Tomorrows Child at Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2018. A review. The mind-bending experience of Tomorrow’s Child by Ghost River Theatre (currently at the Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2018 March 20-24) begins long before entering the theatre. Panels and poster boards provide information on the company and the main creators. Bright-eyed “performer mecs” greet patrons assembled in the lobby for this auditory immersive piece. Instructions are … [Read more...]
Cafe Daughter at Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2018. A review.
March 21, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Cafe Daughter at Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2018. A review. Café Daughter, the fictionalized story of the life of Senator Lillian Eva Quan Dyck, by noted Cree playwright Kenneth T Williams, currently at the Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2018 March 20-24, is a deep dive into systemic and internalized racism through the eyes of a child, told with humour and grace. Yvette Wong (Tiffany Ayalik), growing up in small town Saskatchewan in the … [Read more...]
Who Killed Spalding Gray at Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2018. A review.
March 14, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Who Killed Spalding Gray at Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2018. A review. What do you get when you cross Daniel McIvor, playwright, performer and renowned Canadian theatre artist with Spalding Gray, the man who practically invented the autobiographical monologue? Daniel McIvor. Photo: Guntar Kravis Two celebrated storytellers—Canada’s Daniel MacIvor, Siminovitch Prize winner, playwright and actor Spalding Gray, the American who re-invented … [Read more...]
Mouthpiece at Belfry SPARK Festival 2018. A review.
March 13, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Mouthpiece at Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2018. A review. Mouthpiece. Photo: Joel Clifton Mouthpiece premiered in Toronto in 2015, won several Dora awards, was remounted, travelled to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017 and has toured Canada. Mouthpiece follows one woman, for one day, as she tries to find her voice. Interweaving a cappella harmony, dissonance, text and physicality, two performers express the inner conflict that … [Read more...]
SPARK Festival 2018 at the Belfry Theatre March 8-25, 2018
March 13, 2018 By Leave a Comment
SPARK Festival 2018 at the Belfry Theatre March 8-25, 2018 Victoria has an abundance of theatre festivals and the Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival is one of my favourites. It kick-starts the festival season in early spring; there are many FREE events (mini-plays, Belfry 101, play readings, concerts and a Hootenanny); there are opportunities to see vibrant, current work by artists not often seen on Victoria stages; it attracts a different … [Read more...]
A Spring of Theatre 2018 in Victoria BC. March-May.
February 21, 2018 By Leave a Comment
A Spring of Theatre 2018 in Victoria BC. March-May. Spring signifies renewal, rebirth and growth, and nowhere is this more evident than in Victoria's burgeoning theatre ecosystem where the period from March to the end of May will see more than SIXTY shows, cabarets, fundraisers, play readings and festivals, including the Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival and the TD Festival of New Works at the Canadian College of Performing Arts in March, Paper … [Read more...]
What a Young Wife Ought to Know at Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2017. A review.
March 23, 2017 By Leave a Comment
What a Young Wife Ought to Know at Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2017. A review. Sometimes a play is so powerful, speaks to you across time, place and position so directly that you feel you are in the room with the actors. And, as a critic/reviewer, you wish you had a little more time to grapple with the issues and themes it unfolds, rather than rush to produce the requisite words. Playwright Hannah Moscovitch has a reputation, and the … [Read more...]
Reverberations by Brian Linds at Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2017. A review.
March 22, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Reverberations by Brian Linds at Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2017. A review. Well-respected actor and sound designer Brian Linds has had a “thing” for sound ever since his dad bought a tape recorder when he was 13. In Reverberations, his sound installation/performance piece currently at the Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2017 until March 26th, learn more about Linds’ personal and family history in a series of vignettes, set in various … [Read more...]
Joan by Matthew Payne of Theatre SKAM, SPARK Festival 2017. A review.
March 20, 2017 By 1 Comment
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...]
SPIN by Evalyn Parry at the Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2017. A review.
March 15, 2017 By Leave a Comment
SPIN by Evalyn Parry at the Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival 2017. A review. Musical love poem, feminist manifesto and history lesson, all rolled into one, SPIN by Evalyn Parry (Belfry Theatre SPARK Festival March 14-18, 2017) is a life-affirming, joy-filled celebration of the bicycle. SPIN is a polished performance piece—incorporating spoken word, projections and video (design: Beth Kates), songs (as well as an amazing percussion bicycle) and … [Read more...]
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