At Jericho Arts Centre until October 20, 2019
Dancing Lessons could go so wrong but this Naked Goddess Productions, under the always thoughtful direction of Sarah Rodgers, gets it right. Putting the autism spectrum on stage is a delicate business especially since the neurological disorder presents itself so variously and lends itself to lampooning at the expense of those not neurotypical.

Andrew Coghlan as Ever and Sandra Medeiros as Senga in Dancing Lessons. Credit: Angelo Renai

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At Arts Club Granville Island Stage until October 26, 2019
If the Arts Club Granville Island stage didn’t have a roof, The Birds & the Bees would simply float away. It’s that light.

Tom McBeath as Earl and Susinn McFarlen as Gail in The Birds & the Bees. Credit: Moonrider Productions

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Anvil Theatre Centre until October 6, 2019
The late Canadian-American playwright Tom Cone summed it up beautifully: “Nothing can compare with the intensity of a living actor on the stage.” Patrick Street Theatre gives us not one but two actors – alternating nightly –  to prove the point.

Luisa Jojic and Peter Jorgensen alternate nightly as George Herringbone in Herringbone. Credit: Mark Halliday

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At Firehall Arts Centre until October 5, 2019
The most challenging and exciting moment in this production is the longest, silent, face-to-face stare-down between the five actors and the audience that I have ever experienced in the theatre. What did I feel? Guilt? Sorrow? Empathy? All of the above? I’m still processing. . . .

Andrew Creightney in The Shipment. Credit: Ryan McDonald

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At The Stanley until October 13, 2019
Act 1 of A Thousand Splendid Suns made me so angry, I felt my blood beginning to boil. It validated my hostility toward certain fundamentalist Islamic regimes: the subjugation of women, the domination of husbands over their wives, the denigration of female babies and much more.

Anita Majumdar (as Laila) and Deena Aziz (Mariam) in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Credit: David Cooper

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At Pacific Theatre until October 5, 2019
I have never once given a thought to Joan of Arc’s mother but American playwright Jane Anderson did and the result of her musing is Mother of the Maid.

Anita Wittenberg as Isabelle Arc in Mother of the Maid. Credit: Jalen Laine Photography

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OLD-ish
Havana Theatre: September 9, 11, 13 and 14, 2019
I have been reviewing playwright/performer Susan Freedman’s brand of wry humour for seventeen years – longer than many marriages!

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How to Become More Less Crazy
The Nest: September 10, 13 and 15, 2019
How to Become More Less Crazy isn’t likely going to be Pick of the Fringe but writer/performer Bill Bernat would win the Vancouver Fringe Festival Award for Courage if there were one.

Bill Bernat in How to Become More Less Crazy

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THE WALK IN THE SNOW: The True Story of Lise Meitner
Carousel Theatre: September 9-14, 2019
Jem Rolls, most notable for his fast-paced performance poetry but now seriously into dense, detail-driven, mesmerizing storytelling, tells us he recently placed flowers on the grave of Lise Meitner in Bramley, Hampshire,  UK, fifteen miles from where he grew up.

Lise Meitner (credit: Wikipedia)

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Advanced Field Zoology for Beginners
Waterfront Theatre: September 8, 10, 13 and 15, 2019
Victoria’s Shawn O’Hara returns to the Vancouver Fringe Festival with a follow-up to Field Zoology 101, a hit at last year’s festival. The new show is not a sequel so don’t worry if you didn’t catch it in 2018.

Shawn O’Hara as Dr. Bradley Gooseberry in Advanced Field Zoology for Beginners

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