By Ryan Pike
Theatre has been around for quite some time. Given the sheer number of performances taking place, it’s difficult for theatre-goers to find anything new. Luckily for them, the Downstage Performance Society has crafted a performance, Arm’s Length Embrace, that’s sure to be vastly different than what most Calgarians have experienced. Downstage’s Artistic Producer Simon Mallett… Continue reading Sneaking up on Downstage
Thirty-seven years ago a young… well younger Regis Philbin was approached to record an album of his favourite ballads. Sometime after his album was released, he started doing an uneventful daytime talk show and later, a trivia game show helped prove how little common sense the average American truly possesses. But sadly, somewhere along his… Continue reading Regis Philbin
Gross class division and corruption among the upper class mired the reign of Louis XIV of France. The University of Calgary’s Department of Drama revisits that time of turmoil with the first production of its season, Alain-Rene Lesage’s 18th Century French farce Turcaret. As the French Revolution brought about the end of Louis’ reign, the… Continue reading Theatre Preview: Turcaret-icious
A 100-minute trip taking you to Holland, London and China, from 1986 all the way back to when Jesus walked the Earth, sounds like quite a voyage. Unbelievable as it sounds, this is the journey actor Andy Curtis leads audiences on in One Yellow Rabbit’s presentation of Underneath the Lintel. Curtis plays a Dutch librarian… Continue reading Theatre Review: Andy Curtis leaves his mark
He is an artist with a passion to use his work to make people think about the world around them. It’s who Matthew Good is, and don’t think for a second he doubts the power of music to do just that.“Art has the power to influence in a more realistic way than corporations or government,”… Continue reading Music Interview: Kids should listen to the gospel of Matt Good
Almost everyone who has had a library card has, at some point, been fined for overdue books. Return a book a week late and you discover how quickly fines can add up. So what about a book returned one hundred and thirteen years late? “My character’s line is ‘I’m going to hit him with the… Continue reading Theatre Preview: Andy Curtis: Librarian Bounty Hunter
Two actors playing fifteen characters on an almost bare stage seems like something you’d expect from a small, upstart theatre company working with a limited budget. So when the well-established Alberta Theatre Projects puts on a show like Marie Jones’s Stones in His Pockets, the set and large cast become noticeably absent, allowing audiences to… Continue reading Theatre Review: ATP’s latest has the stones in the right pocket
Few would doubt that Glenn Gould as a brilliant musician and much has been written about his work as a pianist and composer. But Gould was as famous for his eccentricities. Attempts have been made to explore the inner workings of Gould’s mind, such as Francois Girard’s brilliant film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn… Continue reading The theatrical return of a Canadian legend
All too often, theatre can be easily ignored by the media for being nothing more than mere entertainment–like television or the movies, but with a much smaller audience. And it’s not really a huge surprise. If theatre is not dealing with news worthy events, then why should the news media pay any attention? Enter X-Ray,… Continue reading 9/11 has finally become delightful
September 11, 2001 is to the majority of the current university-going generation what the JFK assassination or manned moon landing was to our parents–events forever etched into our collective memory. However, it is the ramifications of 9/11 and the series of events that followed–the war on terror, the invasion of Iraq, and a new-found level… Continue reading 9/11 the musical… Seriously