A Vancouver Guldasta: welcome nuance
It was like meeting real people. And they took me places I’d never been. In A Vancouver Guldasta, playwright Paneet Singh introduces us to the Dhaliwals, a Sikh Punjabi family living in South Vancouver in 1984. It’s June. Sikh militants who want to create a new nation...
Testosterone: not the hormone bath I’d hoped for
I wanted to like Testosterone so much more than I did. Written by trans man Kit Redstone, the script declares early on that it’s going to examine what it means to be a man, but its exploration is so rudimentary that it could barely be called Maleness 101. Don’t get me...
Les Belles-soeurs: not so belles all the time
As I was watching this production of Les Belles-soeurs, I kept trying to fill in the holes. There are a lot of them, especially in Act 1. In Michel Tremblay’s 50-year-old play, Germaine Lauzon has just won a million trading stamps. (Stamps like these were part of an...
A CRITIC’S DOZEN: 11 must-see fall shows
The theatre season we’re in promises to be thrilling. As you’ll see, six of my 11 top picks will be playing at Cultch venues. So, if I were looking for season’s tickets, that’s where I’d buy. Here we go! Les Belles-Soeurs Tabernac! The cast! This Ruby...
Mustard: Don’t let this put you off condiments
Hold the Mustard. On paper, it sounds like playwright Kat Sandler might have created an engaging world. Sixteen-year-old Thai has an imaginary friend, Mustard, whom she can see and talk to. Thai’s getting sick of Mustard hanging around all the time, but Thai’s mom...
Kim’s Convenience: shop here
Ah, the appeal of an almost-racist joke! In Kim’s Convenience, the play that spawned the TV series, writer Ins Choi finds the sweet spot as he tickles the edges of transgression. Appa (Dad) and Umma (Mom) run a convenience store in Regent’s Park, Toronto. Appa regards...
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: curiously, it both works and doesn’t work
Because its heart is simple but pure, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is both boring and moving. Based on Mark Haddon’s bestselling novel, Simon Stephens’s play follows Christopher, a 15-year-old boy on the autism spectrum, as he tries to figure out...
REVIEW FINDER: 40—forty!—Vancouver Fringe reviews
This website has the MOST—and the MOST INFORMED—reviews of show at the Vancouver Fringe. Here you go: 40 of 'em. FORTY! 5-Step Guide to Being German ADHD Project, The Al Lafrance: I Think I’m Dead Angels and Aliens Awkward Hug Banned in The USA Big Queer Filipino...
BIG QUEER FILIPINO KARAOKE NIGHT
> Colin Thomas Let’s hear if for queer representation from communities of colour! And let’s acknowledge that this particular show could be a whole lot better. In Big Queer Filipino Karaoke Night!,Vancouver drag artist Davey Calderon remembers his first visit to the...
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