Theatre
À toi, pour toujours, ta marie-lou is deeply captivating
October 23, 2014The first thing that struck me as outstanding about Theatre la Seizième’s season opener was the set. With three raised platforms to separate the space, each character was isolated and stood out when they delivered their lines. Marie-Lou sat on the far left in her rocking chair, knitting while watching TV, and her husband, Léopold, sat at his table full of empty beer glasses on the other side. In between them, and a bit lower down, were their two daughters, Manon and Carmen. Carmen has returned home to visit Manon, and as they revisit their childhood we learn shocking things…
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Improv superheroes save the day at Theatresports
October 20, 2014It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Theatresports’ Superhero Show! Each night, the improv masters of Theatresports entertain audiences at The Improv Centre with a different caper involving a unique superhero created from audience suggestions. For example, the night I…
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Tara Travis is one woman, six wives
October 20, 2014Unexpected 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…
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Improv Fest brings comedy troupes to Granville Island
October 20, 2014From 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…
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Rebel Women puts the words of suffragettes on stage
October 13, 2014I’ll be honest, the first thing that usually comes to my mind when prompted about women’s rights to vote is the character Mrs. Banks in the 1964 Disney movie, Mary Poppins. She graces the screen every so often with the…
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Studio 58 opens their 49th season with Kosmic Mambo
October 13, 2014Continuing the long tradition of physical theatre at Studio 58 (joining works like Nocturne, Scenes from a Courtroom, and The Company), Kosmic Mambo is an adaptation of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, set during the…
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Educating Rita is dead funny
October 13, 2014What does it mean to get an education? When we hear the word, most of us picture the typical university lecture hall with a professor at the front sharing his or her wisdom, but there are other types of education…
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4000 Miles crosses the generational divide
September 29, 2014A simple premise and a beautifully portrayed relationship can lead to a very immersive theatre experience. In Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles, Vera and her grandson Leo have a relationship that gradually becomes something very touching. It was so immersive that,…
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Since You Left Us is a hilarious tale of dysfunction
September 29, 2014Like watching a hilarious television sitcom, Since You Left Us is about a sister returning home to her dysfunctional family and learning to accept them for who they are. Susinn McFarlen has written characters that are just exaggerated enough to…
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Our Town: as much as things change, they always stay the same
September 22, 2014Sitting at a picnic table beside the main stage tent at Bard on the Beach, Bob Frazer explains that Thornton Wilder and Shakespeare have one very important thing in common: they wrote plays about human emotions. “One of the great…
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