Time flies when youre having fun, and 2011 flew by so fast that one day it was the beginning of January and the next it was the end of December. One hundred and five shows were reviewed in this spacethats almost one every three daysand there were still more shows I couldnt fit in. Some weeks there were as many as three openings. What to see? What to review? What bounty!
As a result of funding cuts to the arts, some theatre companies were forced to pare down but never at the expense of quality. There were remounts, co-productions, smaller casts, shorter runs and very creative site-specific work including a city parkade, on the beach at Spanish Banks, in a hotel room, along the riverfront in Steveston and storefronts in Gastown. And there were more musicalsusually a safe haven in hard times.
Some companies simply got smaller; but Bard on the Beach took a chance on getting biggerand it paid off. All three of the Arts Clubs venues thrived. And Ronnie Burketts Penny Plain broke attendance records at the Cultch.
Small often has big payoffs. And chances are with the proliferation of smaller, intimate venues all over town, theres a theatre within walking distance of where you live. Have you checked out Main Street Studio, Studio 16 or Havana?
The PuSh Festival kickstarted 2011 in January and all my expectations were shredded by Wojciech Niemczyk and Tomasz Nosinskis gritty performance in In The Solitude of Cotton Fields, a brilliant commentary on dependencydealer/addict, gay lovers and all manner of illicit couplings in the night when men and beasts join in a barbaric relationship. It wasnt a show you loved or hated; it was a show you could tolerate or not tolerate. I was rivetted, PuShed and blown away.
Also part of the PuSh Festival was 100% Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»at SFU Woodwards. Who knew statistics could be this much fun? One hundred ordinary peopleapproximately one per cent of Vancouvers populationfrom a toddler to a grandmother moved about the stage in response to a variety of questions. Directed by Amiel Gladstone with music by Ron Samworth and his three-piece band, it made visual and fun what would otherwise simply be numbers on a page.
Another PuSh offering, Circa came from Australia to the Freddy Wood Theatre. Gorgeous bodiesthree men, two womenflung themselves at each other and wrapped themselves around each other in an explosive, erotic, almost brutal dance: she/he loves me, she/he loves me not. It was provocative, loaded with a take it or leave attitude that left me saying, Ill take it. Ill take it.
The festival ended and the regular season took hold. Right off the top came Studio 58s Comedy of Errors, an Alice In Wonderland-ish, Tim Burton-esque production directed by Scott Bellis and designed by Pam Johnson. It was all very Victorian grotesque with whiteface performers, yanked-out hairdos, rosebud mouths, scrunched up skirts with lacy or torn stockings, wool socks and ankle-high boots. Utterly fresh, eye-catching and inventive.
Death of a Salesman and Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ran back to back at The Playhouse and the Arts Club Mainstage in February. Tom McBeaths portrayal of Willie Loman should have put him in the running for the Jessie for Best Performance of an Actor in a Lead Rolebut didntand Meg Roe, as Honey in Whos Afraid, seriously challenged Jennifer Clement (in The Trespassers) for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. Both shows were outstanding and reasserted the staying power and relevancy of 20th century classics.
Hard Times Hit Parade, presented by Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret, was a real charmer over at the Russian Hall. It really captured the craziness and desperation of the dance marathons of the 1920s and 30s. The audience sat in bleachers, ate popcorn and watched the fringe fly, little potty hats bob and pearl rope necklaces bounce. The joint really jumped to the music of Maria in the Shower.
The Reputation of Lady Mary was a salon piecesmall and intimatebut was carried aloft by two witty performers: Gwynyth Walsh and Anthony F. Ingram. Playwright Charles Siegel put the play together with the letters to and from Lady Mary Montagu, Horace Walpole and other 18th century notables. What could have been dry and simple letter reading was a little dramatic jewel with Lady Mary and Walpole playing cat and mouse with each other. Walsh and Ingrams sparring was very literary and utterly delectable.
Calgary puppeteer Ronnie Burkett, a national treasure, delighted Cultch audiences again this season with his spellbinding Penny Plain, an end-of-the-world story told with 30 puppets. His beautifully crafted puppetsincluding a well-spoken, gentlemanly hound called Geoffreycame alive to tell the tale. Setting the story in Miss Plains boarding house allowed Burkett to include some strange characters, all refugees from the dog-eat-dog chaos raging outside. Do not miss Burkett when he comes to town again. Puppets for grownups? Believe it.
In After Jerusalem, a new play by Aaron Buskowsky, actors Deborah Williams and Andrew McNee charmed the pants off us when Carol, a never-married teacher from Regina, meets Vladimir, a security guard at a sacred site in Jerusalem where Carol is spending Christmas. Treated realistically, After Jerusalem could have been just another love story but in Bushkowsky and director Rachel Peakes hands, it was theatrical and funny and a reminder of just how goodand relatively safelife is in Canada. Williams and McNee were so perfect and perfectly matched, its hard to imagine anyone else as Carol and Vlad.
A few of my favourite things: Itai Erdals relaxed candour in How To Disappear Completely, the story of his mothers passing; the beautiful horses and horse whisperer in Cavalia; Drew Faceys fantastic set design, and the terrific ensemble performance of Studio 58 students in Andy Thompsons adaptation of 1984; Jennifer Clements sassy baring it all for art in The Trespassers; Nicola Lipman as yet another scratchy old lady in Joan McLeods Another Home Invasion; Irene Karas as tarty Pina La Putana in Mambo Italiano; the speed and ingenuity of Rick Miller in his one-man show, MacHomer; Andy Toths bravery, generosityand damned fine jobof stepping in for Jay Brazeau in Hairspray; Kyle Rideouts splendid directorial debut in The Great Divorce; Bridge Mixs innovative use of a city parkade; Bob Frasers dazzling, creepy Richard III at Bard of the Beach; Ryan Beils how to vanquish a rival monologue in Bards As You Like It; Next to Normal for bringing the plight of those with bipolar disorder to the stage; Light in the Piazza for Katey Wrights sensitive, nuanced performance; Anthony F. Ingrams rivetting performance in Studio 58s The Crucible; Tosca Café for its playfulness; The Penelopiad for Meg Roes calm, still, reflective portrayal of Greek mythologys Penelope, wife of skirt-chasing Odysseus, amazingly performed by Colleen Wheeler; Greg Armstrong-Morriss blockbuster performance in La Cage Aux Folles; and Ron Reeds masterful one-man performance of Scrooge in Dickens A Christmas Carol.
In Tiny Tims words, God bless us every onethe playwrights, directors, dramaturgs, actors, designers, technicians, box office staff, ushers and you, the theatre-goers, who make it all possible.
