Top Posts of 2014. I've been writing articles since 2009 (on Wordpress.com and the now-defunct Posterous), but the url janislacouvee.com became active in 2011 (I transferred the older content). Traffic has grown incrementally since then and the focus has shifted substantially from community events and news of upcoming arts events to a heavy emphasis on reviews--and it shows in the top posts of 2014. Ignorance by the Old Trout Puppet … [Read more...]
2015 the Year of More and Less
December 30, 2014 By 1 Comment
2015 the Year of More and Less. Since 2013, I've named the years. They've been "The Year of Taking More Risks, Having More Fun and Expanding Cultural Horizons" (2013); "The Year of Celebration, Exploration and Adventure (2014). 2015 is "The Year of More and Less". Here's my beginning list. I don't make resolutions, but want 2015 to be "more" of certain attitudes and behaviours and "less" of others. What about you? Do you have … [Read more...]
Books I Read in 2014
December 30, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Books I read in 2014. I grew up as an avid reader, regularly borrowing books from the-not-yet-regional library in Ucluelet. As a child my favourites were the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Gang of Five by Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden. As a young teenager I discovered science fiction legends like Clarke, Heinlein, Bradbury and Herbert, and the fantasy of Tolkein. CanLit surged to the … [Read more...]
Alice the Musical at Theatre Inconnu November 30-December 20, 2014. A review.
December 6, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Alice the Musica at Theatre Inconnu November 30-December 20, 2014. A review. Alice by Tom Waits, Paul Schmidt, Kathleen Brennan and Robert Wilson, currently at Theatre Inconnu (November 30-December 14, 2014) is a hallucinating and troubling journey into the relationship between Charles Dodgson (Graham Roebuck) and the young girl (Melissa Blank) who inspired his books—the children’s classics Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the … [Read more...]
Sense and Sensibility by Company C at St Ann’s Academy. A review.
December 3, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Sense and Sensibility by Company C at St Ann's Academy. A review. With crisp precision and nuanced flourish, under the inspired direction of Glynis Leyshon, CCPA’s Company C brings Jane Austen’s 200 year-old romantic comedy of manners Sense and Sensibility to life in the sumptuous setting of the chapel and grounds of St Ann’s Academy. As readers of my website know, I’m a big fan of site specific theatre; Victoria is fortunate to have … [Read more...]
Alice vs Wonderland. Blue Bridge at the Roxy. Review.
December 1, 2014 By 1 Comment
Alice vs Wonderland. Blue Bridge at the Roxy November 25-December 14, 2014. A review. Whether you are familiar with the 1951 Disney animated version of Alice in Wonderland or Alice Through The Looking Glass adapted by Canadian playwright James Reaney in 1994, and staged again to avid audiences at the Stratford Festival this summer—you’ll be surprised at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre’s fresh take—which owes much to the aesthetic of music videos … [Read more...]
Early and Night Shift at the Royal BC Museum November 21, 2014
November 27, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Early and Night Shift at the Royal BC Museum November 21, 2014. Media release and preview. This past year, the Learning Department has invited three Victoria artists—Aimee van Drimmelen, Lindsay Delaronde and Gareth Gaudin—into the Royal BC Museum for a year-long residency. In addition to taking part in our Wonder Sunday and Night at the Museum events, they went behind the scenes to creatively chronicle the extraordinary objects and … [Read more...]
Hubris in Athens, a new play by John Green, November 28/29 in Victoria BC.
November 27, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Hubris in Athens, a new play by John Green, November 29 in Victoria BC. Media Release. Electoral reform: a snore-making topic to be avoided in polite society, a cause worthy of passionate debate, or something to laugh about? Victoria playwright John Demmery Green suspects that most people would pick answer one, but for him the battle to achieve proportional representation is both a passion and something people should have fun with. Green’s … [Read more...]
17 Stories by Bema Productions November 29/30 in Victoria BC
November 27, 2014 By Leave a Comment
17 Stories by Bema Productions November 29/20 in Victoria BC at Congregation Emanu-El Synagoge. Life is full of small happenstances. I would not have known about Victoria's newest theatre company, Bema Productions, if I hadn't stopped to chat after RKO Productions' Rocky Horror Show. Little did I know that Jessica Van der Veen, who I knew more for her political forays, was an actor. Following the great success of the arts festival celebrating … [Read more...]
The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs at Langham Court Theatre. A review.
November 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Small Room at the Top of the Stairs at Langham Court Theatre. A review. The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs, currently at Langham Court Theatre, November 18-December 6, 2014 is rich, replete with interpretations and claustrophobic in its psychological intensity. Grace (Julie Forrest) has everything a young woman can desire—a rich husband, Henry (Justin Carter) who loves her and showers her with gifts, a beautiful mansion (28 rooms of … [Read more...]
