The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Adapted by Ron Reed from C.S.Lewis’s novel
Directed by Sarah Rodgers

I was specially delighted to be able to catch the closing night performance of Pacific Theatre’s The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, with my  grandchildren who  were visiting from California. My grand-daughter is in the Production and Design Conservatory in the School of Theatre at the  Orange County School of the Arts. The intimate setting of the Pacific Theatre was a perfect place for her to experience how imagination can transform a space with a few set pieces,  an array of rugs, coats, sheets, and subtle lighting changes into  two different worlds, with a host of characters played by only 2 actors.. 

Vancouver, BC: Who would have thought that a 65 minute play about an imagined conversation between Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis could be as spell-binding as I found this show to be? I was enthralled.

Pacific Theatre opens their 25th season with Montreal playwright Emil Sher's powerful little gem of a play, Mourning Dove.  Don't miss it. Sher draws on the tragic Latimer affair to present two interwoven emotive and complex themes; the morality of love and the dichotomy of law and justice. I doubt whether there was a sentient adult in Canada in 1993 who did not have a strong opinion as to the right or wrong of Robert Latimer's motives in ending the life of Tracy, his severely disabled daughter. Some thought him principled and courageous - others labelled him the worst of murderers. We all see things through the lens of our personal life experiences.

Last night I had tickets to see Mourning Dove, the opening play in the season for Pacific Theatre, on 12th just east of Granville. So in continuing my exploration of restaurants close to that venue and to  the Stanley Industral Alliance Stage, I used the convenient Open Table reservation system to learn about CHOW, on Granville near 15th.

Vancouver, BC: In the fifteen books of narrative poems that comprise Metamorphoses, the Roman poet Ovid wrote of the creation of the universe, and the mythology of the gods that played havoc with humankind: “I want to speak about bodies changed into new forms. You, gods, since you are the ones who alter these, and all other things, inspire my attempt, and spin out a continuous thread of words, from the world's first origins to my own time.” (tr. Anthony S. Kline).