Theatre

Covering all of Leo Tolstoy’s mythically long-winded novel is no task for mere mortals, but Ryan Gladstone is up to the task. War and Peace is a funny, smart, and heartfelt treatment of one of history’s greatest works of literature.

The story is told in many layers: the plot of the novel itself, often played straight but poked fun at when necessary; the echoes of Tolstoy’s own life, including his depression and his youthful habits of gambling and womanizing; the historical context of the Russian setting; and the context of Tolstoy’s own writing of the novel, including the...

Peach, a five-star, one woman, monologue show that has been travelling through Canada, has found its home at Vancouver's 2016 Fringe Festival. Danielle Roy spins a cheeky, giddy tale, woven with misadventures and brazen, laughable revelations of teen love. Peach, played masterfully by Alex Harthorn, holds the audience captive with her woes and rants, and later, her heartbreak. Peach initially masks itself as a naive tale of young love but slowly builds into a gritty expression of female victimization in all it's horror.

"Love is bullshit, but bullshit is suddenly delicious." Young and cynical Peach announces this as...

Festa! is a charming look at Portuguese culture and the way it has melded into the Canadian fabric, specifically in Vancouver. It is done in a dinner theatre environment and I would recommend coming with an appetite! The actors (Maria Cruz and Sandra Medeiros) bustle about between the tables of the small dining venue, sit at the tables and chat with the audience in a very interactive environment.

The story follows multiple generations living at the same time and fades between english, portuguese, and penglish. The fight between between a wife and her husband about him booking a...

Brought to you by Fork in the Road Theatre, One Good Marriage is part of the Dramatic Series featuring theatrical works by published playwrights. Written by Ontario playwright Sean Reycraft, this script tells a mysterious tale of two newlyweds Stewart and Steph. The first words we hear are:  “Everybody died.” But we aren’t told what that means. At least, not right away.

We meet the somewhat gregarious, laidback Stewart (Dan Willows) who is a high school librarian and Steph (Ese Atawo) who is an English teacher. They work at the same high school and have just met at...

John Grady is a consummate performer with dance, film and stage experience and awards. His show, The Old Woman, certainly exhibits his brilliance as a performer.  Grady explores the responsibility of providing care for his 87-year-old mother who suffers dementia, seizures and severe bone and joint pain and has been put in an uninspiring care home. While going through the humorous and harrowing interaction with his mother he also faces his own fear that he too, despite his agility, is losing his ability to remember. Terrifying? You bet, but Grady is too wise to drown us in misery; he...

In a subgenre known for its distinguished wackiness, The After After Party ups the ante of the classic ‘hangover plot’ where close friends try to reconstruct the gory, glorious, and ever-elusive details of Last Night. In a script loaded with rapid-fire non sequiturs, crosses-the-line-twice shock comedy, and excessive blunt force trauma to the fourth wall, Katey Hoffman and Cheyenne Mabberley deliver an inspiring performance as a pair of twelfth graders just trying to find their way to the next party (while debating the metaphysics of which parties have an ‘after’ relationship to which).

Hoffman shines as Fiona, possessed...

It’s hard to find fault with Michelle(/Ryan) Lunicke’s performance in the autobiographical piece, "Ze": Queer as Fuck! Amidst the political minefield of gender and identity politics, Lunicke’s voice is nothing but pure, personal, and honest to the point of nakedness. Lunicke’s life as presented in "Ze" is a journey from sexual repression to sexual acceptance, from society into the self, and from clarity to confusion and back.

I first encountered the concepts underlying genderqueerness in the book Feminism is Queer by Mimi Marinucci, but it was a different thing to see them unfurl in the fabric of a...

This play is a lament for the painful consequences that radiate in all directions from a violence-infused culture. It’s a reflection on frustration, anger, abandonment, hidden disabilities, and sexual violence. It reveals a struggle to understand the causes of pain across four lives: a dead American soldier, perhaps by suicide, perhaps involved in Abu Ghraib atrocities in the US/Gulf War; his wife, perhaps unloved, a young woman, now a therapist, emotionally abandoned by her father; the soldier’s artistically-inclined, identical, gay twin brother (wouldn’t they both be gay?) worrying about his life; and the father of the brothers, a Vietnam veteran...

Howard Petrick’s tribute to V.R. Dunne, is packed with intriguing information about the soft-spoken but unflinching union leader who spearheaded the 1934 truck drivers’ strike in Minneapolis. Petrick captures the quiet dignity of the man and tells us straightforwardly about his life of poverty and gruelling jobs for subsistence pay and his dedication to improving conditions for all workers at a time when unions were illegal and exploitation was rife.  

The low-key intimate start is sincere and engaging for the first fifteen minutes. We get the calm intelligence of the man with his glass of whiskey. We...

Exuberant, youthful energy is palpable throughout Daniel K. McLeod’s updated production of this 2015 Fringe hit. It’s funny, sunny, and thoughtful, and doubly energized by a cast, musicians and crew who clearly work well together whether dancing, singing, or delivering the satire.

Many of last year’s strong cast are back, notably Adam Olgui playing multiple roles including the dapper and haughty Pierre Trudeau, and Avy Crowchild playing the lead role of May Lee. Emily Elliot and Caylee Watrin return as May Lee’s close friends, and they are a lovely, animated pair of supporting actresses. Elliot plays the role...

Pages