Buy your tickets RIGHT NOW for Empire of the Son
Okay, this is kind of the artistic equivalent of insider trading, but you should buy your tickets for Tetsuro Shigematsu's Empire of the Son right now before my review is posted online—and before other critics have a chance to chime in and word of mouth hits high...
Two fave Fringe holdovers
This is the perfect opportunity for you slackers who didn't see enough at the Fringe. Two of my favourite shows from are being held over as part of the Granville Island Public Market's Pick of the Fringe, which runs from September 23 to 27. Tonight (Wednesday,...
Master class with John Vaillant
Writing pals, you should know about the series of master classes that the Tyee is offering. On September 26, John Vaillant is teaching. He's an accomplished writer of creative non-fiction. His books The Golden Spruce and Tiger are both highly praised and highly...
Acting at the Fringe
There's a lot of excellent acting at the Vancouver Fringe this year. Under Evan Frayne's direction, everybody in The Fighting Season is terrific. I'm talking about Kyle Jespersen, Tom Pickett, and Siona Gareau-Brennan. Jespersen's portrait of a traumatized medic is a...
Four Fringe picks
The Vancouver Fringe Festival is flat-out my favourite time of the theatrical year. Because I saw a bunch of shows at the Victoria Fringe, I've already seen a dozen pieces that are playing here. Here are my top four picks so far. They're all excellent. In alphabetical...
Confession of an effete local yokel
When I gave a generally negative review to the Bard on the Beach production of King Lear, an online commenter going by the name Edward Bernays took issue and called me an "effete local yokel". A few days later, I ran into Simon Webb on Fourth Avenue and complained: "I...
How to get Colin Thomas to like your show: theatrewire
"How to get Colin Thomas to like your show." That's the title of this post on theatrewire.com, a new initiative from the First Vancouver Theatrespace Society (the folks who produce the Fringe), the Playwrights Theatre Centre, and the See Seven Performing Arts Society....
Two things the Arts Club does that bug me
I love the Arts Club. For decades, Bill Millerd has kept multiple stages running, employing hundreds of artists and technicians, and entertaining thousands. The Arts Club is committed to developing new scripts, too, so more power to 'em. That said, I wish they'd admit...
If you’ve ever suspected I’m an idiot, here’s confirmation
Okay, this is at my own expense, but it's so hilarious that I have to share. In my original review of King Lear, which was posted on straight.com last Friday, I wrote the most epic fail of a lead ever. Here it is: "If you mount King Lear and you don’t go deep, the...
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