Nicola Cavendish and Nathan Barrett, photo by David Cooper
