Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. Send your regrets.
Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley is going to do very well at the box office—but not because it’s good. Co-written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, the play is a sequel to Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice. With her husband, the dashing Darcy, Lizzy now...
Mortified: smells like teen girl spirit
This might seem like an odd thing to say but, to me, Mortified feels whole and perfect in the same way that a body can feel whole and perfect: it’s just that organic, sensual—and complicated. And, like being embodied, Mortified is more than a touch surreal. Playwright...
The Enemy…is too easy to spot
God save good art from simplistic politics. Donna Spencer has adapted Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, which premiered in 1882, to create The Enemy—and by “adapted” I mean “shrunk”. In Ibsen’s story, Dr. Stockmann, the medical officer for a new spa in southern...
Beautiful: the Carole King Musical is solid jukebox—and that’s okay by me
There are only about fifteen minutes of plot in Beautiful: the Carole King Musical: it’s more of a themed concert than a musical play. And the rotation of hits is relentless. But the songs are fantastic and the production is as slick as can be. The set-up is simple....
Bacio Rosso: what price entertainment?
There’s some good fun to be had at Bacio Rosso, the cabaret circus that’s playing in a tent in Queen Elizabeth Park. But you have to pay for your fun in more ways than one. I’ve never been to an event like Bacio Rosso before. It’s more intimate than some circus-style...
Three Winters: my chilly response
There seem to be at least a couple of good stories in the source material for Three Winters, but writer and director Amiel Gladstone hasn’t figured out how to tell them. Gladstone based Three Winters on his grandfather’s memories of being a prisoner of war in Stalag...
SmallWaR: sustained passages of theatrical brilliance
Check out the texture of this piece. (In Vancouver, SmallWaR is being performed in English). There are passages in SmallWaR that are as exquisite as anything I’ve seen. The opening is a stunner. Valentijn Dhaenens, the Belgian artist who created SmallWaR, also...
David Petersen’s memorial
Here’s some information about David Petersen’s memorial that I didn't get in time to include in this morning's FRESH SHEET. It will be held on Sunday, November 25, at PAL (581 Cardero Street) starting at 4:00 p.m. David’s family is asking folks, if they’re able, to...
Red Birds: twitter-brained
Aaron Bushkowsky’s new script Red Birds is flat-out dumb and—very occasionally—funny. It’s tricky to talk about this play without giving away major plot points, but I’ll do my best. In Red Birds, Carol, who has just turned 50, contacts her birth mother Hannah for the...
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