At The Stanley until April 22, 2018
All through Stephen Karam’s The Humans, the Blake family keeps saying they’re okay but they’re not. Things are going bump in the night and it’s not just the “little old Chinese lady” living upstairs.
Kevin McNulty, Nicola Lipman, Briana Buckmaster, Parm Soor, Samantha Rose Richard and Gina Stockdale in The Humans. Credit: David Cooper
At The Cultch until March 31, 2018
Karma is good: what goes around comes around. But it’s slow and by the time the bad guys get their comeuppance, you might not be around to relish it. Revenge, on the other hand, can be quick and satisfying.
Peter Anderson and Daryl Shuttleworth in Butcher. Credit: Tim Matheson
At Gateway Theatre until March 24, 2018. SOLD OUT
Playwright Catherine Léger puts a completely new spin on the phrase – usually sad – “I Lost My Husband”. She has audiences at Gateway’s Studio B laughing.
Meghan Gardiner as Evelyn in I Lost My Husband. Credit: David Cooper
At the Vancouver Playhouse, March 15, 16 and 17, 2018
SOLD OUT. A few no-show tickets may be available at the door. This excerpted review previously appeared in February 2016.
Harrowing. But eventually there’s a little light at the end of a very dark, very frightening tunnel.
Tiffany Tregarthen and Jonathon Young in Betroffenheit. Credit: Michael Slobodian
On the Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre until March 25, 2018
Despite the shroud of sadness mixed with disbelief that descended on John Mann (lead singer, Spirit of the West) and his wife Jill Daum (writer/actor, Mom’s The Word) following John’s diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s, Forget About Tomorrow (written by Daum) is not all doom and gloom.
Jennifer Lines as Jane and Craig Erickson as Tom in Forget About Tomorrow. Credit: David Cooper
At The Cultch until March 17, 2018
A month away from highschool graduation, drunk on Fireball, stoned on crack and coming to on a park bench alone in the woods, Fiona and Jules have no idea what they did at “the pre-party, the party and the after party” or where “the after after party” is happening.
Cheyenne Mabberley as Jules and Katey Hoffman as Fiona in The After After Party. Credit: Helenka Boden
At The Russian Hall (600 Campbell Avenue) until January 28, 2018
In The Events, prompted by the massacre of seventy-seven young people in Norway in 2011, Scottish playwright David Greig looks for answers in a way that is at once beautiful, sad yet surprisingly uplifting.
Douglas Ennenberg as The Boy and Luisa Jojic as Claire in The Events. Credit: Emily Cooper
At The Cultch until January 20, 2018
Black Boys and Hot Brown Honey (on stage now at the York Theatre) make an interesting pair of bookends.
Stephen Jackman-Torkoff, Tawiah Ben-Eben M’Carthy and Thomas Olajide in Black Boys. Credit: Tanja Tiziana
At York Theatre until January 27, 2018
Part circus, part burlesque and part feminist rally, Hot Brown Honey is a sassier, rowdier, louder show than I’ve ever experienced.
Set and cast of Hot Brown Honey. Credit: Dylan Evans
2017 Year in Review
A week didn’t go by when there wasn’t something wonderful happening on a Vancouver stage in 2017. Here are some – not necessarily the best – but some that creatively pushed the boundaries of live theatre. Or just tickled my fancy.
Lauren Jackson and Alessandro Juliani in Onegin. Credit: David Cooper