Finster Finds

Last weekend I took in the opening night of Radiant Vermin presented by Northern Light Theatre in the Studio Theatre at the Fringe Theatre Arts Barns. Holy moly what a show! I had seen a bit at the season launch last spring, and had some ideas about what I was in for, but nothing really could’ve prepared me. What the audience is in for is a little bit of a wild ride! We get a hint of what’s coming in the first scene when Ollie and Jill, a young couple played by Eli Yaschuk and Rain Matkin, tell us that they’ve just experienced the garden party from hell, and then they tell us how they got there… Photos by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography . Ollie and Jill are a young couple with a baby on the way wanting to move out of their terrible living situation in a run down apartment complex and find their (unaffordable) dream home. After receiving a cryptic letter, they’re approached by Miss Dee (Holly Turner in a striking array of stylish costumes) who tells them they are selected for ...

Marc J. Chalifoux Photography I took in the World Premiere of  After Mourning - Before Van Gogh  by Canadian playwright Mike Czuba   this past weekend at Shadow Theatre (presented at the Varscona Theatre). Second only to my love of exploring math and science in plays is the exploration of visual art and artists in plays. With today's modern technology and the ability to include projections, theatres are able to do this in a way that literally immerses the audience in the work of the artist. Indeed the work of Vincent van Gogh is prominent in the play thanks to the wonderful projection design of Matt Schuurman.  In Czuba's play we are not focused so much on Van Gogh but rather how his brother's widow, Joanna (played by Lora Brovold and Donna-Leny Hansen) works in her life to establish and preserve his legacy. Remember, Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime. His fame and recognition of his genius only came after his death. After husband Theo also dies, Joanna...

Photo Credit: Marc J Chalifoux This past Friday, I took in Opening Night of The Noon Witch written and directed by Stewart Lemoine and presented by Teatro Live! at the Varscona Theatre. It was a fun night of theatre warning of the dangers of young women met at midday with baked goods - you must be careful as they might actually be a witch, trying to fatten you up so you will sink to your death ( lured to the water by nixies of some sort ). It takes place in 1920s Hungary and we meet first Anatol (Aidan Laudersmith), who has just returned from a long trip exploring the country, and Joszef (Eli Yaschuk), who has quit his long-standing job at a bakery because he can't stop eating the goods. These two have wonderful chemistry together and Laudersmith handles the complex and witty dialogue wonderfully. Yaschuk is brilliant at playing the very quirky Joszef and he has a comedic subtlety that was very fun to watch! The two men have a friend, Sandor (Ethan Long), who they discover has be...

Brianne Jang BB Collective Photography Friday night I took in the Opening Night of Angry Alan presented by Northern Light Theatre, directed by Trevor Schmidt and starring Cody Porter. When I attended the season launch for NLT I thought the casting of Porter was so smart, because in just the preview the things that his character (Roger) said were highly inflammatory. Only someone like Porter could play this role and not have everyone dislike ( hate? ) him and Roger, outright. This was confirmed when I saw the show.  Roger is disillusioned with his life. It clearly has not gone the way he thought it would. It has not gone the way he felt he was promised - promised by society and it's expectations - and then Roger finds the Men's Rights Movement online. His frustrations with the world ( which he finds unfair and inexplicable ) are echoed by online persona Angry Alan, whose video rants feed Roger's need for answers. What's to blame? Feminism... it has clearly gone too far....

Immediately after my last post I was struck by something... it was respiratory and it lingered and I had to cancel tickets to several shows I had wanted to catch. I spent about a month literally 'on the couch', coughing and wheezing and sleeping.  In late November I did manage to catch The Ballad of Johnny and June at the Citadel and it was terrific! I should have blogged but I was not up to full strength. However, I saw this as a reaffirming of the standard of work I believe we should be seeing at a Regional Theatre. My mother liked it so much that she went twice and took my dad to it. That's a ringing endorsement! I took the big buy and he also really enjoyed it and he's hard to please!  In December I caught It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Walterdale Theatre. The company did a great job tapping into the iconic Christmas story. The cast handily embraced the multiple character voices of a radio play and the look (costumes and set) and sound of the play...

Last Friday I went to Opening Night of the absolutely hysterical Stranger Sings presented by DarkStage Productions at the Backstage Theatre. It is what is sounds like it might be, a musical parody of the Netflix show Stranger Things . Like the TV show, it is set in Hawkins, Indiana, where four nerdy tweens play D&D and one of them (Will Byers - a puppet voiced by Melenie Reid, who also plays his mom, Joyce Byers) goes missing on his way home! All the folks you expect to see are there: D&D buddies Mike (Jeremey Zimmerman), Lucas (Jason Wong) and Dustin (Renell Doneza - who does an amazing imitation of Gaten Matarazzo), Steve Harrington with the hair (played by Brian Christenson who also plays Jonathon Byers with a quick switch of a wig and a moor slouch), Nancy Wheeler (Liz Janzen) and best-friend but forgotten Barb (Carly Pettit), Eleven (Jack Hunting), Hooper (Connor Foy) and, of course, the Demogorgon (the clearly never-shy in his life - Lucas Paterson). I mention them all ...