PLAYBOT: Theatre season off to morbid start
Vern Thiessen is a busy man. His play about Shakespeare’s dead wife Shakespeare’s Will just finished its run – in a graveyard! – and now the esteemed local playwright will star in his own play Lenin’s Embalmers, a Studio Theatre production Oct. 11-20 at the Timms Centre for the Arts. He plays Lenin.
Current state: Still not moving. Lenin, not Thiessen.
Unless there’s dialogue from beyond the grave … er, mausoleum, one assumes there may be flashbacks that allow Vern-as-not-dead-yet-Vlad to act in this tale of Russian scientists who have been tasked with preserving the body of the key figure in the Russian Revolution. Lenin was Agent Zero for Communism. It wasn’t easy (the body preservation, not communism) and the work went on for decades. According to Wikipedia, “One of the main problems the embalmers faced was the appearance of dark spots on the skin, especially on the face and hands. They managed to solve the problem by the use of a variety of different reagents in between baths.” Oh, yuk.
Anyway, Stalin’s in this, too (played by Doug Mertz) – and we all know how that turned out. The play, which premiered in New York in 2010, is said to be both “rollicking comedy” and “epic tragedy.” How can be both and function as collective society in theatrical continuity? Ask Karl Marx. All his fault.
Origin of the Species
The body of a four million-year-old cavewoman comes back to life after being kissed on the lips by an archeologist named Molly – and again, yuk! Geez, you guys …
The story from there is about how Molly takes her new friend with her back to modern England, and names her Victoria. There are understandably a few questions to be answered in this Bryony Lavery comedy, produced by Northern Light Theatre and directed by Trevor Schmidt, who is fond of presenting a woman’s perspective on life in the plays he picks. Questions!
The Canadian premiere of Origin of the Species at the Arts Barns’ Studio Theatre Oct. 12-27 is a feminist fantasia of modernity that stars Holly Turner – who played the Mother of Jesus in The Testament of Mary in Northern Light’s last season – and Kristin Johnston as “Victoria.” Which woman will learn more? The answer might surprise you.
Edmonton Comedy Festival
Festival producer Andrew Grose – a stand-up comedian himself (and longtime 630 CHED announcer) – says that the success of this event, which practically sells out every year, is due to “strong shows, a good reputation and smart marketing” and not so much to the Edmonton comedy “scene” people say is so strong.
But hey, man: without that thriving local “scene” of fans eager to pay for good live comedy shows, where would you be?
Over eight years, the Edmonton Comedy Festival has helped build the scene, in fact. At four venues in four days across town are some of the top touring comics in North America, including K. Trevor Wilson, Monique Marvez, and Steve Patterson from CBC’s The Debaters. The fest is laden with Canadian and Edmonton talent. It looks like 26 acts in all – not including the full slate of amateur contestants in the “funniest media person challenge” on Oct. 10 at the Arts Barns, which is sold out, as are several other shows.
Check here for full schedule and availability.
READ (essay from 2012): Stand-up comedy harder than it looks
The Triangle Factory Fire Project
Ninety years before 9-11 was another tragedy that scarred New Yorkers – a terrible fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that claimed the lives of 146 people, mostly young immigrant women employed as garment workers.
The event and its aftermath are dramatized in a play by Christopher Piehler (in collaboration with Scott Alan Evans), Oct. 10-20 at the Walterdale Theatre. Built on eyewitness accounts and court transcripts, the story focuses on a number of characters, some doomed to death because greedy owners had locked the fire exits to prevent theft and the taking of unauthorized breaks.
What a morbid start to the new Edmonton theatre season!
Jezebel, at the Still Point
Here’s something a little more cheery – a play where there’s an actual dog on stage!
Actor-creator Ainsley Hillyard and her titular hound Jezebel are astronauts on a mission to discover the secret to time travel in what is said to be an “interweaving of text, movement, and an untrained French bulldog.” Sounds interesting, and adorable. It runs Oct. 9-21 at the Roxy on Gateway.
Wildlife
What are we going to do with all of Edmonton’s cool old buildings we don’t use anymore? When it comes to the Rossdale Generating Station, local conceptual art guru Tim Folkmann has a few ideas – like making the entire west brick wall of the building into a movie screen. From 8-11 pm Oct. 12 and 13 on the west brick wall of the entire building, he will be projecting his latest experimental film Wildlife, depicting birds and animals in motion, as one might see in the river valley. Like the dog in the last play, the real wild animals aren’t likely to know what’s going on.
This is one of three projects in the Tracing Connections in River Crossing initiative spearheaded by the City of Edmonton, and you’ll be able to see the projection from river valley trails, the Walterdale Bridge, downtown and along Saskatchewan Drive. Take care not to get too distracted now.
Tyson Cale Boyd from the Starlite Room has another idea for the Rossdale – suspending a giant pig balloon overhead so it looks like the cover of Pink Floyd’s Animals. (Photo illustration, above) Now all we need is the giant pig balloon and some string.
Skirts on Fire
A literary hoax in the 1950s sets off a “madcap screwball comedy” in the return of Stewart Lemoine’s 2003 hit play. At the Varscona Theatre until Oct. 13, it stars a formidable sextet of the finest local actors, including Andrew MacDonald-Smith, Andrea House, and Ron Pederson. Apparently they all get into a fight in the “smallest hotel room in New York.”
Laughs: Guaranteed.
Once
He’s a street musician who’s starting to have doubts about his chosen career path. She’s a beautiful young passer-by who becomes his muse.
What could possibly go wrong? Why, nothing, of course – aside from life and, possibly, love.
In this multiple-Tony winning musical at the Citadel Theatre until Oct. 14, Julien Arnold and Ruth Alexander star in a story of a most unlikely couple. Based on the 2007 movie of the same name, Once is a play about going for your dreams, about living without fear, and about the power of music to connect us all. Do we need to bring Kleenex? Bring Kleenex.
Two Good Knights: The Music of Sir Tom Jones & Sir Elton John
It’s probable that Tom Jones and Elton John have at least met one another – but while history does not record what transpired, leave it to fiction to bring these two be-Knighted stars together for the duet they never sang, in yet another lavish jukebox musical at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre. Kieran Martin Murphy (as Tom) and Keith Retson-Spalding (Elton) each do a splendid job in their roles, with Chris Bullough as the host and myriad of supporting characters. Plus, as is expected in this building, there’s a great live band to back them up. Playing until Oct. 28, this show may feel a little thrown-together, but it is easily one of the Mayfield’s most entertaining musical revues. With classics aplenty to fill a pop canon and then some, it’s hard to go wrong.
