PLAYBOT: Shakespeare women tell their side of story
Out, damned spot! Five, six, seven, eight …
Could you imagine the “Women of Shakespeare” dancing in skimpy attire in a modern burlesque show? And now, four hundred years later, you can – with the return of Shakespeare’s Sirens: A Burlesque Revue, at Fort Edmonton Park’s Capitol Theatre Sept. 28-29.
All your favourites will be there: Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Katherina (Taming of the Shrew) the Weird Sisters (the three witches from Macbeth), Cordelia (doomed heroine in King Lear), Lady Macbeth and more … and are you sensing a theme? Apparently Queen Elizabeth I does, and has taken issue with Shakespeare’s portrayal of woman (and here we veer into fiction as this never would’ve happened in the 17th Century, plus they’re all dead). Her Majesty has summoned the playwright to court to answer to the charges that his women are either tragic maidens or murderous queens, and in any case always taking second billing to the male leads. They even get boys to play female characters. Imagine the Queen is not pleased: What do you have to say about that, Mr. Bill?! You think I didn’t know about feminism?! I am the originator!
Release the burlesque dancers! Aieeee!
Sounds like huge fun – with a modern message.
Shakespeare’s Will
Two Shakespeares in one week and it’s not even the Shakespeare Festival? Coincidence? Yes.
This work is a little heavier than the last entry, and the setting for Edmonton playwright Vern Thiessen’s ghostly tale is fitting – and literally chilling: The Historic 1886 Edmonton Cemetery at 11820 107 Avenue. Hey, it’s outdoor theatre in late September in Edmonton – what could possibly go wrong?
It’s all super spooky, of course: dress warm for drear autumn in a graveyard, at dusk, watching Shakespeare’s dead wife Anne Hathaway tell her side of the story, of which not much is known. Vern and a four-member cast including dancers and musicians help fill in some blanks for you. Tickets are very limited for this unusual show from Thou Art Here Theatre (specializing in staging Shakespeare in unusual places), taking place nightly at 7:30 pm until Sept. 29.
Skirts on Fire
Not to be confused with the “SkirtsAfire Festival” of women artists that happens in the spring, Skirts on Fire is the name of the Stewart Lemoine play from 2003 that makes its return to the Varscona Theatre Sept. 27-Oct. 13.
A literary hoax in the 1950s sets off what is billed as a “madcap screwball comedy” – starring 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.
Magic Monthly
It is magic how long Ron Pearson has been doing magic. Someone really ought to look this up, but it’s been a hell of a long time. He is now pretty much Edmonton’s top illusionist, one whose shows tend to astound and amaze fans of all ages. One suspects his monthly spots at the Grindstone Theatre – the next on Sept. 27 – may be more “adult” oriented, since it’s at 9 pm on a school night.
Sphinxes!
Where is the nexus between gender issues and comedy, you may ask? Rapid Fire Theatre’s new show, happening Sept. 29 at 10 pm in the Citadel’s Zeidler Hall, seeks to explore this question with a female, trans, and non-binary cast of performers. The goal, they say, is to “challenge audiences’ assumptions of their stories, and to explore femininity as a concept.” Plus, the press release says, “It’ll be effing hilarious.”
Dance Me
“Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin, dance me through the panic till I’m gathered safely in, lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove, dance me to the end of love.”
Is that a blatant invitation to make the late Leonard Cohen’s music into a dance show or what? That lyric (Dance Me To the End of Love) is just one the great Canadian poet’s legendary pick-up lines – “I am a hotel” coming close second – and the inspiration for Alberta Ballet’s latest production. Dance Me plays Sept. 28-29 at the Jubilee Auditorium, performed by Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal
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.
AGAIN: 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.
