By Jason McKay
As midterms near their end and there is a bit of a gap in the stress before papers are due, a good comedy can be the perfect thing to help get you through to the end of the semester. This is exactly what Theatre Calgary’s second production of the season, Wingfield’s Inferno, delivers. This one… Continue reading Theatre Review: Wingfield’s Inferno not hellish
By Kyle Francis
A standing ovation has be- come a courtesy to the performers, like an effort sticker on a junior high report card. Too often theater-goes clamour out of their seats to applaud performances deserving no more than a gentle tossing of overripe vegetables. Despite the overused ovation, some acts truly deserve them and a crowds’ reactions… Continue reading Theatre Review: The sublime Syringa Tree
By Fiona McLay
In celebration of Alberta’s Centennial the University of Calgary Drama Department is putting on two plays by Gwen Pharis Ringwood, one of Alberta’s most respected dramatists. Ringwood, a recipient of the Canadian Drama Award, the Eric Hamber Trophy, as well as honourary doctorates from the Universities of Victoria and Lethbridge, is best known for her… Continue reading Theatre Preview: Plays for Alberta
The weight of society’s expectations is something we all deal with but rarely talk about. With the presentation of the upcoming double bill, Fall Bill Volume 2, THEATREboom artistic directors Joel Smith and Evan Rothery bring the topic to centre stage–literally. Both plays on the bill this year centre around characters unsatisfied with their positions… Continue reading Thatre Preview: Fall Bill won’t fall down
By Kyle Francis
A Syringia is a flowered tree indigenous to South Africa, hearty enough to bear the country’s immoderate climate. Like how rose flowers symbolize romantic love, Syringia’s symbolize memory and love of one’s family. In The Syringia Tree, an award-winning play by Pamela Gein, the tree represents solidarity, family and refuge from oppression. Based on Pamela… Continue reading Theatre Preview: The Syringa Tree
The apple is one naughty fruit. Ever since John Milton deemed the apple as the forbidden fruit in Paradise Lost, the round, red fruit has found notoriety in popular culture. In Snow White the jealous queen attempts to destroy the titular heroine with a poisoned apple. In the opening credits to Desperate Housewives the four… Continue reading Theatre Preview: Apple a theatrical treat
Imagine losing your family, job, significant other and house all in the last three months of your life. This is the situation faced by Karen, a character in Knox United Church’s play Bonds. Placed in present day Canada, Bonds is the story of a pair of completely opposite sisters, Karen and Anne, who, in the… Continue reading Theatre Preview: Bonding through suffering
By Kenzie Love
Coming off its most successful season yet, Calgary’s Mob Hit Productions hopes to improve even more with Reckless by Craig Lucas. The company, co-founded by a group of U of C theatre students five years ago, has a history of staging wacky productions, from Timothy Findley’s Elizabeth Rex–yes, you read that correctly–to Fully Committed, in… Continue reading Theatre Preview: Recklessly good theatre
By Jason McKay
As Theatre Calgary’s new play The Miracle Worker starts, the only thing visible on the stage is a pump, as inescapable a symbol for water as it is for William Gibson’s influential play. Like adding fresh water to an already thriving plant, the cast of mostly new members to the always-reliable Theatre Calgary only makes… Continue reading Theatre Review: Theatre Calgary works miracles
There are times in life when people are so disillusioned, all they can do is ask, ‘how did my life get like this?’ This is the question asked by the character in One Yellow Rabbit’s production of A Fabulous Disaster, a tragic comedy that deals with a broken heart. No offense to Denise Clarke, who… Continue reading Theatre Review: A Fabulous Disaster avoids disaster fabulously