Review From Your Seat

Guest reviewer Amanda Lockitch

Dangerous Corner by J.B. Priestley
Directed by  Bill Dow
Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company
Vancouver Playhouse
May 1- 22, 2010

Vancouver, BC: Talking with a friend after seeing Dangerous Corner I realized just how quickly time can obscure fame. While we both liked the production, my friend admitted, much to her chagrin, that she did not realize we were going to see a play by the British writer J.B.Priestly. Rather, she thought the play was starring Canadian actor Jason Priestley.

Granted, the melodramatic tone of this production might well be a match for something out of 90210, and ultimately the play revolved around a series of love triangles. Yet it was somehow easier for me to empathize with the intrigue and scandal of this family of book publishers over the tribulations of middle-America twins moving to Beverly Hills, California. (I will admit that the last time I watched 90210 was in the 1990s and not having seen any of the current remake I have no idea if middle-American teens even exist in the new 90210).

In a nutshell, this play is a series of "I'm married to you but I'm (not so) secretly in love with him" admissions and reversals. It saves the best whopper as its lead into intermission and keeps the audience tongues wagging throughout the break.

Guest Reviewer: Malcolm Page

SPINE, by Kevin Kerr
Directed by Bob Frazer
A Realwheels and University of Alberta co-production
Experimental Theatre, SFU Woodwards
March 10 to 20, 2010

Spine originated as a follow-up to Skydive, seen two years ago.   James Sanders, wheelchair-bound, sought another part;  Kevin Kerr would write again and Bob Frazer would switch from actor to director.   Twelve members of the University of Alberta graduating acting class would take part.   No less than 34 more are credited with 'production,' from 'dialect coach' to 'audio supervisor.'   Cultural Olympiad money came in.  

Kerr and Frazer, as they record in the program, look for inspiration to Prometheus, Frankenstein, Cyrano de Bergerac and Midsummer Night's Dream!   Kerr demonstrated what he could do with conventional theatre in 'Unity, 1918' ;  here he writes an intelligent collection of fragments.

Guest Reviewer: Malcolm Page

The Greatest Cities of the World
Creative Team: James Long, Maiko Bae Yamamoto (directors); Nneka Croal, Ruben Castelblanco, Susan Elliott, Young-Hee Kim, Andrew Laurenson, Michael Rinaldi, Tanya Podlozniuk (performers)
Theatre Replacement
Vancouver East Cultural Centre 13-17 March, 2010 Vancouver, BC: The Theatre Replacement company have a reputation for being at the cutting-edge, part of a movement in Vancouver which is 'pushing the envelope': with Electric Company, Boca del Lupo, Radix, The Only Animal and Leaky Heaven Circus. This year Theatre Replacement won the big Alcan Rio Tinto award.

Their idea was to go to the small towns of Tennessee which have the names of great European cities, Paris, London, Athens and Moscow. They taped interviews, while staying sensitive to themselves as outsiders. They must have hoped that this fieldwork would provide a subject - it hasn't. Though staying close to verbatim theatre, they evidently ignored 'The Farm Show' and 'Laramie Project' as models.

Long and Yamamoto wanted, as they state in their program note,"structure that relies on interest and rhythm shifts". The cast of seven drift on in street clothes, give names, say whether or not they went on the research trip to the American South, tell us they are playing a knight or the Pope, put on bits of costume. This is only the start of confusing us, for nothing follows from it.

Guest Reviewer: Malcolm Page

The Drowning Girls
by Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalik
Directed by Charlie Tomlinson
A Bent out of Shape production
Studio: Gateway Theatre, Richmond
March 4 to 13, 2010

Vancouver, BC: The Drowning Girls prompted for me a question rarely asked: why did these people write, or devise, this? The subject is the ‘Brides in the Bath’ murders in Britain of 1912-14. George Smith drowned three wives after they had made wills leaving their money to him, and the first two were initially found to be accidental. Smith's technique for killing comes at the end, a kind of climax. Canadian audiences must be presumed to know nothing of these facts, which probably were found in the old Penguin series, ‘Famous Trials.’

Was the starting point a feminist one, woman as victim? The girls allude briefly to the inferior position of women at the time, though the authors appear not to know of the Married Women's Property Acts of 1870-82.

The women are clearly silenced, voices from the dead, but do not engage with how they came to fall suddenly in love with such a monster. The trio (played by  Beth Graham, Daniela Vlaskalik and Natascha Girgis) eventually are somewhat differentiated, one marrying innocently, a second sceptically and the third in a spirit of adventure. They also briefly take on other parts, as maids, worried parents and an insurance agent. Yet the script rarely engages with psychological or sociological angles, requiring a distinct liking for a curious comic-macabre genre.

THE VERTICAL HOUR  by  David Hare
Directed by  Tamara McCarthy
The Jericho Arts Centre
A United Players Production    
November 13th to December 6th

Vancouver, BC:  VERTICAL HOUR LACKS LOINS
I applaud United Players for bringing this intellectually engaging play to the Jericho Arts Centre.  The work of David Hare is always good for  lively discussion on the way home from the theatre.  But this production is like having three really nice, interesting people over for dinner; and you discuss politics, doctors, psychiatry, war, relationships, sex, marriage; and they stay way too late.  There is a lot of talk about  what is really going on during the evening with very little evidence of anything but talk. 

David Hare has written three very interesting lead roles and Director, Tamara McCarthy has failed to bring them to life.  There is no ferocity, no sexual tension, no passion, irony or sub-text...just people talking and talking and talking.

EVIL DEAD - THE MUSICAL (The Vancouver Production)
Book & Lyrics by George Reinblatt
Music by Frank Cipolla, Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris, George Reinblatt
Music Supervision by Frank Cipolla
Additional Lyrics by Christopher Bond
Additional Music by Rob Daleman
Director: Mark Carter
Choreographer:  Ken Overbey
Musical Director: Sylvia Zaradic
Norman Rothstein Theatre
A Down Stage Right (DSR) Production    
October 29th to November 7th

Vancouver, BC:  THIS CHEESE IS FUN!
The set is crappy (and very cleverly designed), the costumes are deliberately tacky, there have not been worse wigs since Dynel was invented, the props fall apart, the acting is over the top, and my cheeks ached from grinning through the whole show.  This is cheesy as an art form.  The evening is a riot of bad puns, brilliantly bad acting, great singing and fun choreography. 

Director Mark Carter keeps this paper-thin musical airborne for the by keeping his attractive cast racing at breakneck speed so you are hardly aware of the dead spots in the script. 

Based on the cult classic Sam Rami movie, which is a send up of horror films, the musical is a spoof of a spoof...tricky territory for a director with less skill than Carter.  But he pulls it off with the help of a smart set designer, John Bessette and the wacky choreography of Ken Overbey ... and that cast. 

Scott Walters plays the manic Ash with bulging biceps, bulging veins and bulging eyeballs.  He has the nice guy, potential psycho thing nailed.  He is ably abetted by Meghan Gardiner as both dumb blonde Annie and not so bright Shelly, who is so good in both parts that she should be given away as Christmas presents. 

ANY NIGHT
Created by Daniel Arnold, Medina Hahn and Ron Jenkins
Vancouver East Cultural Centre (The Cultch)
A DualMinds Production    
October 6th to 17th

Vancouver, BC:  
"We live our lives forward, but only understand them backward", says Anna (Medina Hahn) who then takes us on what becomes a waking nightmare, increasingly haunted by seemingly benign, Patrick (Daniel Arnold).  These two intensely talented actors, who are always surprising, are also the playwrights of this roller coaster ride of a play that explores the observer and the observed, the victim and the perpetrator, the dream and reality. 

The energy and electricity crackles between these two actors, and Director, Ron Jenkins has skillfully harnessed these qualities to keep this two-hander moving at breakneck speed, with lightening character and mood changes, and an always disconcerting undertone.

THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT by  Stephen Adly Guirgis
Directed by  Stephen Drover
Pacific Theatre
A :Pound of Flesh and Pacific Theatre Co-Production    
October 7th to 17th
 

Vancouver, BC:  JUDAS ON APPEAL
You take a brilliantly written script that turns the Judas Iscariot story inside out, set it in a court room, lace it with profanity, people it with some of the best actors in town, and you have a riveting evening of theatre. 

Director Stephen Drover has assembled a cast that has the chops to wrestle this material into submission and serve it hot.  It is done in the form of a staged reading with the actors reading from their scripts that seem to vanish in most of the scenes.  Outstanding in this large cast (many of whom play multiple roles) are Michael Kopsa as the Lucifer you love to hate, delicious and snake evil, Kevin McNulty as Judge Littlefield who runs his court like a lunatic asylum, Dawn Petten as the hilariously practical Mother Teresa, Ron Reed as Butch, who relates his tale of betrayal with simplicity and grace.  Denis Simpson as a fierce Pontius Pilate is the epitome of contempt.

   WRITE IT, READ IT, LIVE IT 

As you see the tag-line for ReviewFromTheHouse.com is "Write it, read it, live it."

Well, right now I am "living it" on the Pacific Princess en route from Hawaii to French Polynesia.  I read all about the 8.3 earthquake and tsunami in Samoa but we did not see the effects here. Apparently the wave was less than a foot high when it reached these islands.

While I am indulging in my passion for ballroom dancing at sea  - and writing my dance cruise- travelblogues  I am happy to announce that I have two knowledgeable and equally dedicated theatre reviewers  checking out the theatre scene in Vancouver and Toronto.

My colleague, Sean Allan is writing reviews for ReviewFromTheHouse in Vancouver.  My daughter, Amanda Lockitch (actor, director, dramaturgue and soon- to- be PhD in Drama) in Toronto, will  write on select offerings in Toronto Theatre.

You can catch their recent reviews on the home page or at  Theatre Seen- The Review From Your Seat

As to ballroom dancing on the high seas, you could check out my recent  West Coast Ballroom Dancing Cruise ,  the Labour Day Weekend Dance Cruise or the South Pacific Dance Cruise 2009.  The latter two are still to be posted. I am so busy "living it" that "writing it' is taking longer than it should.

CARPE DIEM

DIARY/JOURNAL INTIME
Choreographer: Helene Blackburn
Vancouver East Cultural Centre
A Cas Public Production      
September 29th to October 3rd
 
Vancouver, BC:  BLUE JEANS AND POINT SHOES

This is dance theatre that you can take your husband to….and your teens…and anyone else you can think of.   The opening offering of the Cultch Family Series is a knock-out.  The re-furbished Cultch main stage was bathed in the light of a thousand candles being arranged and moved about by the seven members of the company, the men in jeans and the women in point shoes, as the audience entered the theatre.