Theatre

One of Shakespeare's most enduring works, Hamlet gets up close and personal in the Honest Fishmongers Equity Co-op presentation at the Havana Theatre from November 17 through December 11, 2010.  Christopher David Gauthier talks about the show and his role as costume designer.

Before getting into its traditional holiday spirit with its annual pantomime, Metro Theatre takes on spirits of a different kind with Pam Valentine's Spirit Level, on stage until December 4th.

While not entirely unpredictable, the Gateway Theatre production of Michelle Riml’s Sexy Laundry is a fun romantic comedy that helps remind us that perhaps what we have is sometimes enough.

Faith, like beauty, can be in the eye of the beholder.  But to have true faith or true beauty, one must dig deep.  The same can be said of theatre: to have great theatre, actors must reach deep and believe what their characters believe so that we, as an audience, in turn believe them.  Without that fundamental connection the audience can be left as simple observers with no emotional connection to the characters or story.  Last night at the Theatre UBC presentation of The Madonna Painter, I was that observer.

I am convinced there is a powerful story within Pacific Theatre’s Playland but that story was ultimately lost on me as heavy accents obscured most of the dialogue.

When it comes to promoting theatre, sometimes a little sensationalism helps and Greg Armstrong-Morris makes no apologies when he describes Touchstone Theatre’s Mimi (or A Poisoner’s Comedy) as all about “poison, pies, pigeon impressions and simulated 17th century sex”.

There’s something strangely endearing about the Down Stage Right Productions’ presentation of What About Luv?, currently on stage at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island, in what can only be described as an odd little musical comedy nugget about depression, infidelity and suicide.

“The dark side of religion” is once again explored by gay Quebec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard, as Theatre UBC presents The Madonna Painter as the second production of its 2010/2011 season.

When I sat down to write my review of The 39 Steps, currently on stage at the Arts Club Stanley Theatre, I thought I would be clever and give 39 reasons why you should go see this show.  But when I started to put my list together I quickly realized that there really are only 12 reasons: the cast and production team of this laugh-out-loud homage to Hitchcock.

It isn’t hard to understand why actors usually get most of the attention, but what many theatre-goers don’t appreciate is the huge behind-the-scenes cast working to help ensure everything on stage runs smoothly.  One of those roles is that of stage manager, a multi-tasker who is the pivot point between pretty much every other person and group involved in a theatrical production.