Watching Confessions of the Other Woman brought to mind for me those highschool drama classes where you learn about the history of theatre. One word was drummed into us over and over again. Catharsis. Catharsis not for the audience, but for the players, sent to work out their struggles through performance and creation as a communion with the gods. A "Confession" of sorts. That's exactly what this performance felt like to me. A brave, skillful endeavour to commune with the theatre gods and to work through some concepts. Well acted, visually stunning and stylistically interesting, ambitious... but audience-incidental.
We start with the nose because it's the furthest from the face says the plastic surgeon Steffler. Again and again as he remodels whole faces to look like ugly man Lette turned beautiful. German playwright Marius von Mayenburg (as translated to English by Maja Zade) spins out an allegory for modern times. Directed crisply by Richard Wolfe, this play speeds along making the same point time and again - beauty IS skin-deep.
Ignorance is a unique puppet play: it was created partially by the online community. If you want to read more about that process visit www.theoldtrouts.org/ignorance.
This kind of “Open Creation” scares me as an audience member, I don’t trust my peers to help create anything I might be interested in seeing. But I like the company and the synopsis was intriguing and how on earth could I not go see a puppet documentary about the evolution of happiness?
Talking Stick has brought Vancouver a new show from Toronto's Chocolate Woman Collective. It was originally staged in Toronto in June 2011. Created and performed by Monique Mojica, this is a work that layers multiple stories together to tell a tale of a Kuna woman who finds her way in the world through her culture.
Just what is Chocolate Woman Dreams The Milky Way?
Catalyst Theatre’s Hunchback delivers what it promises: “A familiar tale that you have never seen quite like this,” along with all the distinctive aesthetic and strong vocals that I have come to expect from a Catalyst Theatre production.
The show started strong. Beginnings are so tricky, the audience is distracted and you have create your world in seconds. I think Jeremy Baumung as Pierre Gringoire really nailed it, as his MC-type character moved us through the story I was reminded how much I enjoy this type of story telling. More than anything, this an ensemble piece...
Ava Markus, Robert Markus and Molly Flood - photo by David Cooper
1) What I Thought of the Play (ie the review proper)
The Silicone Diaries is running until 25 Feb 2012 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. It is a brave, intelligent, powerful and thought-provoking piece about Nina Arsenault's journey from a young boy to the embodiment of her inner plastic goddess.
Warning: there is very graphic footage of some of the surgeries. Not as bad as my imagination had concocted after being given the obligatory warning, but definitely squirm worthy. Try and stomach it though, there's some other great footage in there if you peek through your fingers.
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, which is today, I’d like to begin by saying that Entity, which was performed by Wayne McGregor’s company, Random Dance from the UK, at Vancouver Playhouse on February 10th and 11th, caused me to remember what made me fall in love with contemporary dance in the first place. It’s been a while since I developed such a crush on a show, but sitting in the dark and watching the exhilarating choreography and stunning dancers of Entity, I could feel my heart beating a little faster. I think it might be love.
The In The House Festival does not shy away from developing ambitious concepts, and Fourplay is no exception. A partnership with Salt Tasting Room, this 4-part dinner/theatre experience is the first performance I have ever been to where audiences were told to NOT turn off their cell-phones. In fact, as we were ushered from the main floor to the ‘Salt Cellar’, we were given a piece of chalk and told to leave our phone numbers on the wall. I felt like a teenager leaving my number on the bathroom wall – a trace of me shouting out to the universe:...
FOR OUR READERS - EXPLANATORY NOTE: Reviewers Allyson McGrane & Danielle Benzon wrote this review as a text message conversation over mobile phones after the opening night performance. We are exploring this non-traditional review format and would love some comments - let us know what you think of it! And if you have other ideas for alternative review styles, we'd love to hear your thoughts.
According to playwright/director Mariano Pensotti: “we are what we narrate, the identity is as a narrative construct, life becomes fiction.”
Well fair enough, yes, our stories become our reality. I agree…So then?
I was told that:
“It’s 1999 in Buenos Aires. Mario, Laura, Pablo, and Vicky are in their mid-twenties and ready for careers, love, and adulthood. One man wants to be an independent filmmaker but for now he works as an actor in pathetic beer commercials; a woman steals her father’s savings to go to Paris to live the bohemian life of Nouvelle Vague films and ends up working...
