At Jericho Arts Centre until December 18, 2016
“Jacob Marley was dead.” In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol we know that Ebenezer Scrooge’s business partner is “most sincerely dead” but we don’t know why he comes back on Christmas Eve to haunt Scrooge’s bedchamber. What’s in it for Jacob Marley?
Linden Banks as Jacob Marley in Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol
Troilus and Cressida
Under the intelligent and creative direction of Kevin Bennett (whose King Lear in the tiny Havana Theatre in 2012 remains unforgettable), almost twenty Studio 58 students wade right in with swords cutting the air.
Raylene Harewood as Cressida and Teo Saefkow as Troilus. Credit: Emily Cooper
At The York Theatre until December 31, 2016
In the huge hole left in the Christmas season when Leaky Heaven Circus quit doing their much-loved show, Theatre Replacement, in association with The Cultch, jumped in and are we grateful? “Oh, yes, we are”. “Oh, no, you aren’t.” “Oh, yes, we are.”
Andrew McNee as The Wolf in the East Van Panto: Little Red Riding Hood. Credit: Emily Cooper Photography
At The Cultch until November 27, 2016
It’s appalling to consider that in 2016 a young girl from a good middle-class family can still be sold into the Calcutta (now Kolkata) sex trade by her brother-in-law.
Laara Sadiq as Jamuna and Adele Noronha as Rekha in Brothel #9. Credit: Emily Cooper Photography
At the Jericho Arts Centre until November 27, 2016
Fresh is not a word often applied to a production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts. But directed by Michael Fera for United Players, that’s exactly what this production is.
Francis Winter as Oswald, Tanja Dixon-Warren (Mrs. Alving) and Elizabeth Willow (Regina) in Ghosts. Credit: Nancy Caldwell
At The Shop Theatre until November 19, 2016
The Renegade Arts Co., under the artistic direction of Jim Buckshon, gives you a rare chance to see the seldom-produced rock musical The Who’s Tommy.
Jeremiah Vezina as Young Tommy in The Who’s Tommy. Credit: Gloria Vezina
At Studio 16 until November 19, 2016
Written by Lisa D’Amour, Detroit is a scorching, darkly funny look at the unravelling of the American middle class and what the consequences might be.
Luisa Jojic as Sharon and Jennifer Copping as Mary in Detroit. Credit: Shimon Karmel
At The Cultch until November 5, 2016
I knew from reading the press release that Jacob Rajan (Indian Ink Theatre Company) would play seventeen characters in The Elephant Wrestler. What I didn’t count on was the gorgeous, evocative music.
Jacob Rajan in The Elephant Wrestler. Credit: Robert Catto
At Presentation House until November 6, 2016
Risk-taking, bells and whistles be damned: sitting in a darkened theatre watching two pros (Alec Willows and Jon Bryden), go at Sam Shepard’s script is to find yourself under the spell of one of America’s best, most celebrated playwrights.
Jon Bryden as Ames and Alex Willows as Byron in Ages of the Moon. Credit: Chris van der Schyf
At UBC Botanical Garden until November 19, 2016
When October rolls around, it’s suddenly all about ghouls, ghosts and gore, zombies and murders most foul.
Sebastien Archibald and Amy McDougall. Credit: Matt Reznek