At The Cultch until January 18, 2014
Uncle Vanya is one of Anton Chekhov’s funniest plays and John Wright, directing for Blackbird Theatre, captures all the humour he can find in it.
Robert Moloney and Luisa Jojic in Uncle Vanya. Credit: Tim Matheson
Reading back over all of my 2013 reviews – about a hundred and fifty of them – brings back such wonderful memories: this script, that actor, this set design, that soundscape. Here’s what stood out for me beginning with Terminus, a pi theatre production directed by Richard Wolfe.
Pippa Mackie in Terminus. Credit: Ian Snow
Under the White Big Top in the Village on False Creek until January 5, 2014
For joy, there’s no better place than under the White Big Top where sixty-seven horses gambol with forty-eight two-legged performers. This is Odysséo, Cavalia’s new show that brings men, women and horses together in such an atmosphere of mutual respect that your heart will almost burst with delight.
Oasis. Credit: Pascal Ratthé
At York Theatre until December 29, 2013
Well, the beans have now been spilled: the York Theatre, operated by the Cultch, is open again for business. It’s monkey business in the form of an East Van pantomime complete with a bone-grinding giant and a naïve little boy who trades the family’s cow for a handful of beans.
Patti Allan, Allan Zinyk, Maiko Bae Yamamoto and Dawn Petten in Jack & the Beanstalk. Credit: Emily Cooper
At Havana Theatre until December 14, 2013
Lungs will hit a lot of childless, 30-something couples right where they’re at: to have a baby or not to have a baby.
Stephanie Izsak and Kayvon Kelly in Lungs
At Little Mountain Gallery until December 8, 2013
The opening scene of this Main Street Theatre production found all of us on opening night tightly packed into a space that makes ‘intimate’ seem barn-like by comparison. How intimate? When you enter the theatre, you step right out onto the stage so don’t, for heaven’s sake, come late. (Curtain is at 7:30. Doors open at 7). Cheek by jowl with everyone else, we laughed our heads off.
Ryan Beil as Felix Ungar in The Odd Couple. Credit: BeattieOei
At The Cultch Historic Theatre until December 15, 2013
Proudly sporting a Movember ‘stache, Burkett warns those of us who love his bittersweet existential shows that The Daisy Theatre is just going to be silly fun. And not necessarily good clean fun: “I hope I offend all of you.” Off to a good start, he refers to Heather Redfern, The Cultch’s executive director, as “Heather Rugburn”. Naughty boy.
Jolie Jolie in The Daisy Theatre
At Studio 16 until December 7, 2013
In Gina Gionfriddo’s play, Max Garrett (Aaron Craven) and Suzanna Slater (Meghan Gardiner) are already bitching at each other when we first meet them. Her biological father – his adoptive father – has been dead, according to Suzanna, three months. She’s still moping around.
Meghan Gardiner and Aaron Craven in Becky Shaw. Credit: Shimon Karmel
At PerformanceWorks until December 1, 2013
In The Romeo Initiative, recently presented at The Cultch, the Communist party trains Markus Richter to be the perfect lover for Karin Maynard based on ‘profiling’ her. In Cool Beans, the predator/prey tables are turned.
Jay Clift, Josh Epstein, Gili Roskies and Katey Hoffman in Cool Beans. Credit: Emily Cooper
At the Roundhouse Performance Centre until November 30, 2013
“What we need is a war.” We hear it said but no one ever really means it. However, in Except in the Unlikely Event of War, a group of think-tank scientists attending a 1965 summit meeting in Resolute Bay, NWT, agree that, contrary to public opinion, “the organizing principle of society is war, not peace.”
Robert Moloney as Tommy Bane in Except in the Unlikely Event of War. Credit: Tim Matheson