A Vista
At Massey Theatre until March 22, 2019
Forget meditating today; consider going to New Westminster’s Massey Theatre for some inner calm. Pure Zen.
Desert. Created by Jean Claude Olivier for Gypsy.
Gross Misconduct
At Studio B (Gateway Theatre) until March 23, 2019
In a word: harrowing. Playwright Meghan Gardiner tackles sexual assault within the prison system in this uninterrupted hundred-minute scorcher.
Marine Life
At the Firehall Arts Centre until March 23, 2019
Jordan Watkins and Ryan McDonald’s video design for Marine Life is so beautiful you just want to put up your umbrella or dive in and swim with the fishes. But Rosa Labordé’s script simply missed my boat.
Christine Quintana as Sylvia in Marine Life. Credit: Nancy Caldwell
The Good Bride
At the Firehall Arts Centre until March 9, 2019
Under the direction of Donna Spencer, Marisa Emma Smith brings the story home. Produced by the Firehall Arts Centre and Alley Theatre, The Good Bride might make your blood boil. Mine did.
Marisa Emma Smith as Maranatha in The Good Bride. Credit: Wendy D Photography
Jesus Freak
At Pacific Theatre until March 23, 2019
We can thank Pacific Theatre, a faith-based company, for daring to commission Peter Boychuk to write a play about the stigma attached to Christians. Jesus freak: it’s a derogatory term we still hear.
Katharine Venour (Susan) and Kaitlin Williams (Clara) in Jesus Freak. Credit: Jalen Laine Photography
Le Soulier
At Studio 16 until March 9, 2019
Quebecois playwrights definitely do theatre differently from playwrights in the rest of Canada and to that I say, “Vive la différence”.
Annie Lefebvre as Mélanie and Félix Beauchamp as Benoit in Le Soulier. Credit: Gaëtan Nerincx
Changed Utterly
At Jericho Arts Centre until March 16, 2019
Constance Markievicz was an original: an authentic, Emerald Isle, pistol-packing mama.
Naomi Wong as Constance Markievicz in Changed Utterly. Credit: Doug Williams
Revisor
At The Playhouse until February 23, 2019
With every newspaper and news broadcast this week leading with the scandalous SNC-Lavalin affair, Revisor, a re-visiting of Nikolai Gogol’s 1836 The Government Inspector, is eerily relevant.
Doug Letheren in Revisor. Credit: Michael Slobodian
The Shoplifters
At the Arts Club Granville island Stage until March 9, 2019
Playwright Morris Panych presents a premise so off-beat and persuasive that you find yourselves rooting for the bad guys. Or in this case, the bad gals.
Dean Paul Gibson as Otto and Patti Allan as Alma in The Shoplifters. Credit: David Cooper
True Crime
Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre until February 24, 2019
Fascinating, enigmatic, provocative, True Crime runs ninety-five uninterrupted minutes. It takes work but the premises are interesting. Criminals, actors and the rest of us: whose fault is it anyway?
Torquil Campbell in True Crime. Credit: Dahlia Katz