Unexpected and character-driven, Tara Travis’ performance in the one-woman show Til Death: The Six Wives of Henry VIII portrays a story that has been heard time and time again. However, Travis and director Ryan Gladstone have created a production that uniquely deviates from the original tale.

The play is set during the Tudor Dynasty, specifically the reign of Henry VIII. Henry became the ruler of England at the age of 17 and married his older brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon that same year. After tiring of her inability to produce a male heir, he became besotted with Anne Boleyn, who was later executed based on accusations of witchcraft.

Still desperate for a male heir, Henry sought the hand of Jane Seymour, who managed to produce a frail and sickly baby boy before dying in childbirth. Next came Anne of Cleves, a marriage which lasted only six months before being annulled. Shortly after, he married Kathryn Howard, Anne Boleyn’s  cousin, whom he executed due to her adultery. His final wife was Catherine Parr, whom he remained wedded to until his death in 1547.

You may initially be concerned that a one-woman show depicting seven historical figures would be a difficult undertaking, but Travis makes it seem effortless. The play veered away from a standard production and brought the characters to life in such a way that it never felt as if one person on the stage wasn’t enough.

After the show, The Peak spoke with Travis, and she explained how she is able to perform all of the different characters. “I spent a lot of time in rehearsal walking around the room, finding [each of the character’s] gait, the way they breathe, and which body part led first. Over time I found their voices [and in time] their faces became more nuanced.”

This was particularly evident in a scene where each of the six wives began to detail their stories and how they came to marry Henry. Each of the wives had her own voice — ranging in different accents from Northern English to German — and each had different physicalities. For instance, Travis played Anne Boleyn as just a decapitated talking head without a body. Her ability to draw the audience in with her facial expressions — which were incredibly strong, and varied with each character — is to be admired.

This is a show that will resonate with audiences, in part due to a strong performance by one-woman show artist Tara Travis, and also due to Ryan Gladstone’s formidable script, which has a killer ending.

Til Death: The Six Wives of Henry VIII was performed by by Monster Theatre Productions October 10 and 11 at the new Surrey City Hall’s Centre Stage.

From October 6 to 11, the Vancouver International Improv Festival (VIIF) lit up Granville Island. As Marc Rowland, a performer in the festival, said, “It’s a celebration of improvisation from groups across North America and the world.”

The art of improvisation means to create without preparation, and involves high levels of bravery and skill. This festival brings the spontaneity and adventure of improvisation to Vancouver. According to performer, Brent Skagford, “[This fest] bring some of the best acts from all across the country.” He continued, “There’s a great community here in Vancouver, and this festival just helps promote that.” Another artist, Rick Andrews, says that the VIIF is his “favourite festival because of the great energy.”

The first group I saw on October 10 was the Magnet Theatre Tour Co, featuring Rick Andrews, Lewis Kornfeld, and Megan Gray. From New York City, they started the night in front of a packed house. The audience was loud, and the troupe quickly proved to have wonderful timing and chemistry. From the hilarious relations between a butler and a black widow, to an idiot taunting huge birds and zookeepers, the series of skits was lively and detailed. The group had solid transitions, was consistently funny and outrageous, and made sure to tie up all loose ends.

Next was troupe Ferrari McSpeedy, starring Mike Fotis and Joe Bozic from Minneapolis. Demanding major audience participation, we all got very used to screaming ‘Fighting danger! Fighting crime!’ as this troupe did their short skits. They started off strong with a baking-inspired skit, but the performance became confused as the act progressed. The versatile voices of the actors were overwhelmed by their breaking out of character, which became distracting.

Hip.Bang! was up next, featuring local boys Devin Mackenzie and Tom Hill. This performance was extraordinarily fun, with tons of audience participation. Within five minutes, my cheeks began to hurt from smiling too much. Pregnant men, overly sexual scuba divers, and a biology lesson about trees created a crudely hilarious performance. The use of silences made the dialogue funnier, and the extensive fake kissing was a hilarious choice.

The night ended with Easy Action, a Montreal based group starring Brent Skagford and Marc Rowland. Unlike the other shows, Skagford and Rowland created one cohesive storyline in their performance. Their show was brilliant, full of chemistry, slightly disgusting, and extremely well acted. Skagford played a woman in a style reminiscent of comedian Ryan Stiles, creating a hilarious plot with Rowland, whose characterizations were also excellent.

In a short interview, Rowland and Skagford let me in on the life of an improv performer. Rowland is the director of both the Montreal Improv Theatre and the Montreal Improv Festival, and Skagford is the co-creator and co-star of The Bitter End web series, and both are fully engaged in Easy Action.

As Skagford explains, every show starts with “a single suggestion from the audience that inspires [the] show [then] the two of us together try to create a cohesive narrative with relationships, emotion, action, drama, and sex.”

As international performers, Rowland explained the importance of showcasing their work all over Canada, highlighting the importance of festivals like VIIF. In particular, Skagford said they like to “see what the scene is like in other cities, what their style is, and absorb it.”

When asked to describe improv as an art form, Skagford charracterized it as “an incredible adrenaline rush.” He continued, “You have no guarantees. It’s about experiencing that moment, right now, there is something interesting, and if [we] can find that, we can create ourselves a story.” Rowland added that “improv has a lot in common with the world’s great philosophies and religions — life is but breath, which is very much what we try to experience on stage.” They ended the interview by chanting, “SFU, we love you!”