Candy and the Beast at NLT … Bringing a Halloween Vibe to Your April!

Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography

I took in Opening Night of Candy and the Beast at Northern Light Theatre this past Friday. Written, directed and designed by Trevor Schmidt, and starring Jayce McKenzie and Jake Tkaczyk, it evokes the feeling of 80's classics like Heathers and Beetlejuice (perhaps I was a bit reminded of 80's Winona Ryder). In a sharp turn from her recent performance across the street in Robot Girls, McKenzie as Candy is angsty, angry, and emo. The small community of Black Falls that Candy and her younger, but physically bigger, brother Kenny aka the Beast (Tkaczyk) live in has been struck by a serial killer, whose victims are young, blonde, and lower class. Candy is two for three, and unless the killer changes his target, she’s safe. Through Candy's observations, the show comments on those who are easily discarded versus those who raise alarms when they go missing. 

The aesthetics of the show are cool. Ghoulish masks on sticks populate the community, which features the blond victims, a pack of wild dogs, and various community members, who are all voiced by McKenzie and Tkaczyk. Lighting is  dark, with ribbons of visibility, often top-lit harshly so that you can’t quite see everything - adding to the mystery of "what’s exactly going on?!" Interspersed in the storytelling, are cool songs sung by Tkaczyk as Kenny, which evoke on 80s electronica sound. It’s edgy and dark and creepy and Tkaczyk does a great job selling those songs, as well as embodying the many characters he plays. 

 Photo by Brianne Jang,BB Collective.

The interplay between the siblings is terrific and it propels the story. Because Kenny is much younger and innocent (or is he?) than he appears, and the diminutive Candy is in some ways so much larger a personality, it’s a fun ride that leaves you wondering who the killer is and who will be killed next. And of course, will Candy be on the list? And will we actually find out who the killer is? I’ll leave that with you as I don’t want any spoilers. 

You don’t often see a show like this in April as it’s more of a Fall genre, But if you like things, a little dark and edgy and creepy, this is the perfect show for you. If you're into true crime podcasts and horror movies with edge and humour, you will love this! Who says you can’t have a little Halloween in Springtime?  

Candy and the Beast runs to April 20th at Fringe Theatre Adventures. Tickets are $38.85 and can be purchased here. There are also 2for1 nights and PWYC Nights available. 

A Special Guest Review of The Mountaintop at the Citadel Theatre!

 I was unable to use my ticket to The Mountaintop at the Citadel this past weekend (Easter plans) and having seen the show before I passed along my ticket to my thoughtful friend, John Anderson, who had wanted to see the show. So, here is a "Special Guest Review" Post for the show!

Similar to the play itself, the Citadel’s new production of Katori Hall’s play, The Mountaintop, is deceptively simple at first glance. The story is a fictional reimagining of how Martin Luther King spent his last night alive, right after he returns from delivering his famous final sermon, I’ve Been to the Mountaintop. At his room in Lorraine Motel, King encounters an eccentric and mysterious room service attendant, Camae. With her company, MLK experiences his final moments of privacy in life.

John C. Dinning’s Set Design combines realism and abstract to tell its story. The motel room is entirely what one would expect from a real life motel room, but the borders of the stage present something else… Like all famous people, MLK was surrounded and trapped by fame. Even alone in his room, he is never allowed to be alone. All along the edges of the Maclab Theatre stage, there are strewn newspapers, letters, documents, communications, facts, opinions, and destiny. Upstage from the room, there are clouds that Jeff Osterlin’s lights dance across to effectively make it seem as though the clouds are really moving. Occasionally, Dave Clarke’s thunder booms and roars to remind MLK of the danger his life is in.

Ray Strachan is tremendous as King. His physical and vocal control seem effortlessly natural, despite clearly intentional choices in every moment. With all MLK’s fame and renown, it would be easy to fall for the wrong choice and portray King with an inhuman level of gravitas. Thankfully, the script, direction, and performance all draw the character in a more human and therefore compelling light. Once Patricia Cerra enters the motel room as the enthralling Camae, the two actors own the stage thanks to their talents, but also thanks to very strong direction from Patricia Darbasie. She has done wonders with her cast. King and Camae’s chemistry as channeled through the actors is delightfully engaging, especially when the conversations take unexpected turns.

In the finale of the play, there is a repeated phrase about contribution and progression: “The baton passes on”. With their production of The Mountaintop, Patricia Darbasie and her team have successfully passed it along to Edmonton audiences.

- John Anderson – April 1st, 2024

The Mountaintop runs to April 21st at The Citadel Theatre. Tickets range from $35.00 to $125.00 and can be purchased here. 

My thanks to John for the awesome review! I hope you all get to catch the show while it's here!

Great Music & Theatre from U of A and Grant MacEwan U...

Photo Credit: Lindsey Tran,
@understudystudio_

I ticked off one of my bucket list shows this past week! I'm a self-avowed Sondheim lover and thanks to Grant MacEwan University's production of Sunday in the Park with George, I finally got to see a show that has long been on my list. I'm so glad I caught it (it closes today so you might not be able to if you are just reading this now). The music is very-Sondheim and I caught bits that reminded me of Into the Woods and Company, and it is not easy, but this cast did it very well. Lead by Eli Yaschuk as George (George Seurat, the French painter) and Rain Matkin as Dot (his fictionalized model and lover), the young cast of students in the BFA program deliver the show with commitment, enthusiasm and skill. Yaschuk and Matkin are both terrific, anchoring the show musically and emotionally. I hope we see more of them on our city's stages in year to come. And the entire cast delivered my favourite song, Sunday, beautifully.

Photo Credit: Lindsey Tran, @understudystudio_

It's interesting how forward thinking the show was. It seemed like it was meant for this modern age of projections. The lighting, set, costume, and projection designers (Travis Hatt, Ross Nichol, Deanna Finnman, Matt Shuurman) did a phenomenal job of bringing the art to life. After seeing the show I went and rewatched the Tony performance from the original production, which had wowed me at the time I first saw it, and was struck by how much more active projections add to the piece. 

I hope to catch a few more of the MacEwan University shows in the future. We are blessed with so much theatre in Edmonton, we sometimes forget that MacEwan and U of A both have incredible programs offering terrific shows with the future of Edmonton theatre on their stages. 

Speaking of U of A, I also caught a wonderful musical performance by the University of Alberta Music Department featuring their Concert Band and Symphonic Wind Ensemble. The performance was called The Old Sod, and was presented on St. Patrick's Day at the Winspear. It also featured dancers from the Edmonton Ceilidh Dance Academy. It was a terrific way to spend St. Patrick's Day and enjoy some wonderful pieces of music. 

Robot Girls is full of Laughs and a Love for Science at Shadow Theatre!

If you’re looking for a show on in Edmonton this week and next, I highly recommend Robot Girls presented by Shadow Theatre at the Varscona. It’s a brand new work by Trevor Schmidt about about a school science club at an all-girls junior high school. The four actors (played by Larissah Lashley, Hayley Moorhouse, Abigail McDougall and Jayce McKenzie) are letter perfect as grade 7, 8 and 9 students who endeavor to build a robot in their club to go to an international science competition. Their teacher advisor is missing in action, so it’s all up to them to figure out how to get the work done.

As a junior high school science teacher myself, I was both tickled and impressed by the portrayals. McKenzie is simply hysterical as the grade 7 club member Vanessa. She's filled to the brim with a golden retriever puppy energy that feels all too real. Moorhouse, on the other end of the age spectrum, plays the senior member of the club, grade 9 Bloody Mary, with just the right amount of distain and compassion for her younger club mates. In the middle, we have two grade 8 of varying temperaments; Lashley with her student council Vice President authority, and McDougall who just needs a club to be in while she balances the demands of her family. I was struck by how accurate (in a heightened way) the three ages were portrayed. You wouldn’t think there was a wide difference difference between a grade 7 and a grade 9, but there is, and this show capitalizes on it and really makes it work. It was also terrific that these weren't 'mean girls' or 'troubled girls', but real kids who happen to be smart and like science and want to belong somewhere, which is far more my experience with the age group. 

The laughs start immediately with this show. Schmidt has a knack for writing funny and truthful, young female characters. Co-Directors John Hudson and Lana Michelle Hughes keep the action moving with clever lights and robot dancing. The pace is brisk and tight. The relationships are honest, sometimes unintentionally hurtful, often touching, and most of all very humorous. 

Of course it’s not all simple. With the lack of a teacher in the room, the four girls must figure everything out on their own both with the robot building and how to deal with each other. Mistakes are made, but then fixed, and the future for women in science looks very hopeful.

I can’t overstate how funny it is, and how much the packed opening night audience was howling with laughter. If you have a daughter or granddaughter, or niece, aged 12 and up, I highly encourage you to take them to see this show. It might be really cool for them to recognize themselves on stage (whether they are a science kid or not). It’s more about the relationships than the science, but the science is pretty cool, too. It’s Spring Break next week so you could take your kid and they don’t have to get up early the next morning for school.

Robot Girls by Trevor Schmidt runs to March 31st at the Varscona Theatre. Tickets are $25-$38 with a Pay-What-You-Can night (at the door), and can be purchased here.

Photo Credit: Marc J. Chalifoux Photography and Video

A Monstrously Exciting Season on the Horizon for Northern Light Theatre!

There were quite a few hints about what might be included in Northern Light Theatre's upcoming season rolling our in advance of their Season Launch last Monday.  Quotes from thrillers and murder mystery authors had me preparing for a spooky and scary line-up. I'm always down for what Northern Light Theatre is offering. They consistently choose the unusual and challenging and deliver with complete design concepts. Unlike other theatres in town, you are more likely to see something that surprises you and makes you think about something you haven't before. 

The new season, titled Making A Monster, presents three plays featuring characters possessing qualities of modern monsters in our midst!

"This season, NLT wants to examine the human capacity to be monstrous to other human beings", says Artistic Director Trevor Schmidt. "We want to ask ourselves and our audience what keeps us from behaving cruelly- and we want there to be discussion. Nobody is immune to terrible actions. We’re all prone to regressive processes. It’s very easy to enter the dark abyss where evil dwells. We all have the capacity to be monsters."

The first show is a World Premiere, Monstress by Trevor Schmidt, starring Julia van Dam and Sydney Williams. A twist on the Frankenstein story (with a reading evocative of the recent Oscar-nominated film Poor Things), one wonders where this will go and who the real monster will turn out to be. I'm looking forward to see the dynamic between the two women - disgraced scientist and horrible creation - and the inevitable conflicts inherent in that relationship. 

Next is the play that sparked the season's theme, Angry Alan by Penelope Skinner, starring Cody Porter. Porter plays the utterly miserable Roger, third assistant manager at a Safeway grocery store. With his life at crisis point, Roger is close to bursting. But when he stumbles upon Angry Alan - an online activist- he finally feels someone is speaking his language. Schmidt said that this was the show that started the search for more monstrous plays and he wondered if it was going to get them in trouble. It explores what happens when an ordinarily tolerant, but dissatisfied man is radicalized by false reasoning online, and begins to blame feminism for all that is wrong in his life. I'm looking forward to squirming in my seat next season. This is most likely the one that's going to make me do so!

The season will wrap up with Radiant Vermin by Philip Ridley, starring new grads Rain Matkin, and Eli Yaschuk, along with NLT favourite Holly Turner. In the modern age of out-of-reach property acquisition, it tells the story of an engaging young couple, Ollie and Jill, who had to do some shocking things to get their dream home. A wickedly comic satire about a young couple offered a 'too good to be true' way onto the property ladder. The scene presented hints at a Faustian bargain, or perhaps a deadly game show. It looks to be the kind of show to make you laugh out loud,... but guiltily. 

I'm looking forward to meeting the monsters up on NLT's stage next season, be they real or imagined, or perhaps living right next door! 

Subscriptions for all three shows are now on sale through Northern Light Theatre's website northernlighttheatre.com. Subscriptions start at $80 VIP pricing until June 1, and single tickets go on sale August 1, 2024.

Sometimes it's hard to be nice... Lessons Learned with Donna Orbits the Moon and Spinsters in #yegtheatre this week...

I caught two thought-provoking (and funny) shows this weekend. 

Patricia Darbasie in Donna Orbits the Moon,
Brianne Jang BB Collective Photography

The first, Donna Orbits the Moon presented by Northern Light Theatre, was a one-woman show with the impressive Patricia Darbasie as Donna, a woman finding herself reacting with intense rage to inconveniences in her life. We are not exactly sure at the beginning why these moments are provoking such anger and violence, but there's something in the way that Donna tells the story that we are totally on her side. Indeed when I read a description online before seeing the show, I immediately connected. Too often we are expected to smile and be accommodating and the desire to say "No!" is often very strong with me. I see you, Donna! But there's something more to Donna's rage. There's a concrete reason she's suppressing and the reveal is deftly revealed in a touching and emotionally moving way (Directed by Trevor Schmidt). I appreciated the layered humour, and the beautiful lighting (Rae McCallum) and projections (Matt Schuurman) that echoed Donna's fracturing as she moved through her journey and we learned the whole story. It's funny, because Donna does some really bizarre things, but it is also heart-breaking and poignant, when we find out exactly why. I also enjoyed that the play was set in Minnesota, near Duluth, as that's a place close to my heart. 

Donna Orbits the Moon runs to February 3rd. Tickets are $38 but there are PWYC and 2for1 nights. Tickets can be purchased here. 

Christine Lesiak and Tara Travis in The Spinsters, 
Marc J Chalifoux Photography & Video

The next night I went to The Spinsters presented by Small Matters Productions. On it's surface it's the story of Cinderella's step-sisters (they take umbrage at the label ugly stepsisters) played by Christine Lesiak and Tara Travis. The stepsisters are larger than life and very funny and they engage with the audience cleverly with tongue-in-cheek cattiness. The story is relayed through wonderfully creative puppet shows, along with the spinsters own retelling. They have opinions about how they have been portrayed and they aren't impressed with much of it! The costumes and Production design (Adam Dickson & Ian Walker) are ridiculously clever and mind-blowing. There's literally a pocket for everything! And the puppetry is similarly fun (Jeny Cassady). But this show is more than just fun - you will laugh, but there's also a big uh-oh moment to add weight and make you think a lot after the show. 

The Spinsters runs to January 27th. Tickets are $25 plus fees, but there are some special events throughout the run. Tickets can be purchased here.  

With both these shows on my mind, I was thinking a lot about the expectations and perceptions of women in our world. How we have to behave a certain way and pushing back against those expectations gets us labelled or chastised, and even when we do what we've been told to do, we can still end up victims. I thought a lot about the Sarah Polley book of essays I read over the holidays, Run Towards the Danger, and how she reflects on her experience with Jian Ghomeshi and other events in her life that were shaped by her need to please or be considered 'good'. I'm still thinking about both shows and how I want to be in the world, and sometimes I think I might want to be like Donna and have a little rage, or like the Spinsters and not always be so very, very nice. 

MOB at WWPT - When words online do more damage than sticks and stones...

 Last night I took in MOB presented by Workshop West (WWPT). When first announced, I was going because the phenomenal Kristin Johnston was in it but I couldn't tell much about the show from the promotional material. A chance conversation a few weeks ago with another theatre artist about the show's subject matter made me even more interested. The show deals with the fallout after a woman is relentlessly harassed online by anonymous trolls that spew the vilest of the vile at her and she has no legal way to shut them down. Her solution is both an escape from her ruined life and attempt to seek some sort of redress. 

It's a tough watch, but really, really good. You have to have the stomach for it. The online warning (While keeping you and our actors safe, this show contains coarse language, sexual themes, nudity, violence, emotionally charged scenarios, and may deal with subjects which are personally challenging to you. We use strobe effects and water-based theatrical fog throughout) is completely true, and depending on someone's personal connection to the situations revealed, it may affect people with a range of reactions. The performances from the cast of three (Johnston as Sophie, Graham Mothersill as Martin, and Davina Stewart as Louise) are all excellent and complex. A terrific Set, created by designer Beyata Hackborn, works so well with the lighting (Alison Yanota) and those combined with the Sound design by Darrin Hagen. The mood and tone created by how those elements work together is outstanding. It's a wild ride with a an ending that is both awful and satisfying (and then makes you feel a bit awful for enjoying it). This is a show to definitely see this season and particularly if you, like myself, spend a lot of your time online. It's the cautionary tale of today. 

I think I connected so strongly to this show because I have been exposed to a certain amount of online vitriol in my former job as Marketing Manager for a local theatre (cancel a lecture for a national right-wing speaker with no justification and see what kind of online response that provokes - as the person reading and dealing with the online feedback on that, I went home and woke up with an upset stomach for weeks). As a individual, I have expressed what I thought were small, unimportant opinions on things and had rudeness and mocking from online acquaintances written at me. Many of those people wouldn't think they were doing anything wrong. I'm sure I have posted rude things myself when angry or upset. I try not to, but it's quite likely I have. The online world sometimes feels unreal, but the impact of our words there is very, very real... 

MOB plays at the Gateway Theatre until November 12th. Tickets range from $32-$53. You can purchase tickets here.