Photo by Sasha Aleshchenko Review by Issie Patterson It is not rare to go see a production put on by emerging young talent and immediately realize that some of these performers are destined for great success. This is the...
Photo by Tim Matheson Review by Issie Patterson In a play centered around environmental activism and one of its heroes, an audience can generally expect discouraging statistics and brooding monologues delivered in front of images of devastated natural resources....
Kamloopa is an Indigenous artistic ceremony that follows two urban Indigenous sisters, Kilawna and Mikaya, and their new friend, Edith, as they struggle in their own ways to understand themselves and their cultures. As they each come to terms with what it means to reconnect with their homelands, ancestors, and one another, it becomes clear that this story is not a hero’s journey; it doesn’t follow the “typical” three act play in structure or story arc. The artistic ceremony focusses on kinship relations, rather than a central conflict: this is a journey between women, a journey that happens within, between, and outside of themselves. It’s a journey that happens on Indian time: existing now, bringing the past, and holding the future. As the three women move through the world, they face issues of assimilation, disconnection, and loss, and the audience is witness to every ignorant, painful, funny, and awkward moment of what it means to find your way home again.
Continue reading Indigenizing Theatre: An interview with Kamloopa Fire Creator Kim Senklip Harvey
Review of “Banned in the USA” and “Unscriptured”
Review by Laura Anne Harris
Photos by Vancouver Fringe
As soon as I entered the space of Gerard Harris’ “Banned in the USA”, I was immediately disarmed by the charm of the performer improvising a tune on the piano. The show didn’t start traditionally with lights down or music swelling, rather, Harris (no relation!) began with some light chit chat as we waited for the show to officially start. Continue reading “Fringe is the truest, rawest and most intimate form of theatre” – PRISM reviews the 2018 Vancouver Fringe Festival
Raina von Waldenburg’s play 12 Minute Madness starts simply: a janitor sweeps the bare stage before the MC, one face of protagonist Marlena von Twattenburg, makes introductions. It’s a gentle introduction to a show that very quickly, and with...
Interview by Jennifer Amos. Photo by Zahra Siddiqui. Makeup by Charm.
Catherine Hernandez is a proud queer woman of colour, radical mother, activist, theatre practitioner, and writer. She is also the Artistic Director of b current performing arts. Her plays include The Femme Playlist, a one-woman show; Singkil; Eating with Lola (first developed by fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre); Kilt Pins; and Future Folk, which was collectively written by the Sulong Theatre Collective. She is the author of the children’s book M is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book and her plays Kilt Pins and Singkil were published by Playwrights Canada Press.
Continue reading Open-Hearted At All Times: An Interview with Catherine Hernandez
Review by Sarah Higgins Creeps by David E. Freeman and RealWheels Theatre The Cultch Theatricality is put to excellent use as a catalyst for reflection in RealWheels Theatre’s production of Creeps. David E. Freeman’s play explores the experience of four...
Preview by Sarah Higgins Creeps by David E. Freeman and RealWheels Theatre The Cultch “I think what’s really important that the disability experience is the human experience,” says Rena Cohen, producer and dramaturge...
Review by Sarah Higgins I Want to Tell You Something by Caroline Sniatynski rEvolver Festival, The Cultch I want to tell you that as I made my way into the Founder’s Lounge at The Cultch for Caroline Sniatynski’s one...