I’ve really struggled with this review. I saw the Bard on the Beach production of Richard II last weekend and have had a tough time formulating my thoughts. The main reason: I really didn’t like the show. You’d think it would be easier to write a nasty review than a glowing one but this isn’t always the case.
John Murphy and Haig Sutherland in Richard II (this time, it's personal); photo by David Blue
Thank you Deborah Dunn for being so talented a dancer and so funny too!
Deborah Dunn presented four short choreographies, Four Quartets, as part of the Dancing on the Edge Festival; it was the last show I saw as part of the festival, and it was such a welcome highlight.
Henry Daniel’s *T2*, performed as part of this year’s "Dancing on the Edge Festival", was a piece with some interesting and some aesthetically pleasing moments but overall it left no distinct impression emotionally, aesthetically or intellectually. It’s not that there wasn’t any worthwhile content – there was – but this was a piece composed of so many disparate elements that I simply had a hard time finding a throughline or central message or truth from this show.
This was my second opportunity to see Wen Wei Wang’s *Three Sixty Five*, and before the show, I was excited. I loved Three Sixty Five the first time I saw it and was looking forward to seeing its highly emotive physicality again as part of this year’s "Dancing on the Edge Festival":http://www.dancingontheedge.org/. Of course, choreographies evolve, and Three Sixty Five was a different show the second time around; it seemed a bit smoothed down, mellower in some ways, but it remained a showcase for the outstanding talent of Wang and his dancers....
On a warm, windy summer evening in July, I sat on a folding chair outside the Roundhouse in Yaletown. This is an area of Vancouver I seldom frequent, yet at that moment in time, it felt like the heart of the city, of my city. I was surrounded by cement and brick, skyscrapers looming above me and above the makeshift stage. The sun was setting, Alvin danced.
Alvin Erasga Tolentino. Photo by Alex Waterhouse-Hayward.
Knockabout Theatre Co. offers up a healthy dose of dirty fun in *Dirty Girls*, a modern fairy tale based on Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Two Slatterns and a King.
Dirty girls proving that they are indeed Dirty Girls.
You don’t often see a lot of genre work in live theatre, especially not in one man shows, typically reserved for more personal topics. Sebastian Kroon cuts straight against the grain in his solo show *Circus*, a chilling tale about a young boy’s fascination with a mysterious carnival.
This 1950s adaptation of Cinderella with a queer twist tells the story of Cindy and Betty, two friends and fellow housewives who are both dissatisfied with their mundane existences. When Cindy’s fairy-drag mother appears and suggests she might be happier as Sid rather than Cindy, it rekindles the hope for happiness in both women.
No artwork from the company but here's a picture of a woman with a tray of food
Sex sells, and Fringe artists know it. But if past festivals are to be used as a benchmark, titillation and artistry don’t always go hand in hand. That is why *Peeler*, written by and starring Kiran Friesen, is such a wonderful surprise.
image removed by request of some grumpy people in toronto
Based on the book by James Finn Garner, The Pheasant Plucker's Mates production of *Politically Correct Bedtime Stories* combines the unbridled fun of a kids show with the sophistication of satire designed to delight a more mature mind.
