2014: some of the best of this year in theatre
People often say to me, “You must get so sick of going to the theatre!” But I don’t. I love my job. Not to put too fine a point on it, but my job is fucking spectacular: I get to think and feel for a living. As a way of saying thank-you to everybody who makes theatre...
BEST holiday shows—for grown-ups and for families
Okay. Time for the First Annual Christmas Pudding Awards. There are two categories: Best Holiday Show for Families, and Outstanding Holiday Entertainment for Crusty Old Adults. Let's do the Family category first; kids have short attention spans. The Family nominees...
Top three holiday shows—so far
I'm going to start to sound like a rerun of Sesame Street, but Avenue Q is still my favourite show in town. Both the material and production are first-rate: irreverent and original. Things get a little spicy—there's Muppet sex—and that's great for adults, but Avenue...
Q tip
The best holiday entertainment I've seen so far this year is still the Arts Club's Avenue Q. This outrageously funny but warmhearted musical is running at the Granville Island Stage until January 3. Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to see a whole bunch more...
Cue up for Avenue Q
Avenue Q is the show to see this weekend. The musical's satirical take on Sesame Street—and the generation of young folks raised to feel special and disappointed to find that they're not—is hilarious. The songs include "What Do You Do with a BA in English?" and "The...
This weekend: Speed-the-Joan
The top picks for this weekend are wildly different: Speed-the-Plow at Studio 16 and Saint Joan at the Stanley. In the monumental Saint Joan, an all-star cast led by Meg Roe, Dean Gibson, Scott Bellis, and Tom McBeath, tells the story of the Maid of Orléans. Director...
The queer GGs
It's a good year for queer artists at the Governor General's Awards: FOUR queer artists were honoured when the prizes were announced on Tuesday—and two of them are from Vancouver. Jordan Tannahill, who's based in Toronto, won in Drama for Age of Minority: Three Solo...
Hey lady, got a play? Send it to Ruby Slippers
Are you a female playwright? Want to get a public reading of your script? Then you should know that Ruby Slippers Theatre, in conjunction with the Vancouver Fringe Festival and Equity in Theatre have got a little somethin' goin' on. It's called "Advance Theatre: New...
Go see Saint Joan
What to see this weekend? That would still be Saint Joan, which is on at the Stanley until November 23. Don't wait until the last minute though; if there's any justice in the world, it will sell out. Director Kim Collier brings the intelligent but talky text to vivid,...
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