Judith Thompson: actor
Playwright Judith Thompson hasn't acted in decades. But she'll perform all three roles in the premiere production of her play Watching Glory Die, when it premieres at the Cultch (April 22 to May 3). The play is inspired by the death of 18-year-old Ashley Smith, who...
Mies Julie is still the best show in town
Mies Julie is the show to see this weekend. In some ways, the evening bears the burden of Strindberg's original. At the beginning, you want to scream, "Let's make this an early night! Just don't fuck the crazy lady!" But that happens anyway, of course and, in many...
Sex, shame, and land claims
This weekend, I highly recommend two shows. This Stays in the Room (Horseshoes & Hand Grenades Theatre at the Gallery Gachet, 88 East Cordova) is based on true stories about shame and forgiveness. Mindy Parfitt's direction is fantastically resourceful. And the...
Ga Ting is a necessary—and welcome—play, but neither the script nor the production is polished. In Ga Ting, which translates from the Chinese as Family, first-time playwright Minh Ly imagines a meeting between a Matt, a white gay man who has just lost his partner...
Stan Douglas says that Vancouver’s contempt for artists gives him more room to move
Stan Douglas and Chris Haddock, the big brains behind Helen Lawrence, which opens next Wednesday, March 19, have some surprising things to say about why they choose to make art in Vancouver. These comments didn't fit into my preview interview with the pair, which will...
How to make a press release media-friendly
This is another post for publicists. Again, I want to thank the theatre publicists of Vancouver for helping me so much. With this post, I'm hoping to provide some information that will help us all to do our jobs even more efficiently. When I get a press release, I'm...
Greasy mess
Peter Jorgensen's direction of Grease at Studio 58 is bit of a mess, but some student performances shine through. Studio 58 doesn't have enough singing talent in its ranks to cast a musical right now, so programming Grease was the first mistake. Some of the singing in...
How to write three acts
It's simple really. Act 1 sets the scene. In Act 2, the hero pursues what she wants. And, in Act 3, she goes after what she needs. In a story that ends happily, she will prevail thanks to the insight that she has gained through her struggle. The three-act template is...
The story on West Side Story
One of the arguments against non-Equity touring productions, such as Troika Entertainment's West Side Story, which is at the QE until this weekend, is that patrons get sucked into paying inflated high prices to see performers who have never appeared on the Great White...
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