THEATRE STREAM: NLT’s The Look Reveals Tragedy of Fashion
The name of Alexa Wyatt is a familiar one if you have a subscription to ACORN (or any number of other international TV streamers.) Wyatt is an extremely prolific Australian writer/producer responsible for such global hits as McLeod’s Daughters, Janet King and Police Rescue. Back in 1992 she found time to write a play called […]
THEATRE REVIEW: New Northern Light original a real horror show
“Last Night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…” With those words Daphne du Maurier began her chilling romantic-psychological 1938 gothic novel Rebecca. The story followed the same lines that were laid down in spook-ridden Victorian times, with flickering candles, wavering shadows, creaking floorboards and a fleeting look of a woman caught in a flash […]
Mayfield stages lock-down lock-solid hit with socially distanced rock musical
After the success of its modest but adroit production of Shaun Smyth’s one-man show Playing With Fire, the Mayfield Dinner Theatre has decided to go into full lockdown-busting mode. They are still strictly adhering to the AHS rules and have reconfigured the theatre with attendant restrictions and modifications. Social distancing is emphasized with a minimum […]
REVIEW: Playing With Fire a triumph at socially distant Mayfield Theatre
Edmonton’s moribund theatre scene is showing signs of life. The Mayfield Dinner Theatre (among others) is presenting full evening performances, offering many of the features that have made the venue so popular – while observing the pandemic guidelines laid down by the AHS. There have been flickers of theatrical life in the last six COVID-haunted […]
EDMONTON THEATRE: Stuck in the House
If we are to believe the video posted on the Citadel Theatre’s website (above), it was Executive Director Chantell Ghosh’s idea to institute a series of short videos featuring local performers who suddenly found themselves out of work during the COVID-19 lockdown. From at home in her closet – “It’s the only place where I […]
Streaming a Good Outlet for Artists and Fans – But Where’s the Money?
It seems darkly ironic that the primary escapes so many of us are anchoring to during these uncertain times as more and more of the nation becomes house-bound – be it movies, televisions, books, and music – are proffered to us by those in the so-called “gig” economy, whose incomes have been most impacted by […]
REVIEW: Romance is the Uncertainty Principle in Delightful Love Story
Werner Heisenberg was a German physicist who in 1927 postulated that it was impossible to measure both the position and momentum of a sub-atomic particle with absolute precision – because the observation itself affects what is being observed. And what a remarkable template this complex scientific principle serves in Heisenberg, a new play by Simon […]
REVIEW: Won’t Someone Think of The Children? Apparently Not
The Children is a new eco-thriller from British wunderkind Lucy Kirkwood about the coming Apocalypse – and the responsibility this generation must assume for the carnage we have left. It’s given a slow burning but harrowing mounting by Wild Side Productions as part of the Roxy Performance Series. The ripped-from-today’s-headlines play will run in the […]
EDMONTON ENTERTAINMENT: What Hasn’t Been Canceled?
At this point it would be easier to list the events that haven’t been postponed or canceled. COVID-19 has spooked all of humanity like an alien invasion – and we’re all in the same ark. But if you’re not in self-isolation (some people have been doing this for years), there’s still a lot of live […]
Mercury Opera Stages Grand Puccini in Strangest Space Yet – a Legit Theatre!
It’s not that Mercury Opera impresario Darcia Parada hasn’t produced Puccini’s beloved potboiler La Boheme in strange venues before. Back in 1994 she staged Act I of the heartrending opera in a loft in New York’s Tribecca neighbourhood. The producer-opera singer-designer-international entrepreneur has made a career out of staging grand opera in exotic locales (which […]
MUSICAL REVUE: Plain Jane’s Reign Falls Mainly on the Refrain
We owe a debt to Plain Jane Theatre’s Artistic Director Kate Ryan. Who knew it? While Curley was out there singing Oh, What a Beautiful Morning in Oklahoma – waiting in his hovel was a guy called Judd who was going to sing Poor Judd is Daid. While Robert Weede was warbling The Most Happy […]
REVIEW: Colin MacLean Loves As You Like It, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!
At first it seems rather absurd: a mashup of Shakespeare and the Beatles. But let’s look at this: Shakespeare is the English language’s greatest dramatist, and the Beatles is the most popular band in music history. The two share a romantic sensibility. Upon closer examination the free-spirited music of the Beatles begins in the exuberance […]
