Jordan Tannahill writes plays for and about queer youth
When I interviewed young queer playwright Jordan Tannahill about Late Company, which Touchstone is presenting at the Firehall November 21 to 30, he also told me about Age of Minority, the trilogy of plays that earned him a GG nomination this year. All three solo plays...
Two great shows to see this weekend
They're really different and they're both really good: Saint Joan at the Stanley and Hunter Gatherers at the Havana. Saint Joan is a great big show loaded with serious talent and serious ideas (George Bernard Shaw-size ideas). I've been getting flak on straight.com...
What to see this weekend: The Rainmaker, and Our Town
The best shows running this weekend are both American classics: The Rainmaker and Our Town. The Rainmaker's script is odd: naive and sophisticated at once. It's the poetry that makes that combo work—that and Pacific Theatre's elegant, warmhearted production. The...
The Cultch, your theatre destination this weekend
This weekend, the Cultch has the two best shows in town: Ronnie Burkett's The Daisy Theatre and Deanna Fleysher's Butt Kapinski. Butt Kapinski is a participatory clown show. Don't be a wuss. Show up and play. You'll feel liberated. Fleysher sticks her hand into gender...
Save the English language: learn the difference between “to lie” and “to lay”
When I'm working as an editor, one of the mistakes I see most often is the misuse of to lie and to lay. I'm a substantive editor in the publishing world and a story editor (same thing) in the movie world. I help writers to build and shape their narratives. Grammar...
Watch your Butt
You know how laughter sometimes just keeps spooling out of you, like it's this great, long silken rope and you can't believe how much of it there is? Like you just sit there helplessly and shake while it keeps unraveling? Kids laugh like that all the time. And that's...
Second thoughts—well, further thoughts—about Since You Left Us
With annoying regularity, I'll write a review that goes online or into print, and I'll think, "Damn! I wish I'd analyzed that more perceptively" That happened recently with my review of Susinn McFarlen's Since You Left Us. In my review of McFarlen's comedy, which is...
Magic Unicorn Island takes the Critics’ Choice Award
On Sunday night Kathleen Oliver and I gave the Georgia Straight Critics' Choice Award to Jayson McDonald's Magic Unicorn Island. McDonald is an immensely skilled performer: he's got a great sense of theatricality and few people can portray innocence as convincingly as...
Nominees for the GS Critics’ Choice Award
Kathleen Oliver and I have picked the nominees for this year's Critics' Choice Award at the Vancouver Fringe. They are: Chase and Stacey's Joyride, Dirty Old Woman, Little One, Magic Unicorn Island, and Moonlight After Midnight. Terrific shows, all of 'em. Thanks to...
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