Creeps packs a sucker punch worth taking
It’s a stealth operation. I was watching Creeps, admiring the performances and considering the structure of the play when, all of a sudden, the emotional impact hit me and I was stifling sobs. Creeps, which premiered at Toronto’s Factory Theatre Lab in 1971,...
Holy Mo! There might actually be a point here
I wrote a whole other version of this review before I realized that Holy Mo! A Christmas Show actually has a point. I suspect that’s because playwright Lucia Frangione is speaking an almost private language. In her new script, Frangione retells the story of the birth...
The Day Before Christmas is this year’s most annoying holiday entertainment
God, I hate these people—okay, these characters. Act 1 of The Day Before Christmas digs itself into a deep hole artistically. Act 2 displays moderate improvement. This new script by local writers Stacey Kaser and Alison Kelly features Alex, a busy Vancouver...
Little Red Riding Hood is the best East Van Panto so far
The East Van Panto is now officially the best holiday tradition in Vancouver—in my Vancouver, anyway. I started loving this year’s panto, Little Red Riding Hood, the minute I entered the theatre. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy being in an audience that has a whole...
Why did Topdog/Underdog win a Pulitzer? This production isn’t telling.
I don’t know if I’ve really seen this play yet. Topdog/Underdog won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Its author, Suzan-Lori Parks, is considered by many to be an important voice in American theatre. But, in this production from Seven Tyrants Theatre, Topdog/Underdog...
This Spelling Bee is a holiday in innocence
If you need a holiday in innocence, check out The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The musical features three eccentric adults, but it’s the vulnerability of its six quirky kid characters that makes the piece so charming. As they compete against one another in...
Brothel #9: exquisite physical production, stellar performances
It’s immersive. There are so many compelling textures in Touchstone Theatre’s production of Brothel #9 that, watching it, you feel like you’re somewhere else. In Toronto playwright Anusree Roy’s script, a young woman named Rekha arrives in a rundown building in...
Fall in love with—and at—Green Lake
Playwright Katey Hoffman continues to be one of the most exciting new voices on the local theatre scene: not everything about Green Lake works, but a lot of it does and the script is as original as all hell. With Cheyenne Mabberley, Hoffman wrote The After After...
Green Lake: the tenderness of girl crushes and absent dads
Playwright Katey Hoffman continues to be one of the most exciting new voices on the local theatre scene: not everything about Green Lake works, but a lot of it does and the script is as original as all hell. With Cheyenne Mabberley, Hoffman wrote The After After...
Subscribe Free!
Sign up for the FRESH SHEET newsletter and get curated local, national, and international arts coverage — all sorts of arts — every week.
Contact
Drop a line to colinthomas@telus.net.
Support
FRESH SHEET, the reviews and FRESH SHEET, the newsletter are available free. But writing them is a full-time job and arts criticism is in peril. Please support FRESH SHEET by sending an e-transfer to colinthomas@telus.net or by becoming a patron on Patreon.
Website by Mighty Sparrow Design.