Theatre

Theatre Review – Liza Balkan’s Out the Window

The Theatre Centre’s annual Free Fall Festival is a showcase of experimental works, some more finished than others. Liza Balkan’s Out the Window is close to a full-scale production, and let’s hope that will happen very soon. The potency of the play did carry through despite actors being on script. Balkan says in her notes […]

Theatre Review – The Wooster Group’s Version of Tennessee Williams’ Vieux Carré

I’ve coined a word for the US equivalent of Eurotrash, and that is Amerijunk. (FYI, the Canadian epithet is Canacrap.) Unfortunately, Amerijunk best describes the World Stage presentation with the ungainly title of The Wooster Group’s Version of Tennessee Williams’ Vieux Carré. (Apparently there were issues with the Williams estate over the production.) I have […]

Theatre Review – Anoush Irani’s My Granny the Goldfish

The more playwrights coming out of Canada’s ethnic communities, the happier I am. They are truly the new Canada, reflecting the fact that we are an immigrant population. That being said, a flawed production can chip away at the enjoyment factor. My Granny the Goldfish by Vancouver’s Anoush Irani seems to be a crowd pleaser. […]

Theatre Review – War Horse (National Theatre of Great Britain/Handspring Puppet Company/David Mirvish)

First of all, full disclosure. I thought Stephen Spielberg’s movie version of War Horse, despite its visual beauty, was pure, sentimental treacle. It was just another routine version of the Black Beauty format – a horse going from owner to owner. I was holding out for better things from the play, and it didn’t disappoint. […]