Tag Archives: Theatre

Nicole Alivojvodic Reviews The After After Party On Now At The Cultch Till March 17th

8 Mar

AfterAfterPartyTheCultchStrap in for a night of shameless, riotous comedy with Jules and Fiona at Vancity Culture Lab. Winner of the 2016 Cultchivating the Fringe Award, “The After After Party” is the perfect girls night out! Written and performed by Katey Hoffman and Cheyenne Mabberley, this gloriously relatable play will fire up nostalgia in anyone who was a teen in the early 2000’s. Grab your BFF, sit back with your Cosmopolitan (or glass of straight Fireball) and reminisce about the NSYNC posters that were plastered on your bedroom wall and Wheatus’ “Teenage Dirtbag” being perpetually stuck in your head.

What starts off as a high school version of “The Hangover”, quickly morphs into a tale of female friendship and acceptance. Albeit ridiculous at times, Hoffman and Mabberley have become leaders in female forward comedy, and their company, “After Party Theatre”, is committed to fostering the careers of women. This show will throw you back to the desperation you felt as a teen to be beautiful and popular and remind you to value your female friendships through the inconvenient and unconditional love between Jules and Fiona.

Celebrate International Women’s Day with tickets to this shamelessly fun show, on now until March 17th. Visit The Cultch for further details and show times.

Photo Credit: Helenka Boden

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

PuSH Presents Dublin Oldschool At The Cultch Until February 3rd

1 Feb

DublinOldSchoolTogether with the PuSH International Arts Festival, The Cultch brings Project Arts Centre’s smash hit Dublin Oldschool to Vancouver. This sharp and edgy play, written by Emmet Kirwan, will have you laughing one minute and crying the next. Impressively performed by Kirwan and fellow Dublin native Ian Lloyd Anderson to a sold-out crowd on opening night, Dublin Oldschool is as thought-provoking as it is witty.

Following the story of two estranged brothers, Dublin Oldschool jumps back and forth in time to weave a tale about fraternity set against the backdrop of modern day Dublin. During a wild weekend, Jason, a wannabe DJ, runs into his older brother Daniel, a washed up junkie. After years of not speaking, they reminisce about the tunes, the drugs, and the paths that led them back to each other. The 70-minute show requires your full attention; lose focus for a minute and you’ll miss something because this “spoken word odyssey” is spoken quickly! Nevertheless, this award winning show is exceptional – just maybe brush up on your Irish slang beforehand.

For tickets to this riotous show, on now until February 3rd at Historic Theatre, visit The Cultch.

By Contributing Writer Nicole Alivojvodic

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

SHIT At The Firehall Arts Centre – January 27, 2018 to February 10, 2018

25 Jan

SHITFirehall

Australian’s most unapologetic playwright, Patricia Cornelius, examines the lives of three incarcerated underclass women in a manner unseen on most theatre stages.  SHIT asks you to consider women with foul mouths and weathered faces, women who spit, fight, swear, hurt and steal. They are angry, unrelenting, terrifying and damaged women. They discuss fist fights, foster care, babies, their mothers, crying and what it’s like to believe in absolutely nothing.  “There is nothing romantic in these characters’ outsider mindsets’ says Cornelius who states there is something admirable about the fight in these women who do not behave as others think they should. Cornelius believes many women will be able to relate to this. SHIT takes place at the Firehall Arts Centre January 27th to February 10th, 2018. For tickets, visit Firehall Arts Centre.

Contributing writer Tiva Quinn checked out opening night of this production. Here is her take on SHIT:

I kind of expected yet another story where bad things happen to women who are fundamentally, deep down, good people. Crusty but with a heart of gold somewhere inside.

SHIT is not that story. These women don’t make any plays for your respect or your sympathy. Tough times have turned them into tough people and they’re not especially kind to themselves or to one another. Near the beginning of the play they laugh about the times when you’re that woman – the woman on the bus who’s cursing to herself at full volume and making everyone uncomfortable. Only one of these three women is a bit vulnerable, and the other two are determined to teach her to knock it off.

If you can let go of your need for a sympathetic character and your belief that women should be likeable, there’s a lot to enjoy and a lot to think about here.

My one quibble would be that the Australian play sometimes loses its flow with word choices that just seem wrong delivered in a Canadian accent, but an interesting script and strong acting are more than enough to make up for that.

Tags: , , , , , ,

The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival: January 16 – February 4, 2018

17 Jan

PUSHFestivalThe PuSh International Performing Arts Festival is a feast of live performance art. The Festival takes place over a 3 week period from January 16th to February 4th in various venues around the City. In East Vancouver, The Fox Cabaret, The Cultch and The Russian Hall will be hosting a number of the performances.  Expect to find performances from international, Canadian and local artists in a variety of genres including dance, film, music, multimedia and theatre. Check out some of the original and creative works which will be showcased during PuSh.  We’ve set out below the productions coming to East Vancouver. To purchase tickets, visit PuSH Festival and note, if you wish to see several performances, 4 pack and 6 pack ticket options are available.

 

The Fox Cabaret, 2321 Main Street

 Cris Derksen Trio (February 2–3, 2018)

Daughter (February 1, 2018)

Dickie Beau: Unplugged (January 19–20, 2018)

HINKYPUNK (January 26, 2018)

Joseph Keckler (January 26–27, 2018)

RPM Records: Live in Vancouver (February 3, 2018)

Songs of Insurrection (January 22–23, 2018)

Spokaoke (February 2, 2018)

Torrey Pines (January 20, 2018)

The Cultch, 1895 Venables Street

Dublin Oldschool (January 30–February 3, 2018)

I’m Not Here (January 24–28, 2018)

Reassembled, Slightly Askew (January 17–February 4, 2018)

The Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Avenue

Pushoff Mixer (February 1, 2018)

Symposium: Field Notes (February 3, 2018)

The Events (January 17–28, 2018)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The Pipeline Project At The Firehall Arts Centre January 10 – 20, 2018

1 Jan

PipelineProject-photo-credit-David-Cooper

We can’t say we have any answers on this issue, but we do think this production is an important conversation. Writers Sebastien Archibald, Kevin Loring and Quelemia Sparrow bring The Pipeline Project to the Firehall Arts Centre this January. This production brings together three actors that have created a play about the political conflicts within Canada’s oil industry. Each actor is sent on a journey of discovery and self-reflection. Along the way they confront prejudices while wrestling with their own fossil fuel dependency, cultural heritage and first world privilege. No matter where you stand on this issue, it’s a conversation worth having. The Pipeline Project runs January 10th to 20th, 2018. Tickets are available online at Firehall Arts Centre.

Photo Credit: David Cooper

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius On Now At The Cultch

27 Nov

TheSocietyThe Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius might give you a lot to talk about the next day, but from chatting to a few audience members afterwards, I’d say we were all pretty much speechless as our initial reaction.

Colleen Murphy’s version is very much faithful to the plot of Shakespeare’s first tragedy, though, which includes parents murdering their children, rape, mutilation, crucifixion, and cannibalism. Oh, and some jokes about race, while Murphy adds in a few jokes of her own about class to make sure the play touches every third rail.

I was shocked to learn that ‘revenge tragedy’ bloodbaths were extremely popular with Elizabethan audiences for about 10 seconds, before I remembered that ‘torture porn’ is a popular category today. (Not to mention ‘woman in peril,’ which is wildly popular.)

Fans of Mump and Smoot might enjoy the similar style with people who act on every impulse and live-action cartoon violence, but this play digs into thornier issues. There are some big laughs, and the play is so funny in places that I found myself laughing again even after I thought they had gotten too offensive and lost me.

I respect what Murphy is trying to do here too much to go into detail and spoil the shock value of it, even if I don’t quite know what it is that she’s trying to do. Maybe gesturing towards some sort of point without quite having one is part of how she’s mocking us – but in any case I respect a play that’s worth still rolling around in your mind and trying to decide what to think of it for the next couple days.  The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius is on now at The Cultch until December 3rd.

By Contributing Writer: Tiva Quinn

Tags: , , , , , ,

The Shipment At The Cultch November 22 – December 2, 2017

22 Nov

TheShipmentTheCultch.jpgSpeakEasy Theatre presents the West Coast premiere of a provocative play written by Young Jean Lee called The Shipment. The Shipment is a subversive modern show about black identity meant to wake the world to the ridiculous narratives which are dominant in the media. The cast features five black actors who play a roster of characters that read a bit like a bad b-list of black iconography: the Video Ho, Crackhead John, Bad Cop, Standup Comedian, Drug Dealer Mama, Grandma from Heaven, and Record Company Executive, to name just a few. This mash-up of  stereotypes with clichés, distortions and we hear brilliant sleights of hand are all aimed to force us to go beyond the lampoon and shift the lens through which we perceive race in order to confront our own bias.  The New York Times says this show is “An insightful piece about black identity politics that is daring, provocative, and very, very funny.” The Shipment previews November 22nd and runs to December 2nd. Tickets are available online from The Cultch. 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Ronnie Burkett Returns To The Cultch December 5th With The Little Dickens

7 Nov

LittleDickensThe ever popular Ronnie Burkett brings the Daisy Theatre back to The Cultch for his production The Little Dickens December 5 to 22, 2017. If you don’t know about the Daisy Theatre, you are missing a laugh your ass off good time. This is an adult puppet show performed By Ronnie Burkett.  If you think you might not be interested in seeing puppets, think again. The Daisy Theatre is unlike anything you have ever seen. Ronnie Burkett, puppeteer provocateur and his company of over 40 marionettes, will not only entertain you, but will be sure to have you riding a wave of emotion as he brings his puppets to life. The energy he brings to his puppetry is rather awe inspiring and how he seamlessly transitions between all the characters. In his new production The Little Dickens, the cast of The Daisy Theatre take on the beloved holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, in the merriest marionette mash-up ever. Faded Daisy diva, Esmé Massengill, plays the role of miserly, drunken, bitter Esmé Scrooge, in this Burkett-esque retelling of the Dickens classic. As always with an improvised Daisy show, there is no set script, and in the journey of Esmé Scrooge toward redemption, she encounters all the Daisy favourites portraying Dickens’ familiar characters. In keeping with the vaudeville show theme of The Daisy Theatre, popular Christmas songs will feature in a burlesque opening and sultry jazz solos.  Ronnie Burkett brings a sharp wit to his characters when he needs to, but he can be as soft as kitten when playing the character Schnitzel who usually begins and finishes his show. Each performance is different, daring and ridiculous.  The Georgia Straight has previously called it “one of the best shows you’ll ever see”.  Tickets start at $22 and are available online at The Cultch.  Note, due to the mature content this is a 19+ show.

What people are saying about Ronnie Burkett:

“Ronnie Burkett’s creations are remarkable feats of both manipulation and imagination” — The Guardian (UK)

 “One of the geniuses of the world…seeing his troupe every few years has just become a necessity of civilized theatre going”
— The Village Voice (NY)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Review Of Girls Like That On Now Until November 10, 2017

6 Nov

 

 

Shameless Hussy Productions tackles modern day girl on girl crime in Girls Like That at Templeton Secondary School. The 10-person cast, entirely made up of teenage girls (many of whom are Templeton students), impress the audience with their ability to grapple with the intense subject matter which frankly, many adults struggle with. No doubt, this is in part due to the school’s “Girls in Leadership” club.

“Slut, skank, scuzz – you deserve everything coming to you.”

The play follows a tightly knit group of girls from childhood through high school, jumping back and forth in time and showcasing the judging and shaming that takes place at every age of a girl’s life. However, in the same vein as the 2004 film Mean Girls, the play turns your attention not to the way women are oppressed by men, but to the crimes girls commit against each other.

The main storyline is interwoven with explosive musical ensembles and monologues from women of different generations throughout. The cast dances in sync to songs heavy in their message of girl power like Beyonce’s “Run the World (Girls)” and Little Mix’s “Wings,” drawing a stark contrast with the way the girls gang up on and slut-shame their “friend” in the story. Moreover, the comedic monologues from a flapper girl, a World War II air pilot, a hippie and a Melanie Griffith-style working girl serve to demonstrate the adversity women have faced through the ages and the way women have had to stick together to overcome oppression. This again points a disappointed finger at the way girls treat each other in the present.

The play’s main objective is clear, to blatantly show the way sexism and misogyny are indoctrinated by the girls themselves and how this is all aided by modern technology. It’s not that bullying has never existed and girls have never been mean to each other, but the game has changed. It is so easy to anonymously harass someone from behind a screen or to like and share gossip with the tap of a button. What’s easier is to blindly accept discourse like “she was asking for it” and “boys will be boys.” It’s hard to challenge authority, to go against the mob, but these young women, mature beyond their years, display the dramatic consequences of not doing so.

For tickets to this impressive and important production at Templeton Secondary School on now until November 10th visit Eventbrite.

Review by Contributing Writer: Nicole Alivojvodic

Photos Credit: Tim Matheson

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

East Van Panto – Snow White & The Seven Dwarves At The York Theatre

30 Oct

SnowWhiteEastVanPantoWe were going to wait until after Halloween to tell you about this upcoming holiday tradition, but we just can’t wait. The East Van Panto is a favourite event we look forward to every year and this show never ceases to disappoint. Celebrating its 5th year, the East Van Panto is back with an outrageous take on Snow White. In this East Van tale, our hero flees the Queen of North Vancouver across the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge and lands straight into the madness of the PNE, where she dances with SuperDogs, hops a ride on the Wooden Roller Coaster, and befriends washed-up ‘80s rock stars “The Seven Dwarves”. Pure Panto hilarity ensues as they do everything they can to escape the Queen’s wicked clutches.

“It is really hard to believe that we are doing the East Van Panto for a fifth year!”, says The Cultch’s Executive Director, Heather Redfern. “So many people tell me that it’s a holiday tradition for their family and friends, and that just warms my heart because the Panto is all about celebrating local artists, local places, and local families. This year, we are presenting Snow White & the Seven Dwarves – who just happen to have landed at the PNE! I mean what could be more fun to sing and dance about than that?! The East Van Panto is for everybody and it’s made here especially for us.”

There is amazing cast of talent behind this production.  The East Van Panto is open to all ages 5 and up. Tickets start at $22, family packs are available which include 4 tickets for $135.  Note, all seats for ages 18 and under are $22.  Tickets are available at The Cultch either in person, by phone or online. The shows previews November 29th and November 30th and continues until January 6, 2018. For those looking for a matinee, there are many 2:00 pm shows. For more information on tickets, visit The Cultch. See you there!

Photo Credit: Tim Matheson

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →