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
At the York Theatre until January 6, 2018
What starts with ‘C’ and ends with ‘S’? Christmas, you say? No, you frazzled Christmas shopper – ‘Census’.
Ming Hudson as Snow White in Snow White & the Seven Dwarves. Credit: Emily Cooper
At the Arts Club Granville Island Stage until December 31, 2017
If Onegin doesn’t tug at your heartstrings, chances are you don’t have a heart.
Clockwise from front, centre: Alessandro Juliani, Lauren Jackson, Josh Epstein, Andrew McNee and Caitriona Murphy. Credit: David Cooper
At The Cultch until December 3, 2017
If you need a really good laugh and you’re okay with dark, grisly, bloody, grotesque, rude and crude – all wrapped up in the French clowning style called bouffon – you will love Titus Bouffonius as much as I did.
Peter Anderson as Sob in The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius. Credit: Tim Matheson