Joan by Matthew Payne of Theatre SKAM, SPARK Festival 2017. A review. Joan by Matthew Payne of Theatre SKAM, at the Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2017 (March 17-26) is a rich and beautiful testimony to a much-loved iconic figure and to a unique friendship. For over 30 years Joan Mans was a fixture, not only in Victoria’s arts scene, but also in the city’s bars and small restaurants—she volunteered at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, the … [Read more...]
This Is Not A Conversation at the Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2017. A review.
March 16, 2017 By Leave a Comment
This Is Not A Conversation at the Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2017. A review. Not a conversation—rather, a theatrical exploration—and, an uncomfortable one, at that. What happens when two people—one an Israeli-Canadian, the other, a Kuwaiti-Lebanese-Canadian whose family is part of the Palestinian diaspora initiated in 1948—begin to explore their mutual heritage, to ask the uncomfortable questions about land, race, ethnicity, religion and … [Read more...]
The Inspector at the University of Victoria Phoenix Theatre March 9-18, 2017. A review.
March 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment
The Inspector at the University of Victoria Phoenix Theatre March 9-18, 2017. A review. Politics is politics, whether Russia in 1836 or Victoria in 2017, as Professor Linda Hardy’s mordant rewriting of Nikolay Gogol’s play, The Government Inspector (now called The Inspector) proves. Anyone even vaguely connected to current issues will chuckle, and those with more of a bent for community activism are sure to guffaw from beginning to … [Read more...]
Taking Leave at Langham Court Theatre March 3-18, 2017. A review.
March 6, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Taking Leave at Langham Court Theatre March 3-18, 2017. A review. Taking Leave by Nagle Jackson is a contemporary and timely examination of an impending public health crisis, writ small through the life of the family of esteemed Shakespeare scholar Dr Eliot Pryne (Alf Small). At 62 Eliot is seemingly too young to be ravaged by Alzheimer’s—it’s a fact his daughters are having a hard time coming to grips with: Alma (Tammy Johnson) the eldest, is … [Read more...]
SPARK Festival 2017 at the Belfry Theatre March 9-26, 2017.
March 1, 2017 By Leave a Comment
SPARK Festival 2017 at the Belfry Theatre March 9-26, 2017. One of my favourite festivals returns; every year I look forward to innovative and exceptional work, revealed at the Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival. (media release follows). More than 80 theatre artists from across Canada will descend on Fernwood this March for the Belfry’s annual SPARK Festival - an opportunity to see some of the best theatre in the country. SPARK will kick … [Read more...]
Pride and Prejudice at the Chemainus Theatre Festival February 17-March 25, 2017. A review.
March 1, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Pride and Prejudice at the Chemainus Theatre Festival February 17-March 25, 2017. A review. In Janet Munsil’s witty and humourous adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (playing at the Chemainus Theatre Festival until March 25th) it’s easy to see Mrs. Bennett (Amy Lee Newman is splendid in the role, with abundant nervous energy channeled in short sharp bursts) as no more than a flibbertigibbet, an annoying, meddlesome mother, but in … [Read more...]
A Spring of Theatre March-May 2017 in Victoria BC
February 27, 2017 By Leave a Comment
A Spring of Theatre March-May 2017 in Victoria BC March The Jazz P@ge, Victoria’s First Word in New Play-Writing The Dark Sequel March 1st Hosted by Outpost 31 and workingclasstheatre A series of new play reading nights at 2% Jazz at the Hudson Two New Plays ! Main Feature - FRANKENSTEIN : Ross Crockett's -workingclasstheatre- new version of Mary Shelley's gothic classic. Supporting Feature - THE BLUE HOUR : Kiana Karimkhani's … [Read more...]
Taking Off by Deborah Williams at the Belfry Theatre February 21-March 12, 2017. A review.
February 27, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Taking Off by Deborah Williams at the Belfry Theatre February 21-March 12, 2017. A review. Deborah Williams hasn’t lost the touch. If anything, after tapping into the zeitgeist for over 20 years, her comedic talents, already finely honed, reach vertiginous heights with zany, over-the-top reflections in her first solo show Taking Off (at the Belfry Theatre until March 12th). I remember sitting in the audience for the initial Mom’s the Word … [Read more...]
Age of Arousal at Theatre Inconnu February 14-March 4, 2017. A review.
February 23, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Age of Arousal at Theatre Inconnu February 14-March 4, 2017. A review. Theatre Inconnu has done it again! A powerhouse cast of accomplished actors whole-heartedly embraces Linda Griffiths’ rich and complex language and her particular style of externalized interior monologue ("thought-speak") to animate the lives of early British suffragists* in the hilarious and thought-provoking Age of Arousal (playing until March 4th). Wendy Merk’s … [Read more...]
Gut Girls at the University of Victoria Phoenix Theatre February 9-18, 2017. A review.
February 11, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Gut Girls at the University of Victoria Phoenix Theatre February 9-18, 2017. A review. They’re a feisty lot, the gut girls of the eponymously named play by Sarah Daniels, currently at UVic Phoenix Theatre to February 19th. Written to highlight the social, economic and gender inequalities of Victorian-era England (the gut girls—over 500 in number—worked long hours, in brutal conditions, in the slaughter sheds of the Foreign Cattle Market, … [Read more...]
