Review: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
By Larissa Albuquerque
Photo by Les Erkine
Perhaps Shakespeare can help you form a truce with iambic pentameter with its postmodern spin on Renaissance-era theatre
Whether you dozed through Shakespeare in your high school English classes, or you’re a fan of the famed playwright, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare is a sight to see. Three talented men suit up in colorful tights as they set you on a comical and theatrical journey through all of Shakespeare’s tragedies, comedies, and histories. “Is it even feasible to perform 37 plays in 97 minutes with only three actors?” a skeptic might ask.
While this eccentric, fast-paced performance not only proves this to be possible, it will leave you more knowledgeable on what Shakespeare is all about and breathless with laughter. With so many plays and so little time, it is to be expected that corners get cut and creativity employed.
As a result, the audience is presented with clever shortcuts such as 16 comedies in a mere 60 seconds, 14 histories played out like the Superbowl playoffs, Othello summarized into a rap by a white boy, Macbeth with three butchered Scottish accents, and Hamlet both sped up and rewound.
The smaller size of the Metro Theatre and its low production value adds to this intimate performance, where audience members feel as if the actors on stage were their close friends performing on their living room floor because of their close proximity and interaction.
The general population of the audience consisted of lovely seniors who were all excited and ready for a night out on the town, along with mothers and fathers with their children hoping for a night that would cater to everyone’s likings. The addition of a more youthful turn out full of energy might have nicely added to the highly vivacious performance, and this would almost certainly occur if this play were to reprise at, say, the WISE Hall.
This aside, Braedon Cox, Robert Sterling, and Adrien Gendron give a brilliant performance through the amount of chemistry they have on stage. Their interactions with the audience and abrupt references to today’s pop culture make this play extremely comical and highly accessible, even if the only Romeo and Juliet you know involves Leonardo Dicaprio.
The Ruffled Feathers are poised for flight
By Eamonn Singleton
Photo courtesy of the Ruffled Feathers
With talent, creativity, and a new album on their side, all that’s left is a pinch of luck for the Ruffled Feathers to be propelled into success
Gina Loes, frontwoman of self-described chamberpop band the Ruffled Feathers, has her fair share of responsibility in developing the band’s unique game plan in distributing their upcoming album, Oracles. “If I ever went back to school, it’d probably be to study business,” she laughed.
Songs from the album are to be released in pairs every two weeks, easing the audience into piecemeal. Each release will also be accompanied by creative projects, such as artwork, short stories, or videos tailored to the songs. “For each song, we’re going to tell you what the song is about, how it makes us feel, and what the influences were. It also allows us to show a different form of art,” Loes explained.
The first release included “Canals of Suzhou” and “All My Cities”. The former is illustrated with a photo essay by Charley Wu, who plays a wide array of instruments, from the guitar to mandolin. “All My Cities” is accompanied by a family recipe for bread, from Gina’s mother, as well as a special T-shirt that was designed with the song in mind.
“I know some talented musicians who are playing, performing, and writing really good stuff,” Loes explained of the rationale behind the band’s strategy. “But with the structure of the music scene, you have to do something to stand out, to be unique. It’s really easy to record an album. Anybody can do it now and upload it to iTunes. But what are you going to do differently?”
Part of the band’s focused direction is a result of their previous struggles. After things things didn’t take off like they imagined after they released their Lost Cities EP in late 2010, the band took a break. But after six months of hiatus, Loes grew anxious to play again. At a time where she could have called it quits, she instead made the decision to give the band another go, forgoing other work opportunities in New York to do so. “I’d rather play music,” she stated confidently.
After a few changes in the line-up, and with a more thought out strategy, the Ruffled Feathers gave it a second try. By then, the momentum had been building, and the band found themselves on the airwaves of CBC Radio 3, and performing at larger venues like the Biltmore.
The band’s philosophy on remaining unique also extends to their style of music as well. “There’s a lot of classical piano, heavy horns, and male–female harmonies all overtop of a rock band,” said Loes. Oracles is a particularly eclectic compilation; she described some songs as having a Western theme, others sounding more traditionally Chinese, along with a few in the style of ‘50s doo-wop.
The Ruffled Feathers are hoping to embark on their first tour some time after their CD release show in April.
“The Vancouver music community is small enough that it’s accessible,” Loes said. “There are tons of great musicians, and it’s easy enough to make connections and for everyone to know each other.”
“However,” she continued, “once you’ve been around long enough, you run out of new places to play which means we’re at the point where we need to start traveling, but that’s a whole other barrier on its own.”
The Ruffled Feathers perform live at The Cellar on February 24.
Running wild
At this point, you’d have to be trying to ignore the SFU track and field team to be unaware of how well they’re performing this season.
The Clan were in Seattle last weekend competing in the University of Washington Invitational Indoor Invitational, and performed admirably — though so much is almost to be expected at this point. However, the competition in this event was much stiffer than much of what the Clan have faced this season, as many NCAA Division I schools were competing as well.
On the first day of competition, both the men’s and women’s distance medley relay teams finished well enough to earn a berth in the GNAC championships later this month.
On the men’s side, the combination of Adam Reid, Stuart Ellenwood, Ryan Brockerville, and Keir Forster ran their way into second place in the event. The women’s team of Michaela Kane, Sarah Sawatzky, Lindsey Butterworth, and Abbey Vogt finished sixth on their side of the event. Many of these runners had already earned spots in the championship in different events, but the two sides solidified SFU’s already notable presence in the presence.
Butterworth, Sawatzky, Kane, Forster, Brockerville, and Reid were also among the eight Clan runners to perform well enough on the events’ second day to earn one more race in the championships. Yubai Liu and Anton Hemeniuk will join those six as their performances in the 800-metre and 3000-metre events, respectively, were good enough to qualify as well.
Needless to say, the Clan will have their presence felt when the championships eventually roll around, and if you’re not paying attention yet, it’s about time you were.
Horizon bright for men’s basketball
It hasn’t been an easy season for the SFU men’s basketball team, and that’s putting it lightly.
The season was almost derailed before it even got going — the number of freakish injuries suffered by key players was, well, freakish. From cysts on the brain to torn knees, the Clan were behind the eightball from the get-go.
Despite all the pre-season adversity, the Clan opened the season strong, winning four of their first six games. That total alone actually surpassed their record from their inaugural GNAC season. Newcomers Javari Williams and Matt Ravio were quickly winning over the hearts of the fans with their chemistry and flash (particularly in the case of Williams), but that’s about when the good times stopped rolling.
Even more injuries befell upon the Clan — most recently a significant knee injury to forward Ibrahim Appiah, one of the team’s top rebounders — and the Clan have since gone 3–12 since November, with only two of those wins coming against GNAC opponents. The proverbial dagger to the heart has not been injuries, however. A number of Clan athletes — only a small handful, but still more than one would ever hope — have been forced to watch from the sidelines as a result of poor academic performance. The academic ineligibles, out for the remainder of the season, left their team with only eight players to start the new year — but that was before Appiah went down with his own injury.
With only seven available players at the moment, the team is having a tough time refraining from losing their breath, let alone games.
That’s not to say that the team hasn’t been competitive, however. The team has lost more than a fair share of blowout losses, but there have been a few defeats that sting more than most. In mid-December, when the team was mostly intact, the Clan lost a heartbreaker to the Academy of Art Universtiy, 84–83. And when the New Year rolled around, the Clan lost another one-point game, 74–73, when a last-second three-point attempt didn’t go against Western Oregon. A win on that January 5 game would’ve meant more than just a notch in the W column, as a win against the then-top-ranked team in the GNAC would’ve been a huge emotional boost.
News out of the men’s team could be more positive in the coming days, however. The Clan did defeat St. Martin’s University on Thursday. On a night where their female counterparts nearly doubled up on the Saints, the men’s side played, and won,
an incredibly close game against SMU. The Clan lead by just one at half time, and parlayed that into a 88–85 victory for only their second GNAC win of the year. Moreover, the Clan face the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday. The Nanooks are the only other in-conference team the Clan have beat; they won that game on the road, but the rematch is in the cozy confines of SFU’s West Gym.
No matter how few players they dress, the Clan refuse to make excuses, and hopefully that mentality has started to turn the season back in the right direction.
Clan rout St. Martin’s to keep pace in standings
Sometimes, there are games a team just shouldn’t win. Other times, there are games the team should just run away with. For the Clan, their Thursday evening game against the St. Martin’s Saints was definitely the latter. The Clan were fighting for third place in the GNAC, while the Saints were floundering at just 2–9 on the season. But as we learned last week, there’s a reason the teams actually play the games.
The Clan lost a very winnable game to Western Washington last Saturday, and the 70–61 defeat was the Clan’s first home loss of the season. A win against the Vikings would’ve propelled SFU into the second seed in the GNAC standings, and in the current playoff format, the conference’s top two teams earn first round byes. The loss, however, dropped the Clan into the fifth spot and to the edges of playoff contention. With that in mind, the Clan weren’t taking anything for granted against St. Martin’s.
“We had a huge sour taste in our mouths,” said sophomore Chelsea Reist of their loss to Western Washington. Thursday’s game against St. Martin’s was much sweeter.
The Clan came out flying early, and Reist led the charge, starting the game hitting all of her first six shots. She in particular seemed to take the Western Washington loss personally.
“I sure did,” she laughed. “We didn’t play at all like we should have, not at all like our potential. Before [this] game we talked about it, how we needed to come out and win this
one for everyone to believe in us again.”
The game was over early, and the eventual 79–48 victory will go a long way to restoring that confidence.
Reist was a force inside early, and gave the Clan an early lead that they would not give up for the duration of the game. Between her and fellow 6-foot-2 forward Nay Raincock-Ekunwe, the Clan put together an attack that the Saints had no answer to. Reist scored most of her points early, while Raincock-Ekunwe steadily built her way to a double-double — something becoming almost commonplace with her — finishing with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
“It was awesome today,” said Reist of they play of Raincock-Ekunwe and herself inside. “That’s probably the best we’ve been . . . I’d really like to keep that going.”
Understandable. The duo’s down-low prowess opened up the deep ball for ace Kristina Collins, who scored all 12 of her points from beyond the arc. Add the Clan’s ridiculously deep bench, and SFU easily disposed of struggling St. Martin’s — just as it should’ve been. In a playoff race as tight as theirs, every game matters, and no games can be taken for granted.
Alaska Anchorage is comfortably in first place, but the three teams directly in front of the Clan all won on Thursday as well. Western Washington sits in second at 8–3, while the Clan, still in fifth, improved to 7–4 with the victory. Needless to say, it’s a close race.
“Everything’s so tight,” said second-year guard Marie-Line Petit. “We could’ve been second, but we dropped a couple games we shouldn’t have, and now we’re in fifth. Each game can hurt us bad if we lose it.”
Only six teams make the playoffs, and the Clan only one spot away from that dividing line. That said, they’re still just one win away from second place and that valuable bye. With their confidence restored and knowing they can take nothing for granted, the Clan could be back on their way up the standings.
Cody Hodgson has arrived
The Peak recently published an article saying Vancouver Canucks centre Cody Hodgson needed to step up. Apparently he reads our newspaper.
The 21-year-old rookie has had a sensational start to the new year, and has not only solidified his spot on the team, but has locked down the third-line centre role as well. He recorded 10 points in the month of January — six of them goals — and has vaulted himself into serious Calder Trophy talks as the league’s best freshman.
It did help that Edmonton’s young phenom Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed significant time with an injury, but don’t let that take anything away from Hodgson’s play of late. His 14 goals are, at this moment, second among all rookies, while his 30 points are good for fourth, only five behind Nugent-Hopkins’ 35. And even though the Oilers’ star missed a number of games, he still has played far more minutes than Hodgson has this season.
Admittedly, Hodgson has had much more professional experience than Nugent-Hopkins and other top rookies, and that has no doubt helped his play. But frankly, he’s still rather fortunate to be in this position. A serious back injury threatened to derail his career before it ever really got going. Then, a freak jaw injury while playing with the Canucks AHL afilliate, then the Manitoba Moose, took the young centre back out of the lineup barely after returning. Of course, being the 10th overall pick in any draft comes with serious expectation — and with a fan base as fickle and demanding as Vancouver’s, Hodgson’s slowed development left the city wanting more, if not a trade.
Needless to say, he’s finally starting to tap into all that potential, and those trade rumours have died down significantly over the past month. His January efforts earned him Rookie of the Month honours, while his play this season earned him a selection as one of the rookies invited to the NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa.
Hockey fans on the west coast like to complain about the lack of attention the Canucks get, but it seems as though Vancouver fans and the rest of the league are starting to notice Hodgson at the same time. To his credit, he has been putting on quite a show.
He hasn’t ‘stolen’ anyone’s job, as many have suggested, for Manny Malhotra and Maxim Lapierre still have their own distinct roles on the team. Hodgson has just been playing fantastic hockey. As the third centreman behind Art Ross-winning Henrik Sedin and Selke-winning Ryan Kesler, he’s not likely to get top-flight minutes like those two, or even the likes of Nugent-Hopkins. You’ll never hear him complain about his ice time (or lack thereof). Instead, you’ll see him make the most of every chance he gets, quietly and efficiently, like he’s been doing for a while now.
The Calder Trophy would be nice, and Hodgson has openly admitted that. If he continues at the pace he established in January, then the award is not far-fetched. On a team like the Oilers, he’d likely be getting first-line minutes and likely be potting a few more points, but it goes without saying that if a smaller role on this team now earns the Canucks a much bigger piece of hardware later, Cody Hodgson would gladly go without the Calder. In the meantime, however, enjoy the ride aboard the number-nine train; it’s only getting better.
