At The Cultch until June 2, 2013
Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. No, really. I do have the Mump & Smoot t-shirt. And I wear it proudly.
John Turner and Michael Kennard in Mump & Smoot in Something. Credit: Gary Mulcahey
At the Vancity Culture Lab at The Cultch until May 26, 2013
Tour de force is the phrase that comes to mind when considering Jon Lachlan Stewart’s performance in Big Shot. Written and performed by Stewart as part of Upintheair Theatre’s rEvolver Festival and directed by Georgina Beaty, Big Shot is poetry in motion.
Jon Lachlan Stewart in Big Shot. Credit: Tim Nguyen
At The Cultch until May 26, 2013
We’re all in the same boat. And it’s rocking. What to do? What to do?
Susan Hogan in Kayak. Credit: Chena San Martin
At The Stanley until July 7, 2013
Just how glitzy is this show? Wear your sunglasses, folks. There’s so much silver lamé on the Stanley stage you could apply your makeup in the reflection.
Crystal Balint, Karen Holness and Starr Domingue in Dreamgirls. Credit: David Cooper
At Arts Club Granville Island Stage until May 25, 2013
Mark Leiren-Young is ballsy, I’ll give him that. Not until opening night of Never Shoot a Stampede Queen did I understand his shameless self-promotion – facebooking for weeks, posting audience and critical response every day from Western Canada Theatre in Kamloops where the show premiered: “Standing O” and “Sold out houses”. “Funnier than the book”, he promised.
Zachary Stevenson in Never Shoot a Stampede Queen. Credit: Tav Rayne
At Studio 16 until May 11, 2013
Cucci & Cabana is a clown show in the style of Mump & Smoot but, rather than speaking in gobbledygook as Smoot and Mump do, Cabana and Cucci speak French which, I’m ashamed to say, I understand only marginally better than those other two clowns. Thank goodness for surtitles in English.
Emilie Leclerc in Cucci & Cabana. Credit: James Loewen
At The Cultch until May 4, 2013
“Oh, Death, where is thy sting?” It isn’t at The Cultch from April 30-May 4 where brilliant dancer/choreographer Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg and four dancers perform the world premiere of Friedenberg’s new work, Highgate.
Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg in Highgate. Credit: clancy
At Pacific Theatre until May 25
I don’t know that the Bible needs a new book but Jesuit priest/ playwright Bill Cain has some ideas about what that book should look like.
Anthony F. Ingram in How To Write A New Book For The Bible. Credit Emily Cooper
At Performance Works until May 5, 2013
From the moment the Player and the Beggar, in white-face, black lipstick and bowler hats, soft-shoe it across the Performance Works stage, we know we are in for a very different production of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera. Off the top, Daniel Deorksen (Beggar) and Phyllis Ho (Player), rigged out like vaudeville clowns tell us, “You’ve never seen anything like this.”
Tallulah Winkelman and Nick Fontaine in The Beggar’s Opera. Credit: David Newham
At Waterfront Theatre until April 28, 2013
Arthur may have been the king of all Britain, but in this Carousel Theatre for Young People production Kayvon Kelly (as Kay) rules the stage: the kids love him.
Kayvon Kelly in Arthur: Boy King. Credit: Tim Matheson