I had the great pleasure of seeing the first preview, or – as Director Jack Paterson called it – “the tech/dress” of William Shakespeare’s *Coriolanus*, which is currently on at the Jericho Arts Centre. *Coriolanus* is the story of a returning war hero who becomes ruthlessly disenfranchised by the politics of peacetime.
What do you do with a guy like Coriolanus? A bloody Ian Butcher, photo: Quinn Harris
This show is a mesmerizing gem of storytelling. *The Devil and Billy Markham* is an hour-long tall tale about a gambling, rock ‘n roller’s dealings with the devil. During his travels, he loses a crooked game of the dice to the Devil and finds himself roasting in hell. However, Billy Markham isn’t one to stop playing just because he’s low.
The Devil and Billy Markham: language that is visually evocative
Although the Vancouver run of this "Tarragon Theatre":http://www.tarragontheatre.com/ production has finished, if you’re planning on seeing *East of Berlin* in Edmonton, you might want to skip this review as it gives away key plot points.
Daddy was a Nazi, East of Berlin, Diana Donnelly and Brendan Gall
This "Tarragon Theatre":http://www.tarragontheatre.com/ production of *East of Berlin* by Hannah Moscovitch is a Jewish revenge fantasy. That’s a provocative statement, so let me make my case. Rudi (Brendan Gall) is the son of an SS ‘surgeon’ who escaped Germany after the Second World War with the help of ‘Project Reinhardt’, a fund originating from Nazi German bank accounts that drew wealth from valuables stolen from concentration camp victims.
Rudi in happier times, East of Berlin with Brendan Gall and Diana Donnelly
Although it was not presented as such, *The Invisible Life of Joseph Finch* is a holocaust story. On one level, it was an understandable decision to not define the work in this manner. Saying something is “about” the holocaust can’t help but set up a series of expectations in the minds of an audience.
Created, produced and performed by Mutable Subject, The Contingency Plan and The Story of Force and Motion, *Here To Go: join the movement* has moments of choreographic and performative enthusiasm that reinforce these companies’ energetic names. The product of a group of Vancouver’s emerging dance artists and Simon Fraser University dance programme grads, this piece can absorb the audience with its driving and opposing movements and sequencing.
Here To Go: peppered with the eye-catching, photo by Kassandra Prus
I should have known I was going to a political event. I didn’t see it coming until the very day that I was scheduled to see *Deca Dance*, choreographed by Israeli artist Ohad Naharin, and performed by the "Batsheva Dance Company":http://www.batsheva.co.il/ of Tel Aviv. I suppose I’m glad that I read Jessica Werb’s "short piece":http://straight.com/article-202620/batsheva-could-face-picketers-tonight in the Georgia Straight; knowing in advance that there would be protests outside of the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre, I had time to collect my thoughts before I approached the venue and heard the bellowing of a voice through a megaphone crying out “Dead...
Transcending conflict, Deca Dance by Batsheva Dance Company
*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
