Jo Ledingham Theatre Reviews

A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney

Jericho Arts Centre until April 17, 2022
From the moment actor Paul Herbert declares, “I’m Walt Disney”, Herbert had me. Walt: charismatic but highly suspect. Suave but oily. Charming but condescending. Manipulative. A family man whose daughter hates him. But quite possibly a genius. Certainly an innovator. An American icon. You simply can’t dismiss Walt Disney and Herbert is absolutely unforgettable in the role.

Paul Herbert as Walt Disney in A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney. Credit: Nancy Caldwell

Bunny

Vancity Culture Lab at The Cultch. No more performances
Writing about human sexuality – especially female sexuality – is a minefield so kudos go to playwright Hannah Moscovitch for wading into such provocative territory: women who love sex and go looking for lots of it.

Emma Slipp as Bunny/Sorrel in Bunny. Credit: Emily Cooper

we the same

Livestreamed from The Cultch until November 7, 2021
Stories like the Truong family’s have been told before but Ruby Slippers’ treatment is absolutely beautiful with lighting design by Sophie Tan and set design by Kimira Reddy. The strong Canadian/Vietnamese fusion ambience (including shadow puppetry) with original musical composed and performed by Vi An Diep on a zither-like instrument is enhanced with choreography by Shanny Rann and visual design by Chimerik, a transdisciplinary collective with transnational roots.

Elizabeth Thai as Hà in we the same. Credit: Emily Cooper

Imagine Picasso: the Immersive Exhibition

Vancouver Convention Centre (East Building) for a limited run
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), the quintessential experimenter, would love this show. He would be there – probably in his trademark baggy shorts with a beautiful much younger woman on his arm – revelling in more than 200 of his paintings projected room-size over the nine, huge, origami-inspired surfaces as well as the floors and walls of Vancouver Convention Centre’s East Building.

Credit: Jo Ledingham

Wakey, Wakey

At Pacific Theatre until October 23, 2021
“I knew I’d get old. I just didn’t think it would happen this soon.” That’s not a line from Will Eno’s play Wakey, Wakey but that pithy line was triggered in me by this play which, in many ways, is more a rumination on life and death than a play per se.

Craig Erickson as Guy in Wakey, Wakey. Credit: Jalen Laine Photography

Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story

At the Arts Club Granville Island Stage until August 29, 2021
A fate worse than death is how all of us would describe being buried 4,000-4,300 meters underground. That’s where creator Beau Dixon sets the scene for Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story.

Jeremiah Sparks as Maurice Ruddick in Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story. Credit: Moonrider Productions

The Magic Hour

At Presentation House, Tuesdays through Sundays, until August 22, 2021
It was only a matter of time until we began seeing theatrical expressions of what it’s like to live through a global pandemic. Conceived and directed by Kim Collier and written by Kendra Fanconi, the Electric Company Theatre has boldly gone where no one – or few – have yet gone.

Credit: Kim Collier

I, Claudia

Newmont Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre until August 15, 2021
Just when I began to wonder if I, Claudia – delightful as it is – was going to go anywhere, it started to go somewhere. And that somewhere is funny and sad and, best of all, true to life.

Lili Beaudoin as Claudia in I, Claudia. Credit: Moonrider Productions

Imagine Van Gogh

At the Vancouver Convention Centre until September 7, 2021
Sometimes the only response to so much beauty is tears and within moments of entering the huge hall with floor-to-ceiling projections of Van Gogh’s paintings, I wept.

Credit: Laurence Labat

Uninterrupted-VR

At various Lower Mainland locations.
If you saw filmmaker Nettie Wild’s Uninterrupted – a spectacular light and sound celebration of the life cycle of the sockeye salmon – back in 2017, you will want to see Uninterrupted-VR. If you missed it in 2017, you will want to see this virtual reality version of the original show. Bottom line: everyone should see it. It’s mind-blowingly gorgeous.

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