Finster Finds

April bring with it Auditions for Chess, the show I am directing for Walterdale Theatre. So I had to take a little time to look ahead and plan my theatre options.  There are quite a few good options but fortunately not as many as the past two months.  Rehearsals make it hard for me to see stuff! Anyhow, here are a few things I am looking forward to: Northern Light Theatre's The Passion of Narcisse Mondoux : Narcisse Mondoux (played by the always excellent Brian Dooley) retired Master Plumber, sets out to woo the recently widowed Laurencienne Robichaud — at her husband's funeral. This is a co-production with L'Uni Theatre and will alternate between performances in English and French - how cool is that?! I'll be taking in the English show for sure, and I hope to fit in the French version.  The Citadel Theatre's Other Desert Cities : A sharp, smart comedy-drama about family secrets unearthed. When I read this script a few years ago I wished I could be in i...

Well, those are my recommendations.. Shadow Theatre's A Picasso is a wonderfully sharp, funny, intelligent piece about Picasso in Paris during World War II. It's themes centre around censorship and art as a political weapon and compromising values in the face of the horrific power of the Nazis. Julien Arnold as Picasso and Alana Hawley as a German cultural attache go toe-to-toe in this two-hander. I saw the play at the Fringe a few years ago with Shannon Blanchet and Arnold and loved it then. This remount is just as sharp and the new dynamic between the actors makes it worth seeing a second time. A Picasso runs to April 3rd at the Backstage Theatre. In the Roxy Performance Series, Wild Side Productions presents  The Realistic Jonese s. I did't know what to expect and I think that is the best way to see this show, because it is truly unexpectedly and unpredictably funny. Two couples, both Joneses, live on the same street and deal with illness and each other. You wi...

Hey, so I was away for the last week of February.  Immediately before that, I saw a few shows but had no time to write about them before I left, so I thought I would do a quick re-cap.  All of them have closed, but that doesn't mean you can't check out the next show from these companies! The Early Bloomer by Jana O'Connor presented by Concrete Theatre I didn't bring my sons to this, because I thought it was for little, little kids but I wish I had.  This was truly a show that could have the moniker 'suitable for ALL ages'.  The story deals with a group of young buds in a garden who are all worried about how they are growing - too fast, too slow, not the right away.  It's applicable to the little ones because of the wonderful physical comedy and silliness, but it's also really timely for those pre-pubescent and those in the thick of it.  The line about their stems getting fuzz would have made my boys hysterical! And for adults, particularly those wi...

There's a lot on the go this month for theatre.  The start of the month is jam-packed with indie theatre options so there's really no excuse to stay home! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've already taken in Hot Mess and The Other , two of the indie options on the docket. Next up for me is Alice Through the Looking-Glass at the Citadel.  I'm looking forward to seeing the Super-Star Edmonton-cast of this show which promises to embrace the topsy-turvy sensibility of the Lewis Carroll story. The costumes and set are fantastic (designed by Bretta Gerecke) and the scenes I have seen as part of the media call looked very cool.  Can't wait to see the Jabberwocky and the Walrus and the Carpenter come to life! I studied both of the Alice books in University and kind of want to re-read them to refresh my memory... I'll be taking in 2 more shows this weekend. A little musical treat with Wish You Were Here by the Plain Janes and then a hard 90 degree turn wi...

So, um guys, I'm older than I look... These shows were a little bit of a shock to my system... I've kicked off March with 2 shows that underscored that for me, both of which look at sexual disconnect in the present day. The first was Pyretic Productions (with Good Women Dance) The Other. The Other tells the story of Sharon (Amber Borotsik), a white girl raised in Bombay by a cheating father and loyal mother, who returns to Alberta to discover the secrets of making pickles and choosing to only have relationships with men who are already married. Her otherness in the world prevents her from really forming commitments and leaving her disconnected. The piece was accented with movement by a chorus of 5 women. The choreography is interesting, and the show feels more like a dance piece than a theatre piece. If you like theatre that's a little more abstract which also incorporates music and dance to augment the story telling, you will like this. The next show I saw was Ca...