Teatro la Quindicina presents one of my FAVOURITES! The Importance of Being Earnest!

When I first started teaching high school drama years and years ago I knew that one of the first plays I would do with the kids would be Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. It had long been one of my favourite plays and it was one that made me laugh aloud many times when I read it. I also had a great group of students who were up to the challenge and style of Oscar Wilde. I had so many that I double-cast the show. That was about 18-19 years ago but it still lives in my memory as one of my favourite theatre adventures.

So... when Teatro la Quindicino announced they were presenting The Importance of Being Earnest I was ever so excited! The show did not disappoint. It is wonderfully cast, with great chemistry between the four lovers. There are moments of magic between Jack (Mark Meer) and Algernon (Ron Pederson) and between Cecily (Shannon Blanchet) and Gwendolyn (Louise Lambert), and when they are in their various configurations. Miss Prism (Cathy Derkach) and Rev. Chausable (Julien Arnold) are delightful in their intellectual flirting, and Leona Brausen is an imperious Lady Bracknell. The production will please any aficionado of Wilde from the opening cucumber sandwiches, to the buttonhole to muffins and a handbag! It's quick-paced and light and although there were a few opening night fumbles, it's well worth a night out on a summer evening! Indeed, I think as this cast runs with the show I will only get better and better... perhaps I will have to go back for a second viewing!

The Importance of Being Earnest runs to July 28, 2018 at the Varscona Theatre.
Click here for tickets.

Another Family Adventure... Singing in the Rain at Metro Cinema - Make Mine Hollywood Film Festival!

So last Friday, Metro Cinema kicked off it's Make Mine Hollywood Film Festival in conjunction with the World Premiere show, Make Mine Love at will be opening in a couple weeks at the Citadel.  Make Mine Love is set in the Golden Age of Hollywood, so all the films in the film festival are classics from the 1930s and 40s. We took the boys to the Gala Opening to meet the cast of Make Mine Love and to watch one of my personal favorite films, Singing in the Rain.  It was funny when I told Gibson we were going to see it.  He scrunched up his face and grumbled, "Isn't that an old movie?" as though this were torture I was about subject him too.  I reassured him that, yes, it was an old movie, but that it was a very, very good movie. So, off we went.  There was an unexpected bonus for wee Gibson, too.  As we stood in the lobby waiting for the movie and event to start he looked at the big poster for Make Mine Love and whispered to me, "Does that say Mark Meer?"  He's a big fan of the Irrelevant Show and Mark Meer is his favourite so when he found out Mr. Meer was going to be there, he was doubly pleased. He didn't want to meet him, too star struck, but thought it was cool to see him so up close and personal.

I was really happy with how the boys reacted to the movie. They laughed and were mesmerized. At one point during a tap number I leaned over to Oliver and said, "Isn't that amazing?" and he replied, eyes totally glued to the screen, "Yes."  After the movie, both boys said they liked Donald O'Connor the best because he was so funny, but they found so many things to comment on afterwards. Gibson and Mark even made up songs to the tunes from the movie - Singing in the Dark, and Good Evenin'.  I was so pleased to share this favourite film with them and have them respond so positively. 

I am hoping to take them to see Make Mine Love.  It's not specifically for kids, but it has that same sensibility and slap-stick humour.  I think they will be even more impressed to see that kind of story play out onstage.  There's some pretty amazing things in the script, from a car chase, to a bus crash, to crazy costume designers, to bigger than life characters that I think they will be thoroughly entertained. I will get to check it out early in the run to make sure that it's appropriate, but I have read the script and know my kids so I think that it will be. It's definitely not for little, little ones.