By Jaime Burnet
An animated Jiminy Cricket strolls out onto the Martha Cohen stage. “Good evening, folks,” he squeaks, tipping his two-dimensional top hat and swinging his umbrella. “I’m here to tell you a little story about a puppet who wanted to be a real boy. It all started when–” “What’s that on the stage?” asks Pinocchio director… Continue reading Theatre Preview: “You wouldn’t lie to me, would you Little Wooden Boy?” – The Mighty Tick
By Paul Jarvey
Bargains with the devil are never easy to escape, slinking through woods dark with allusion and symbolism. November Theatre’s The Black Rider took the Big Secret Theatre stage with unexpected brilliance. A dark dance of light and style paying no attention to an audience’s sense of warmth and comfort, it’s anything but unsatisfying. In this… Continue reading Theatre Review: Black Rider has devil’s whimsy
By Jason McKay
A bright flash and a bang echo throughout the theater, silence falling over the audience to mark the exit of the Ghost of Christmas Past. Shock and awe ripple across faces as the pyro ignites and dies off. The look of fear and wonder in Scrooge says it all, as it has every year of… Continue reading Theatre Review: Sixteenth time is the charm for classic
By John Leung
Various International and local experimental theatre troupes are once again set to invade Calgary in a dramatic rodeo filled with action, excitement and flair. Hosted by the One Yellow Rabbit, the 19th annual High Performance Rodeo is set for Jan. 4 to 30. At their press conference last Tuesday, OYR and their well-traveled curator Michael… Continue reading Theatre Preview: Return of High Performance Rodeo
People go to theatre for various reasons, whether it’s to inject culture into their lives or for the security you’re overcome with in a dark theatre. But it seems rare for those to go beyond the secular and enter a theatre for the spiritual. Fire Exit Theatre is a theatre company wanting audiences to leave… Continue reading Theatre Preview: Plotting Hitler’s death spiritually
By Paul Jarvey
Think of a gin-soaked breeze from hell, painted over a Brechtian rock opera dredged out of one of David Lynch’s dreams and you’re somewhere close. The Black Rider brings insanity and bliss shuffling across the stage like the devil himself. Where no fairytale is safe from the tattered ravages of the streets of a proverbial… Continue reading Theatre Preview: Chocolate Jesus and the Soft Machine
The horrors and drudgery of life often drive people to escape into the comforting haze of a toxin-induced stupor. Taking mind altering substances alters the way they feel, lowering inhibitions and allowing fantasy to overcome the sense of self. Some indulge in these activities rarely, others are consumed by them. Perhaps by questioning North American… Continue reading Theatre Review: Drinking in America-sobering good
By Cayley Evans
Love is perhaps one of the more ambiguous feelings. We all seek it, are hurt by it and then go looking for it again–we’re a race of masochists. How does love look when it’s unrefined and raw, no superficials like romance and commitment in the way? How does it look when it’s stripped to it’s… Continue reading Rub FireBelly
When thinking of the classical Bethlehem scene, you envision a single shining star up in the night sky. Imagine a manger where a virgin, if you believe that, just gave birth to her holy son. There may even be gold, frankincense and myrrh in your vision. But Christmas is still far off, and what’s on… Continue reading Theatre Preview: Hockey lunch in Canada
By Alan Cho
Before being declared the most important woman song-writer of all time and presented with the Order of Canada, Joni Mitchell was the zeitgeist of the ’70s. Guitar in hand and a voice stained with nicotine and wisdom beyond her years, she helped guide a generation in a time of decaying authority. Never angry but always… Continue reading THEATRE REVIEW: ATP’s River dull as mud