The intrepid Kirsten Van Ritzen is at it again—this time she’s launching Victoria’s first Funny Women Festival February 21st and 22nd (with a networking/hangover brunch on the 23rd). You might know Kirsten for her many roles with SinCity, the live improvised serial, or the searing Langham Court theatre production That Face in January 2013, or her regular stand-up and improv comedy classes. She’s also a novelist, solo performer and executive … [Read more...]
Shakespeare in Love: Scenes of Love from Shakespeare at Craigdarroch Castle, February 7-15,2014
February 12, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Shakespeare in Love: Scenes of Love from Shakespeare at Craigdarroch Castle, February 7-15, 2014 Valentine’s Day has a special meaning for my husband and me since our anniversary is February 12th. And what better way, as an arts-lover, to celebrate both than to partake in Shakespeare in Love: Scenes of Love from Shakespeare at CraigdarrochCastle. Staged by Giggling Iguana Productions and the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival (GVSF) … [Read more...]
Proud at the Belfry Theatre February 11-March 9, 2014. A review.
February 10, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Michael Healey’s play Proud, currently at the Belfry Theatre (February 11-March 9, 2014) is an outrageous, provocative, sexy and very funny tale of the behind-the-scenes political machinations of Canada’s prime minister. Proud has been surrounded by controversy since it’s inception. Healey (author of The Drawer Boy—seen at the Belfry in 2000) was the playwright-in-residence at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre; he resigned when Proud was pulled from … [Read more...]
Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre presents A Glass Menagerie February 11th-23rd, 2014.
February 5, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre founding artists Victor Dolhai and Sarah Jane Pelzer portrayed childhood sweethearts in The Fantasticks (2009). Five years later they return as brother and sister in A Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams Pulitzer-award-winning memory play (February 11th-23rd, 2014). I caught up with Victor and Sarah for a chat about the play, their careers since 2009 and the importance of Blue Bridge to the local Victoria … [Read more...]
The Timebenders at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel. A review.
January 31, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The Timebenders have been entertaining fans for the past 21 years, and yet, I'm ashamed to admit I had never been to one of their shows. All this changed recently with a kind invitation from the Oak Bay Beach Hotel to attend opening night in the David Foster Foundation Theatre. Founder Tom Watson has been coaxed out of retirement to join the very professional ensemble of musicians and singers, to the great delight of the group's … [Read more...]
Winterlab 2014. Q and A with Dustin Harvey of Secret Theatre.
January 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Do you come from Victoria, or have your moved here from elsewhere? What does “home” mean to you? Dustin Harvey of Secret Theatre will be investigating the notion of place (and home) in two works during Intrepid Theatre’s Winterlab (January 25th – February 1st). We Are Here takes place during the opening Winterlab Fête January 25th and Farewell Victoria closes the festival (January 31st and February 1st). I had the opportunity to ask … [Read more...]
Cabaret at Langham Court Theatre. A review.
January 21, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Life is a cabaret—or is it? There is plenty to ponder amid the hummable songs and intricate dance numbers of Cabaret currently playing at Langham Court Theatre to sold-out houses (January 15-February 1, 2014). At heart, Cabaret is the classic tale of a young American (Griffin Lea as Cliff Bradshaw) bound for Europe and adventure. Set in Berlin during the heady and decadent between-wars time of the WeimarRepublic, this on-the-surface … [Read more...]
Sci-Fi Double Feature at Winterlab 2014. Q&A with Brian Fidler.
January 15, 2014 By Leave a Comment
I was first introduced to the work of Ramshackle Theatre of Whitehorse when Brian Fidler presented Broken at Intrepid Theatre’s UNO Fest in 2013 (my review is here). Now, Ramshackle returns for Winterlab (January 25th-February 1st, 2014) with Sci-Fi Double Feature—a cardboard puppet show for adults and children alike. I caught up with Brian when he was deeply immersed in a puppet intensive at the BanffSchool of the Arts (co-incidentally … [Read more...]
Home is a Beautiful Word at the Belfry Theatre. A review.
January 12, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Home is a Beautiful Word, currently at the Belfry Theatre (January 7-19th), is proof positive that contemporary theatre is relevant. By turns stark, hard-hitting, sad, brave, uncomfortable and funny, this well-researched verbatim-theatre play challenges assumptions about homelessness by reflecting the points of view of a wide range of Victorians. Playwright and journalist Joel Bernbaum was commissioned by the Belfry Theatre, and has spent … [Read more...]
Chor Leoni presents Cadillac Cathedral Feb 1 in Victoria, Feb 2 in Nanaimo
January 11, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Chor Leoni presents Cadillac Cathedral. No writer better embodies what it is to live on Vancouver Island, for me, than the venerable Jack Hodgins, author and professor emeritus at the University of Victoria. I came late to his work, in the 2000s, and still remember reading passages of The Invention of the World (his first novel, written in 1977) and veritably smelling the tang of the beach at high tide, and hearing the crunch of sand under … [Read more...]
