She Sells Sea Shells: I ain’t buyin’ ’em. (But they’re pretty.)
Watching She Sells Sea Shells is like watching somebody you like dating the wrong guy: admirable artists have worked very hard and very skilfully on this production, but Helen Eastman’s script isn’t worthy of their talents and attention. I’m going to chew on the...
The Cave: Enter quickly (only two more shows left)
John Millard’s music for The Cave is glorious. And who couldn’t use some gloriousness these days? The Cave is a musical cabaret with characters and a narrative. Pursued by fire, the animals of the forest are running for their lives. They take refuge in Bear’s cave,...
Panto Come Home!: ghosts of Christmases past
The whole is less than the sum of its parts, but some of those parts are excellent. This year’s (online) East Van Panto is a collection of greatest musical hits from the last seven years of The Cultch and Theatre Replacement’s pantos. Writer Mark Chavez strings the...
Be-Longing embraces double-jointed identities
A lot of the work in Be-Longing is skilled. And, although not everything in the piece succeeds for me, there’s an underlying integrity to it that makes several passages compelling. Created by Fay Nass, Meghna Halder, and Sammy Chien, Be-Longing is about the double...
Nom Nom Gnomes: Nope
Carousel Theatre recommends this 30-minute audio play for kids who are three years old and up, but I can’t imagine any kid I know sitting still for it. I could barely manage. In Nom Nom Gnomes, Momoka, her nine-year-old son Taku, and his little sister Kyoko prepare a...
Heroes of the Fourth Turning: Christian Soldiers
This is the review of Heroes of the Fourth Turning that I included in the December 3, 2020 issue of my newsletter, FRESH SHEET. I'm posting it here so that I can link to it in my November 17, 2022 issue. I haven’t encountered such a philosophically and...
Pathetic Fallacy: far from pathetic, but not riveting
Conceptually, it’s cool and sometimes it’s pretty, but it’s not substantial. Created in 2018, Pathetic Fallacy emerged from core creator Anita Rochon’s determination to share her theatre work internationally without flying all over the place and contributing to...
The Twelve Dates of Christmas — aren’t worth sitting through
Christmas is coming, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, theatres in BC have been hit especially hard, and I don’t want to look like an asshole. But, if I’m going to be honest, there’s no way to avoid saying this: The Twelve Dates of Christmas is a waste of time. The...
do you want what i have got? a craigslist cantata: BOOK THIS RIGHT NOW
I’ve never posted an emergency review before, but here it is. You’ve got to see do you want what i have got? a craigslist cantata and your last chance is today at noon. Here’s where to book your tickets for the livestream. Based on real-life Craigslist ads and...
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