by Colin Thomas | Nov 28, 2019 | Review
One thing about seeing a show like It’s a Wonderful Christmas-ish Holiday Miracle: it will leave you with plenty of cognitive space to think about other things the next day. Right off the top of Marcus Youssef’s script, Esther introduces herself. She had...
by Colin Thomas | Nov 24, 2019 | Review
Fado: The Saddest Music in the World is an odd title for a play that evokes so little feeling. The problem is the script. In playwright Elaine Ávila’s story, a young Portuguese Canadian woman named Luisa travels to Lisbon with her widowed mom, Rosida. Luisa,...
by Colin Thomas | Nov 23, 2019 | Review
If Pinocchio was my first East Van Panto, I’d be writing a different review. But I’ve seen all seven and some — especially Little Red Riding Hood (2016) and The Wizard of Oz (last year) — have been so much better that, although Pinocchio is a good show in some ways,...
by Colin Thomas | Nov 22, 2019 | Review
My smart, charismatic mom, who had always feared dementia, sank deeper and deeper into it for the last six years of her life. She’s gone. And now I fear dementia. So, when I was keeping notes as I watched The Father and I thought, “Fuck! Did I get that character’s...
by Colin Thomas | Nov 17, 2019 | Review
If good intentions were all that mattered, Anon(ymous) would be worth seeing. In playwright Naomi Iizuka’s riff on Homer’s Odyssey, a rogue wave sideswipes the boat that a refugee mother and her son are escaping on. The two are separated: the boy is washed...
