On Nov. 29, 2018 beloved Edmonton alt-weekly Vue Weekly published its final edition. Prior to that I’d neglected to share links to my clips from recent months, so here’s a list of my final seven stories in Vue Weekly after two years of freelancing for the paper.
The Real Inspector Hound/Ryan Parker for Bright Young ThingsI reviewed nine shows at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival for Vue Weekly’s EdmontonFringe.ca this weekend. Here they all are in one place, ordered from fav to least.
I sneaked a review of The Importance of Being Earnest into this week’s Vue Weekly. It’s one of my favourite dramatic farces, and Teatro’s star-studded local cast really did it justice.
Teatro la Quindicina’s second production of its 2018 season mounts a return of an enduring comedy in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.Wilde’s final play remains as sharp in 2018 as it likely did in 1895. It features self-aware commentary on institutions—like marriage, education or social class—that have persisted through late Victorian London until today. And when it’s delivered with the performative nature of period aristocracy, it’s nearly impossible not to have a great time. Read more
The show wrapped on Saturday, so fewer people than I’d like got to read this review in time, but it was a fun experience nonetheless.
Here’s another review I wrote for Vue Weekly last month. Wedding Bells and Bombshells was a fun and inclusive musical with excellent choreography.
Edmonton Musical Theatre’s final production of the season, Wedding Bells and Bombshells, centres on a couple just four months into their relationship. They make googly eyes at each other, they lovingly share a secret handshake, and they’re ready to get hitched. But, clad in simple loafers, khakis and a blue polo, Bobby (Stuart Old) finds himself out of his element amongst the family of his fiancé Marcy (Kellie Koekstra)—in terms of fashion, but especially in terms of personality. Read more
This was also my first piece for a new editor. It’s always nice to see the trust carryover during a changeover.
Vue Weekly gave me free reign of NextFest last weekend. Here are excerpts from my reviews of The Gooseberry, Where do we Begin?, Pretty Boy: The Musical, and Occupy.
… The Gooseberry is like a wreck you can’t look away from. Zena and Audrey gnaw at each other, openly antagonizing every party invitation, cooking preference and living habit. This animosity extends to the rest of the six-person cast too. Read more
Joanna Simon and Lady Vanessa Cardona’s new theatrical work Where do we Begin? arrives as a poetic statement of reconciliation. Billed as a 45-minute land acknowledgment, the two creators take to the stage as themselves: Simon, a Plains Cree woman from here on Turtle Island, and Cardona a Columbian refugee. Read more
Skinny Love Productions’ 90-minute, two-act original musical tackles a larger-than-life saga that’s captivating in its historical accuracy. Pretty Boy: The Musical follows the adult life of Charles Floyd (Damon Pitcher), a small-town, depression-era Oklahoma farm boy turned Robin Hood-esque criminal hero. Read more
… One dancer glides across the stage in a wheelchair, while the other mirrors her movements atop a wheeled stool. A nurturing friendship exudes from the duet, complete with the wheelchair equivalent of trust-falls and several reclining embraces. Long moments of silence amid the vast space-like music set an introspective mood. Read more
Fantastic, homegrown theatrical art always invigorates me, and NextFest runs for four more days. You can purchase tickets at the onsite box office in The Roxy on Gateway Theatre or from the festival website.
I got to review one of my favourite shows of the year, Infinity, for Vue Weekly.
The story follows violinist and composer Carmen (Larissa Pohoreski), and theoretical physicist Elliot (Ryan Parker) from their first meeting at a house party, to their eventual married life together and beyond. Between their scenes filled with equal parts friction and genuine love, monologues from their mathematician daughter Sarah Jean (Caley Thomas) shift the focus of Infinity through time, as she tries to understand her place in relation to her parent’s world. Read more
My writing here doesn’t do this complex production or Hannah Moscovitch’s script justice. Definitely check it out before it wraps on May 6.
Citrus Photography
I got my first taste of “spontaneous theatre” this week when I reviewed Rebecca Northan’s Undercover at the Citadel Theatre for Vue Weekly.
While many improv shows rely on audience members for only a few moments to serve a gag, director and producer Rebecca Northan’s follow-up to her international hit Blind Date, takes a different approach. Undercover makes a single “rookie detective” the core component of the production’s 125-minute narrative conceit.
Police Sgt. Roberta Collins (Northan) hires the detective from the audience, quickly brings them up to speed on the job, and then sends them undercover to gather intel on a new criminal name in town at a private art auction on an acreage. Co-written by Northan and multidisciplinary artist Bruce Horak (who also plays Peter Vinen, the rookie’s inside contact) Undercover delivers an experience like no other. Read more
I plan to see the show at least one more time before it wraps in The Club theatre on Apr. 29, because it’s the kind of performance that will never be the same twice. I look forward to seeing what Northan thinks up next!
I tackled a film review of Doob: No Bed of Roses for Vue Weekly this week. I thought it was a great, probing film
Bangladeshi director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s latest lodges a chisel into a rock labelled “unfaithful love.” And during 85 minutes of film, he gently hews away until there’s nothing left.
No Bed of Roses (Doob) trains a plodding lens on infidelity—a subject that’s often only struck with comedic and glancing blows in western cinema—and places us within some of the most uncomfortable moments of a fracturing family in a present-day Bangladesh city. Muted greys and whites hang over each frame, draping an impossible-to-shake malaise over each character’s conversations during some of the lowest points in their lives. Read more
Serendipitously, Doob: No Bed of Roses hits on several things I’ve recently been thinking about and studying in fiction and reality (infidelity, global media systems, interpersonal pressures), so I was thrilled to tackle this review. The film runs at The Princess Theatre this Saturday and Sunday.
Women The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown is my new favourite musical (overtaking Chicago and Rent) and I reviewed it for Vue Weekly.
Plain Jane Theatre Company has always had a knack for reviving musicals that didn’t necessarily live up to their initial potential during Broadway runs, but Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown is a standout.
A farcical tale of love, infidelity, and crime in ‘80s Madrid, Jeffery Lane’s screenplay (based on the 1988 film by Pedro Almodóvar) boasts an abundance of the embellishments that make a great romantic comedy work, while also presenting an endearing human narrative that’s brought to life with surprising continuity by Plain Janes’ cast and crew. Read more
Until now, I’ve never felt like I absolutely need to see a show twice during its run before, but this Plain Janes production absolutely warrants it. The show runs through Saturday at the Varscona Theatre, and you don’t want to miss it if you’re in Edmonton!
It’s easy to get excited about an animated feature when you hear its coming from some of the creators behind Studio Ghibli’s greatest works, and in almost all respects, Mary and the Witch’s Flower (Mary to Majo no Hana) meets expectations.
Kevin Pennyfeather 