Snowflake: Let it snow!
It always amazes me when a show manages to save itself in Act 2. This production of Snowflake does that — splendidly. In playwright Mike Bartlett’s Snowflake, the first act is a monologue delivered by a guy named Andy. As he waits in a church hall in his hometown of...
The Power of the Dog: Saddle Horny
If you listen to the first two lines of The Power of the Dog, you will know exactly where this movie is going, so do yourself a favour: listen and save yourself from two (mostly) tedious hours. I say “mostly” because, thanks to cinematographer Ari Wegner, The Power of...
Lights — but not much action
On opening night, several people told me that they enjoyed Touchstone Theatre's production of Adam Grant Warren's new play Lights. I did not. I’m going to lay out my reasons, not because I’m trying to suck the pleasure out of anybody’s experience, but because I have...
Everybody: Yes, including you
I love this show about as much as I’ve loved anything in two years. Early on in Everybody, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s adaptation of the fifth-century morality play Everyman, Death, who kickstarts the action, says, “You’re all dying, starting now.” Of course, we’re all...
Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol: Happy slappy
Act 1 is weird. Technically, it’s slick, but it’s so aggressively entertaining and relentlessly uplifting that, watching it, I started to feel like I was on a ride in Disneyland — or maybe Dollywood. Are those real people on the stage or are they robots? In Charles...
Alice in Wonderland: Join her
Covid, climate change, and November are conspiring to deplete my capacity for joy. I know I’m not alone in my exhaustion and dread. So the East Van Panto comes as a sorely-needed gift this year, a celebration of life — of community and fun. Now in its ninth...
The Pillowman: not a sleep aid
I wasn’t bored by this two-and-a-half-hour production, which is saying something. But I wasn’t horrified either — and I should have been. In Martin McDonagh’s 2003 script, a writer named Katurian is being interrogated by “good cop” Tupolski and “bad cop” Ariel....
Paddle Song: E. Pauline Johnson deserves better
I acknowledge that I’m saying this as a settler: in my opinion, Paddle Song, the play about Canadian Mohawk/English poet E. Pauline Johnson, isn’t very good. In my view, this nineteenth century woman who toured across Canada, the US, and the UK reciting her poems...
Emilia: the embodiment of solidarity
There’s a force blowing off the stage in director Lois Anderson’s production of Emilia. It feels like a stiff, invigorating wind. In fact, it’s a combination of confidence and fury. Emilia, which was commissioned by London’s Globe Theatre, is a fantastical history...
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