Two Hands Productions presents CODA (Children of Deaf Adults). CODA weaves the tale, equal parts funny and poignant, of what it is like to be raised by parents both of whom are deaf.
Mark Murray plays Tim, a boy who yearns to be heard and hopes for a closer relationship with his mother. He and his mother have difficulty communicating and do so mostly through his father, as his mother’s disease involves not only deafness but a slow loss of vision causing her understanding of another’s signing to be difficult.
Tim must learn to answer that age-old question that...
"The Legend of White Woman Creek" has its roots in the brutal conquest of the American West. Reality was different than the triumphal narrative of brave pioneers, bound together with love of family and God, who fought the savage natives and usually won. But we know now that "Little House on the Prairie" and Hollywood Westerns are not completely true.
History is written by the victors, it's said, but other versions linger in the collective unconscious too. A quick Google search for "White Woman Creek" brings up two conflicting narratives of how the creek got its name, and...
I’m sure there are a thousand clichés in this piece which can be criticised – but it’s not by me, at least, not today. I found this simply enjoyable. If you’ve watched any film about a band on a road trip, you know what to expect here. They will fight, they will enhance each other (in that “being a little shit about it” sort of a way), you will laugh, and you will certainly cringe at some of the things these uninhibited musicians get up to.
This particular band is made up of three men and one woman;...
This show takes place at Granville Island’s public waterpark. No, the water is not running. Instead, the dormant yellow waterslide, the rolling cement hills, the intricate playground apparatuses, all are host to a conference of William Shakepeare’s favourite female characters. Sounds interesting? There’s more.
Twenty some odd audience members are split into three groups and then led around the landscape by their Pixie Captain. The aim of the Pixie Captain is to illuminate female/lesbian/queer/trans perspective in Shakespeare’s drama. Only once all of Shakespeare’s female characters are liberated from their subordinate gender roles can anyone go home.
Winnipeg’s random band name productions presents Fraz Wiest in his 60 minute one man show “Fraz vs The Future”. It is being staged at one of my favorite venues -- the lovely intimate Studio 1398 on Granville Island. I was a little disappointed that there was no programme for some cheat notes, and that they chose to close the black curtain over the big, beautiful, bay window, even though the play takes place in the present, and lighting and special effects are at an absolute minimum.
It’s all about Fraz. He strides onstage with a towel and a water bottle (which...
Written by Harrison Mooney, this piece is a one of those rare but fabulous shows where the ensemble cast is so damn good you can’t fairly highlight only one or two performers. While they’re all trained and talented actors, the singing and musicianship were surprisingly good too.
Director Andy Toth has pulled together a seamless work of art in spite of the narrative jumping from one decade to another and he somehow manages to have evaded that sometimes awkward transition from dialogue to song that can feel artificial in some musical theatre...
Gary Smally is a scientist who’s written an authoritative book on snails and is interviewing for a teaching position at the university. Yet he still struggles with everyday tasks and his mom has helpfully sent him a book to prep him for his first real date.
Emily Windler (of the wonderful Wonderheads fame) has created a memorable and immensely likable character in the tradition of Buster Keaton and Mr Bean. (Think of a mustachioed southern fried Bean, with thick glasses.) This is very broad physical comedy and Windler pulls out all the stops throughout show....
Andrea Yu wrote, directed and produced Versus – a locally staged play by Lotus Land Productions at the Firehall Arts Centre for the 2014 Vancouver Fringe. Featuring actors Evelyn Chew, Pandora Morgan and Chris Lam, this show is immensely self-referential as the plot centres on a struggling playwright named Andrea and her friend who is a struggling actor named Pandora.
Andrea (in the play) is writing a play for a competition – and it's not going at all well. Her friend Pandora isn't having much luck either – she blows up at a casting director during...
Sam Mullins is a true storyteller. In this show, staged at the Havana Theatre, he offers us a very structured performance. Though he told us that this performance was the most sick he's ever been onstage (laryngitis) and drank tea throughout, you wouldn't believe it. Mullins is well-trained and a seasoned performer.
We meet Mullins at his first stand-up comedy workshop in Victoria taught by a man who reminds him of Ace Ventura. To get the creative juices flowing, Ace Ventura requests that Mullins and his classmates take one minute to write down some personal truths. These “truths”...
A Mind Full of Dopamine is the story of Rory Ledbetter’s descent. At an innocent poker game, one of the milestones of attaining manhood, he has his first great flood of dopamine – the product of risk and reward. Mice will give up everything, food, water, sleep, for dopamine. Rory, to feed the dopamine craving monster within, shoved $98,000 down its gullet and it still wasn’t satisfied.
I went into the show without knowing anything but the title. I’m sure, had I googled or even read the program, I would have had many of the common...
