Dream Another Day at UNO Fest 2018. Interview with Meagan O'Shea. Meagan O’Shea of Stand Up Dance has a long history of creating solo shows. Victoria audiences may remember her from The Atomic Weight of Happiness at UNO 2012. What sparked the creation of this show? Rape culture The inheritance of the imperative to keep secrets The fact that now we’re in a truth telling and believing moment there is still the training to not … [Read more...]
All Happy Families by Dance Berskerer Dance May 4 2018. Preview.
May 1, 2018 By Leave a Comment
All Happy Families by Dance Berskerer Dance May 4 2018. Preview. (media release) New dance company merges disciplines to interpret dysfunctional family life. Dance Berserker Dance, Victoria’s newest contemporary dance company, is debuting their original work All Happy Families, May 4th, 2018. With concept and choreography by Kelly Hobson and video design by Alex Wlasenko, this captivating new work spotlights the tensions and contradictions … [Read more...]
UNO Fest 2018. Interview with Guest Indigenous Curator Yolanda Bonnell
May 1, 2018 By Leave a Comment
UNO Fest 2018. Interview with Guest Indigenous Curator Yolanda Bonnell. Yolanda Bonnell is the very first guest curator at UNO Fest. She kindly answered questions not only about her role as curator, but also as the creator of bug, one of the shows in the festival. How do you see your role as Guest Indigenous Curator? Well I was definitely honoured to be asked to be guest curator for the festival. I see it as an opportunity to … [Read more...]
UNO Fest 2018. Interview with curator Heather Lindsay of Intrepid Theatre
May 1, 2018 By Leave a Comment
UNO Fest 2018. Interview with curator Heather Lindsay of Intrepid Theatre. UNO Fest is Canada's longest running solo theatre festival, now in its twenty first year. Produced by Intrepid Theatre it has been curated since 2017 by Executive Director Heather Lindsay after the retirement of long-time artistic director Janet Munsil. “This year we’ve made a conscious choice to put the spotlight on indigenous women’s voices by opening up the … [Read more...]
ArtSmarts Monday Magazine May 2018
April 30, 2018 By Leave a Comment
ArtSmarts Monday Magazine May 2018 Theatre Festivals in Victoria BC (originally appeared in the May 2018 edition of Monday Magazine) Many people are familiar with the Victoria Fringe Festival or Belfry Theatre’s SPARK Festival, but did you know about Impulse Theatre’s PEEK-FEST or Puente Theatre’s WorldPlay? There are actually twelve theatre festivals yearly in the Capital Region. Catch the last play reading in Puente Theatre’s … [Read more...]
Tenant Haymovitch at Theatre Inconnu. Interview with director Matt McLaren
April 30, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Tenant Haymovitch at Theatre Inconnu. Interview with director MattMcLaren Two years after his directorial début—Bad Jews, also at Theatre Inconnu—Matt McLaren returns with an ambitious project—Tenant Haymovitch, which audiences may remember as a stand-out international offering from the 2012 Victoria Fringe Festival. McLaren, a UVic Phoenix grad and long a stalwart of the Victoria theatre scene where he contributed reviews to The Marble … [Read more...]
Kim’s Convenience at Chemainus Theatre Festival. A review.
April 30, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Kim’s Convenience at Chemainus Theatre Festival. A review. April 24-May 26, 2018. It’s a dream come true for any Fringe performer or playwright—navigating the tricky waters from alternative theatre to mainstage production. And, although it makes a compelling story, the reality of Ins Choi’s seemingly “instant” hit is much more complex. Kim’s Convenience is now a CBC series and has even had a run in New York but in 2011 when Mr Choi staged … [Read more...]
Working the Musical by the Canadian College of Performing Arts. A review.
April 27, 2018 By 1 Comment
Working the Musical by the Canadian College of Performing Arts. A review. Working the Musical may be forty years old this year but it still packs an emotional wallop. Students from the Canadian College of Performing Arts, under the leadership of director and choreographer Matthew Howe, do great tribute to these stories of ordinary working people. Based on the book written in 1972 by ethnographer and oral historian Studs Terkel, of his … [Read more...]
Swan Song and Other Farces at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre. A review
April 26, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Swan Song and Other Farces at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre. A review Swan Song and Other Farces (currently at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre April 24-May 6, 2018) combines four of Chekhov’s short farces into one continuous and riotous ninety minute frolic to begin the company’s 10th anniversary season. Director Jacob Richmond has an unquestionable grasp of the genre, a talent he has honed for over a decade as the founder and one of the main … [Read more...]
Working the Musical by the Canadian College of Performing Arts. Preview.
April 24, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Working the Musical by the Canadian College of Performing Arts. Preview. The Canadian College of Performing Arts (CCPA) sheds the glitz and glamour of their spring performance with the Victoria Symphony to don a different uniform this week. The students – singers, actors and dancers all – will become a tableau of America’s often invisible working classes in the Tony Award-nominated musical WORKING. WORKING paints a vivid portrait of the … [Read more...]
