Fierce Monsters, playing as part of SummerWorks, investigates how human tenderness and survival instincts compete when two opposite personalities find themselves in a desperate situation. An uprising between miners and Indians is underway in Yale, BC. It’s 1858. Citizens are taking the law into their own hands.
Continue reading Fierce Monsters (The Pop Group) 2012 SummerWorks Review
I had no idea what to expect when my date and I headed towards historic Campbell House Saturday evening to see The Fatal Gazogene. As we rounded the corner of University and Queen streets, we saw wine-toting guests chatting excitedly on the front porch. We quickly joined them and were soon invited to peruse the main floor museum and gardens. There was a display case showing examples of the gazogene: a double-barreled seltzer bottle (reminiscent of an hourglass) which carbonated the liquid in the upper chamber by mixing two chemicals in the compartment below. And if that gazogene should be poisoned, the effects would surely be fatal!
Continue reading Review: The Fatal Gazogene (Red One Theatre Collective and the Clean Shavian Co-op)
Thursday night, I went to see the Lower Ossington Theatre’s production of Altar Boyz. It’s a cabaret-sized musical theatre show broken into two bite-sized pieces with mass appeal. The LOT cabaret space was laid out with tables and chairs with a mood-lit cash bar staffed during the entire performance.
The story is this: a touring religious boy band must croon and rap its way into the sinning hearts of we audience members, simultaneously spoofing the early 2000’s waning genre of tween guy groups and the rise of “DIY Stardom” a la American Idol. Combining clever lyrics with tight musical harmonies Altar Boyz is a perfect millenial “what-if”. And don’t worry non-religious folk, it’s plenty ironic.
Continue reading Review: Altar Boyz (Lower Ossington Theatre)
Simply put, Sandra Battaglini puts the ‘ass’ in ‘class’. In her one woman show Classy Lady, Ms. Battaglini curses like a sailor, lambastes political and religious conventions and even impersonates a Mongolian Horseman singing in Chinese; quite an impressive feat for an Italian-Canadian woman from Sudbury, Ontario, who does all that and more in frilly dresses and heels. But even with a title as nebulous as Classy Lady, Battaglini doesn’t mince words. Continue reading Review: Classy Lady
Saturday night the Atlantic Ballet Theater of Canada presented Ghosts of Violence, “an emotionally charged choreographic landscape” honouring women killed as a result of domestic violence. The performance combined ballet with artful multimedia projections, exposing stories and scenarios which are too often hidden from public view. Continue reading Review: Ghosts of Violence (Atlantic Ballet Theater of Canada)