RING OF FIRE: It’s Empty
If you’re looking for a musical revue with no story or ideas, you’re in luck. This Arts Club production of Ring of Fire is well staged, well designed, it contains some strong performances and, of course, it features a bunch of great songs by Johnny Cash and others,...
HAMLET: Unexpected Elsinore
Clarity is both the blessing and the curse of director Stephen Drover’s production of Hamlet — mostly the blessing. I was grateful to have some parts of the story more clearly defined than they’ve ever been for me. But it’s also important to remember that the play is...
TWELFTH NIGHT: What country, friends, is this?
A couple of hours before the lights went up on this Bard on the Beach production of Twelfth Night, Kate Besworth got the call that she’d be going on as Viola: Camille Legg, who is cast in the role, has been laid low by a nasty bug. Besworth is the understudy for...
MEDICINE: I Could Use a Stronger Dose
For at least the first two-thirds of Medicine, I was bored. It was never the actors’ fault, it was the script’s. When hope made an appearance in the story, I started getting into it. Irish playwright Enda Walsh’s 2021 work is set in an activity room in a psychiatric...
BARBU: Again! Again!
So sexy. So much fun. For a good time, call Barbu at 604-251-1363. That’s The Cultch’s box office number. Created by Montreal’s Cirque Alfonse, which is a family-and-friends operation, Barbu sets out to recreate the feel of the circuses that toured Québec at the turn...
SUPER SENIORS: It Knows What It is, Which is a Good Thing
This morning, the friend who accompanied me to Super Seniors emailed to say that the show left her feeling good and “That feels like it ought to be a metric for the value of a live theatre event, don’t you think?” Yep. I had a good time at Super Seniors and that...
WHEN WE WERE SINGING: A Flawed Good Time
I enjoyed myself at When We Were Singing. Beyond that, the analysis gets more complicated. Off the top, I want to thank the company for accommodating my schedule and letting me see this show in its first and only preview. To be clear, this cast had never performed in...
A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD: Don’t Let “God” Put You Off
Some people I know are wary of Pacific Theatre: because it’s a Christian company, they’re afraid of proselytizing. So, in that sense, the title of PT’s latest production, A Case for the Existence of God, isn’t doing the company any favours. BUT DON’T BE FOOLED: A Case...
GUYS AND DOLLS: More Bimbo!
Madeleine Suddaby’s performance as Adelaide is worth the price of admission. Literally. Lay down that dough! Guys and Dolls premiered in 1950, but it’s based on work by Damon Runyon set two and three decades earlier. In the underworld of gamblers, strippers, and...
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