This production, a two-hander, with Chris W Cook, the playwright as one of the two characters, comes from Edmonton. We are presented with a journalist recently returned from Afghanistan. Time: the present, so the issues are real and important. The representative of an unnamed "agency" abducts the writer (who is conveniently Canadian-American) to the United States, where he has no chance of government protection.
Obliquely at first, the questioner wants to know who he met in Kabul, and whether they might be active terrorists. Soon the unfortunate journalist is tied to a chair...
Genre definition = Intense · In Your Face · Intellectual
"Ever have one of those days?..." "Ever have one of THOSE days?..." "Ever HAVE one of those days?..." "Ever WONDER...why?"
Ron lies for a living. He's "the talent". He sits in a quiet, dark, cozy room and voices commercials with a smile in his voice "like I'm talking to a friend."
Ron used to be an actor and do plays and such but then "it's not your voice you have to lie with, it's your whole body and if you get really good at it, they call it the truth."
"It's hard to move on when you're all alone in the belly of a whale." says Ishmael ("you can call me Jonah") who has found himself trapped inside the belly of a whale brandishing a couple of bestsellers with nothing to eat but some soggy saltines. Apparently the last thing Jonah remembers he was madly in love and then suddenly he was swallowed by a whale.
Innocent When You Dream asks the question, if the one you love isn't loving you back, does that mean your love was never real?: "I can't believe that wasn't real. I won't believe it...
The title of this play means truth in Latin. Written and performed by Sara Vickruck, the truth is that I thought this was an extraordinary creative work by a young artist. Vickruck trained at Grant MacEwan in Edmonton, AB which is where this play was premiered last summer at the Edmonton Fringe to excellent reviews. The play is a collection of monologues featuring very different characters and their daily heroics. Each one has a story to tell and needs their voice to be heard.
In a series of dramatic monologues, we meet seven individuals who reach crossroads in their...
Death of a Playwright is a Play within a Play on Multiple Planes of Existence with ghosts and maybe even God? Quimera Theatre presents the premiere of Death of a Playwright the new play by Matthew Willis.
Now I will be honest with you – when I see a write up that offers the promise of a play within a play about a theatre production, filled with inside jokes about theatre, I usually run for the hills…and I am a theatre person. Thus when I walked into Studio 16 my expectations were quite low and I...
Preacher Man changes the role of the audience from theatre goer to execution witness. This once common practice has now fallen out of favour, but for 22 minutes you could imagine what that would be like. From the minute we ended the room Marcus is waiting for us, waiting to ask us questions, poignant questions. He is waiting to tell us the story of his fulfilled life. His certainty cuts to the bone and he feels sorry for us.
Jesse LaVercombe is excellent as Marcus. LaVercombe is chilling and expert in his delivery of this character. There are...
As she walks on stage you think to yourself….could it be?…is it?….wow! it is….it’s Spoiled Child. What, you don’t remember Spoiled Child? Come on she was that singer in the 80’s…you know she had that song…then she moved on to her Spoken Word Period…and then she had that Reality Show well for a year…remember?
Well, she’s back - rebuilding her career (as she says looking out at the afternoon audience) - “15 people at a time”. - You would think she would be totally back on top, instead of the “c-list celebrity” now that she has saved...
Kevin Kennedy is a soft-spoken teacher who has a story to tell. He does not tell it in a flashy theatrical style with costumes, characters, movement or special effects. In fact he sits on a chair placed at centre stage for almost the entire performance – but don’t get me wrong, he is an engaging storyteller with an adventure to share, and he got help crafting this show from one of the most masterful storytellers the Fringe has ever seen, BC’s own TJ Dawe (dramaturge).
Kennedy’s tale is a combination of a solo trip he took to the remote...
Genre Definition = Intellectual · Intimate · All Ages
I am not sure if this was intended but in light of the recent controversy regarding the upcoming Olympics in Sochi, Leaping Thespians' production of The Troll and the Three Lesbians Gruff could be considered somewhat timely. According to the company's press package, trolls derive their greatest satisfaction from preventing bridge crossings, creating the obstacle that blocks the span created to overcome another obstacle. The trolls' disruptions include brute force and also sophisticated magic spells such as making people hard-hearted to each other.
Troll has taken over a peaceful village which has survived and thrived in love for many years,...
Genre Definition = Funny · Warm and Fuzzy · In Your Face
Ever heard the following expression: “In trying to please everyone you will please no one"? It applies as much to theatre as it does to life in general. The Epitome of Regret has a lot of potential, but it really does need to figure out what it is. My experience was something like a cross between sketch comedy, satire musical and an off-beat love story, all of which could have been great, but in the confusion it ended up missing all the marks and not being much of anything. All I took away from it were a few clever lines,...
