Fractured Fables: The Prison Puppet Project – a review

Words like “labour of love” and “massive undertaking” are often over-used.  In the case of Fractured Fables: The Prison Puppet Project currently playing at William Head Onstage (WHoS) they accurately describe not only the creation process but also the end result. Founded in 1981, William Head on Stage is the only inmate-initiated, inmate-run theatre program inside a Canadian federal prison which opens it’s gates to a public audience.  Over the … [Read more...]

Shakespeare in Film a fundraiser for The Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival

The Victoria Shakespeare Society, producer of The Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival, announces their first film festival as a fundraiser for the festival. The works and life of William Shakespeare have been portrayed on film in many various and exciting ways, and continue to have a lasting impact. To celebrate Shakespeare’s influence and to raise funds for the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival, for three Saturdays this fall, the … [Read more...]

Voices From the Four Directions – a fundraiser for the Victoria Women’s Sexual Assault Centre

Voices From The Four Directions: The poetry and prose of International Who's Who Author and Poet, Dr. Stanley K. Freiberg, will be read by notable teachers, writers and actors on the evenings of October 18thand 19th at  St. Ann’s Academy on 835 Humboldt Street.  Proceeds from the evening will benefit the Victoria  Women's Sexual Assault Centre. Retired from the University of Calgary, Freiberg is a  William Blake  scholar and specialist in … [Read more...]

Falstaff by Clayton Jevne at Theatre Inconnu – a review

Falstaff by Clayton Jevne at Theatre Inconnu - a review. Clayton Jevne of Victoria’s Theatre Inconnu is a true master of the solo show. Since his signature piece, Hamlet, was first produced in 1991, he has gone on to perform it over 600 times, most recently in the summer of 2011. Other solo works include Moscow Stations (2011), Diary of a Madman and Dream of a Ridiculous Man (2008) and A Christmas Carol (performed regularly since 1997). His … [Read more...]

Harvey at Langham Court Theatre – a review

Harvey at Langham Court Theatre – a review Langham Court Theatre begins their 85th season with a revival of the American classic, whimsical comedy of errors, Harvey, written by Mary Chase in 1944 and last mounted by Langham in 1985. Harvey opened on Broadway (where it became one of the longest running plays in history), went on to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1945, against competition from Tennessee Williams’ A Glass Menagerie (Chase … [Read more...]

A Place to Listen season two – interview with founder Daniel Brandes

A Place to Listen season two - interview with founder Daniel Brandes. In late 2012 I met Daniel Brandes (UVic M.Mus ’10), composer, curator and founder of a new listening series A Place to Listen, and in the process, found a musical home. What started for Brandes as one concert, a way to showcase music from the Wandelweiser collective, and fellow musicians and composers, has resulted in 10 concerts over a year, and the launch of a second … [Read more...]

CCPA’s Company C presents Lend Me A Tenor October 4-6th 2013

CCPA's Company C presents Lend Me A Tenor October 4-6th 2013. I’ve had a close connection with the Canadian College of Performing Arts, now celebrating their Sweet 16 season, since my son, Elliott Loran (Ride the Cyclone, Pretty Little Instincts) attended and graduated in 2007. For me personally, one of the highlights is watching a new generation of theatre artist make the transition from student to professional.  One way to accomplish this … [Read more...]

The Odd Couple by Island Repertory Company – a review

After a two year absence, Island Repertory Company returns to the Metro Studio Theatre with Neil Simon’s classic Tony-award winning play, The Odd Couple, starring Howie Siegel as Oscar and Eric Holmgren as Felix. With a mandate and reputation for hard-hitting, well produced and entertaining theatre (The Boys in the Band (2010), Glengarry Glen Ross (2011)), artistic director Dick Stille has assembled a cast of some of Victoria’s finest comic … [Read more...]

Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet at Belfry Theatre – a review

I remember sitting in the left balcony of the Belfry Theatre, 21 years ago this fall, for  Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), and laughing myself silly. Daniela Vlaskalic (as Constance Ledbelly) / Photos by David Cooper The swish and swirl onstage, coupled with wonderful parries and thrusts, and great bursts of bravado, cloaked in rhythmic language, simply charmed me.  When Michael Shamata, artistic director, … [Read more...]

A Fall of Theatre in Victoria BC 2013

A Fall of Theatre in Victoria BC 2013. November 26, 2013. Click for  late November December shows. Fall has arrived, and one of the busiest theatre seasons in my recent memory begins. There are 17 shows (at last count) running in October alone.  Rather than keep you waiting, I've decided to publish this post in preliminary fashion with dates up to the end of October. I'll add November and December shortly. We barely had a chance to … [Read more...]