Archives for May 2012

I seem to be the only person who dislikes The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

In my view, excellent actors, including Judi Dench do much better work than the script deserves.

I mean really. A died-in-the-wool racist played by Maggie Smith suddenly sees the light and gets all kindly? A gay man survives unscarred for decades in India’s homophobic culture? None of it makes sense, except perhaps as a slipshod fairytale.

Yes, the performers deliver. Dench’s character cries when she realizes that her life could have  been richer if she had been more honest with her husband, who is now dead. But the script tells us virtually nothing about that relationship; Dench makes the moment work all on her own.

And what about that weird bit of dialogue in which one of the women who has had sex with one of the elderly men crows that she substituted aspirins for his ED medication because she didn’t want the sex between them to “be like that.” What the hell is “like that” supposed to mean? Is sex that involves medication supposed to be less meaningful?

In my view, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel biggest triumph is that it has identified an underserved market. I wish it served that market with more intelligence.

I went to see Hive: the New Bees 2 at Chapel Arts, the converted funeral home at Dunlevy and Cordova last night, and I highly recommend it.

The original Hive started at Chapel Arts a number of years ago and featured alternative companies that already were or have since become stalwarts in Vancouver’s progressive scene—troupes such as electric company theatre, Felix Culpa, and The Chop.

That event was so exciting that I thought I was going to pass out. This one doesn’t reach that frenzied height, but it’s still very good.

Twelve 10-minute shows run simultaneously between 8:00 and 10:00, and you’ve got to figure out how to get into them—for one show, a handful of sand becomes your ticket—so you’ve got to work a bit to catch the good ones.

My full review will be up on straight.com this afternoon. Here, let me just give you my top recommendations.

Of the shows I caught, I particularly liked Troika Collective’s opera about Chernobyl, Tyler and Brad’s show in the darkened van, and Resounding Scream Theatre’s riff on dating.

There were also a couple of shows that got great buzz, but that shut down before I got a chance to see them: Psyche Theatre’s piece in the coat check, and Hardline Productions’ piece in the upstairs bar. (In that one, you watch through the window as action unfolds across the street.)

Overall, Hive: New Bees 2 is a trip—and my pick of the week.

It’s so skillful.

Carmen Aguirre’s autobiographical solo show, Blue Box, is not only exploding with hot content—Aguirre chronicles both her relationship with a wild Chicano lover who first appeared to her in a vision and her years in the Chilean underground resisting Pinochet—it’s also delivered with huge technical control.

Aguirre is a massively confident performer. And Brian Quirt has directed her extremely well. Aguirre has multiple narrative threads on the go and, with simple turns of the head and changes of intonation, she flips from one to the other—sometimes covering several within the space of minutes—and you never get lost. Very impressive.

That’s why Blue Box is my pick this week.

If you want to see some excellent acting, including from newcomer Chris Lam, check out 100 Saints You Should Know at Pacific Theatre.

Full reviews of Blue Box, 100 Saints, and Grey Gardens will all soon be on straight.com.