Archives for April 2014

Gazing at Mrs. Warren’s navel in Iceland

Mrs. Warren's Profession, Melissa Oei, Vancouver theatre

Playing Vivie in Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Melissa Oei serves notice that she’s a serious actor

One weekend, so much to see: Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Iceland, Through the Gaze of a Navel.

Director Marisa Smith’s production George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession is packin’ ’em in—deservedly—at the Rickshaw Theatre. I’ve never seen such a clear, imaginative take on the text. (It includes a violin/cello/harp arrangement of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”.) Excellent performances from Melissa Oei, Linda Quibell, and Daniel Arnold. This show is only up till Sunday, so get in there. [Read more…]

Judith Thompson: actor

Judith Thompson, Watching Glory Die, the Cultch, Vancouver theatre

Judith Thompson quit acting in 1980 because “I didn’t want to get into the game where you have to do things you don’t believe in.”

Playwright Judith Thompson hasn’t acted in decades. But she’ll perform all three roles in the premiere production of her play Watching Glory Die, when it premieres at the Cultch (April 22 to May 3).

The play is inspired by the death of 18-year-old Ashley Smith, who strangled herself to death in Ontario’s Grand Valley Institution while guards videotaped for 45 minutes. In her fictionalized take, Thompson will play a disturbed teenager, her mother, and a guard.

Performing isn’t spooking Thompson, but she’s having a few problems with the playwright. [Read more…]

Mies Julie is still the best show in town

Mies Julie, the Cultch, Vancouver theatre

Bongile Mantsai and Hilda Cronje duke it out in Mies Julie

Mies Julie is the show to see this weekend.

In some ways, the evening bears the burden of Strindberg’s original. At the beginning, you want to scream, “Let’s make this an early night! Just don’t fuck the crazy lady!” But that happens anyway, of course and, in many ways, Yaël Farber’s new version of the story is a huge improvement over what Strindberg had in mind. [Read more…]

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