At The Beaumont Stage (326 West 5th Avenue) until June 27, 2015
What actress wouldn’t beg, wheedle or bribe her way into being cast in Glengarry Glen Ross, written by David Mamet for seven male actors? They get to strut, swagger, throw the f-bomb all over the place, clutch their (imaginary) balls, say “cocksucker” and behave like men.
Colleen Winton as Shelly Levene. Credit: Megan Verhey Photography
At Havana Theatre until June 13, 2015
Notwithstanding a nomination for the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 2009, this script by Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman is a dog’s breakfast. It’s a mixture of low comedy and real pathos.
Caitlin McCarthy as Anna in Scratch. Credit: Ryan Alexander McDonald
At The Cultch. No more performances
Despair, it’s been said, is the worst sin. It trumps gluttony, greed and coveting your neighbour’s wife or his ass, hands down.
Adam Lazarus in The Art of Building A Bunker.
Credit: Bronwen Sharp. Photo originated from the 2015 Factory Theatre-Quitake co-production.
At The Cultch. Closes Sunday, May 31 at 7;30
“Keep sweet” chime Mercy Eve Parker (Pippa Mackie) and Eden Grace Parker (Emmelia Gordon), the “sister-wives” of “The Prophet” of Plentiful, British Columbia. The old guy has at least seven wives (Eden is #1, Mercy is #7) and between them they have so many children, they’ve lost count.
Emmelia Gordon as Eden and Pippa Mackie as Mercy in The Progressive Polygamists. Credit: Owen Ellis
At the Firehall Arts Centre until May 30, 2015
The evils of the residential school system are bitter memories that Canadians – both First Nations and non-First Nations – are struggling to come to terms with. Even after the closing of the last school in 1996, the repercussions continue as penal system statistics and a drive through the downtown eastside so sadly illustrate.
Lisa C. Ravensbergen as Johnny Indian in God and the Indian. Credit: akipari
At Havana Theatre until May 30, 2015
The potential for incest hangs over In A Forest, Dark and Deep like a huge thunderhead just waiting for lightning to strike. If the production had a smell, it would be musky.
Sandra Medeiros as Betty in In A Foret, Dark and Deep. Credit: Angelo Renai
At The Cultch until May 24, 2015
Hell of A Girl, created by Jeff Gladstone, has one helluva girl in it and her name is Emma Slipp. She’s not a tiny slip of a thing; she’s bodacious, sexy and curvy – just the sort of woman a guy would go to hell and back for.
John Murphy as the King of Hades in Hell of A Girl. Credit: Sarah Race
At The Cultch May 23, 26, 28, 30 and 31
Writer/performer/filmmaker Jordan Lloyd Watkins is a redhead as a result of two recessive alleles doing the backstroke in his gene pool. While redheads are often the femmes fatales in film noir, in real life redheads get a bad time.
David Lloyd Watkins in Double Recessive. Credit: Jordan Lloyd Watkins
At The Stanley until June 7, 2015
For one fleeting moment I thought, “Oh, a new, locally-created musical about The Heights” – that lively stretch of East Hastings chockablock with delis, eateries, fresh produce stores, used books, a great hardware store and coffee bars galore. But no.
Kate Blackburn and Chris Sams in In the Heights. Credit: David Cooper
At Performance Works until May 17; Kay Meek Centre, May 21-29. In repertory with Miss Shakespeare.
Writer/composer/performer Tracey Power bemoans the fact that women are under-represented in the theatre. She figures it’s about 70/30 men to women. What to do?
Caroline Cave and Medina Hahn in J. Caesar. Credit: Bold Rezolution Studios