Personal taste aside, this troupe does have a lot going for them. Quick disclaimer: sketch comedy isn’t my specialty. A complete lack of structure just seems pointless to me and I don’t share the love of cringe and shock humour that most Vancouverites seem to have.
In my opinion, the bulk of the sketches were random and ridiculous and some just plain tasteless but there were a few I actually enjoyed, like the 9 - 5 office worker scene and the Tony Teriyaki sketch. I did appreciate how imaginative some of the sketches were and that the bulk...
Welcome to The Minsky Follies..."40 Girls...and only 39 Costumes!" Backed by the stellar five piece band from Vancouver's Pandora and The Locksmiths, a bevy of this fine city's burlesque performers come together to tell the story of Gypsy Rose Lee at Minsky's Burlesque.
Burgundy Brixx is more than up to the task in her fine portrayal of the legendary Seattle-born intellectual striptease artist letting us in on the private thoughts of a stripteaser all the while teasing her way out of several absolutely thrilling costumes. She begins the musical number "It Was A Pear" dressed head to...
In Greek mythology, Athena is the goddess of just warfare, strength, strategy and skill. Though Athena is a goddess of war strategy, she dislikes fighting without purpose and prefers to use wisdom to settle predicaments. The goddess only encourages fighting for a reasonable cause or to resolve conflict.
It is these traits that the show written by Michael Doherty and performed by Jennifer Huva is based on. The show begins with Huva entering in ancient Greek dress complete with helmet and spear to emphasis her war like status amongst gods. Athena assembles an audience of soon to be born souls who...
I must preface this review to say that I am a huge Martin Dockery fan and as far as I am concerned he could read the phone book and I would listen. Dockery is a master when it comes to storytelling. His ability to engage the audience and take them on a journey through the ebb and flow of a story is spellbinding.
This year he brings a new tale and this time it is not a personal experience or at least not one that has happened yet, but rather an accounting of his time in Heaven. Although Dockery protests...
From the moment the members of the Pump Trolley Comedy Troupe gather onstage in their plaid shirts and flashlights uplighting their faces in the dark I knew the audience was embarking on a wild ride through history. We are reminded by the members of the troupe that time is not linear and somehow it all has to do with ancient bears. I never did quite figure out the relevance of the bears to Canadian history but the presence of the bears allowed for a nice tie in at the end of the show.
Annette Roman, who does the one-woman show Hitler's L'il Abomination, has a family history that she is keen to expose. She begins the show with what looks like a classic German Hitler Youth costume and a blonde wig, and runs through a couple routines in a German accent. She rips off the wig to reveal her true appearance and American accent.
Her family history is complex and twisted. Her mother was compelled to be in the girls' branch of Hitler Youth, but her mother's family were also owners of immense landholdings in East Prussia, until they all (including the workers...
Rodney DeCroo is starting to make a name for himself as poet (a book published) and singer-songwriter (six CDs). The Cultch Lab stage is bare; often a double bass player supports both DeCroo's guitar and his speech. His show includes some half-dozen songs, spoken word and poems (one verse is rhymed, while the others sound like literary prose).
DeCroo circles the stage (Jane Heyman, directing, must have told him to keep moving) with an apparently artless sequence of recollections about people and places. Pittsburgh, Fort Nelson, Cranbrook, the Cobalt Hotel and New Westminster Secondary...
Growing Up Moni is an entertaining coming-of-age comedy centering on the themes of family and race. Starring and written by Monica Mustelier, this one-woman show is told through a collection of semi-autobiographical stories charting Moni’s experiences from the age of eight through to her mid-thirties. We watch Moni, an only child and first generation Canadian born to Spanish and Cuban parents, as she navigates through life, a child of mixed race where English is not her parent’s first language. The play examines stereotypes and questions what is truly funny and socially acceptable in our multicultural society. Are we really...
Changing Minds is a contemporary high school musical with score by Bret Simmons (film and TV composer) with book and lyrics by David Howard (he wrote the hugely popular movie Galaxy Quest). I’m not sure I was in the right state of mind to see this kind of theatre as I had just left a deeply engaging conversation about anti-oppression and dialogical practices. In addition to that this play incorporates my three least favourite story tropes: switching bodies, star-crossed lovers and beauty and the beast.
THE GOOD
If I put the content of the story aside (I’ll get...
Genre Definition = Funny · Musical · Family Friendly
Bastard Daughter is the seemingly autobiographical recounting of Kathryn Kirkpatrick’s childhood in Montreal as the daughter of the secretary of the Engelbert Humperdinck Fan Club – Montreal Chapter. This one-woman show tells the story of a period in time, when Enge is coming to Montreal, through a variety of characters within the family and the fan club.
I enjoyed learning a bit more about Enge, who until this play had always just been the name my childhood companions and I snickered at (do you know he changed his name to Humperdinck?!?). I also enjoyed the bevy of characters Kirkpatrick offered...
