Theatre

Critics’ Picks

These are glory days in Vancouver theatre.

The Playhouse Theatre Company’s season, which was set by outgoing artistic director Glynis Leyshon with input from incoming AD Max Reimer, is the company’s most exciting in years. Everything on the Playhouse calendar entices, including Frost/Nixon, which I’ve included in the following list of promising shows that open in the next few months.

The Arts Club Theatre Company’s lineup is also strong. Artistic managing director Bill Millerd has plucked Doubt and The History Boys (see below) from the best that New York and London have to offer. These selections sit alongside new Canadian plays that’ll open early next year, such as Joan MacLeod’s Homechild (March 18 to April 12, 2009, at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage) and Linda Griffiths’s Age of Arousal (April 22 to May 9, 2009, on the Granville Island Stage).

Over at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, executive director Heather Redfern impresses with eclectic programming that ranges from the installation piece A Few Little Drops: The Extraordinary Life of Water, which will run in the playing field at Britannia Secondary School (September 25 to 28), to the deep feeling of Jake’s Gift and the crowd-pleasing sophistication of Billy Twinkle, Requiem for a Golden Boy, both of which are on my list of must-sees.

And See Seven continues to offer one of the best deals in town. This marketing initiative from some of the smaller companies allows you to catch any seven of the 10 pieces on offer for just 87 bucks. The Touchstone–Felix Culpa–Horseshoes & Hand Grenades production of Judith Thompson’s Palace of the End, which presents three perspectives on the Iraq war, promises to be a highlight when it plays the Performing Arts Lodge Theatre from May 21 to June 6, 2009.

You can’t go wrong this year, whether you’re buying season’s tickets or cherry-picking from across the board.

Doubt
(September 17 to October 12 on the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage)
John Patrick Shanley sets his story in a Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964. A severe nun named Sister Aloysius confronts a liberal young priest, Father Flynn. She accuses him of taking sexual advantage of Donald Muller, the school’s first black student. The stellar cast includes Gabrielle Rose, Jonathon Young, Sasa Brown, and Michèle Lonsdale Smith. The Draw: Shanley is a passionate, accessible writer, and this script won him every award going when it premiered in 2004, including the Pulitzer and a Tony. Target Audience: Those with souls large enough to engage uncertainty; there are no easy answers in this one.

Frost/Nixon
(September 18 to October 4 at the Playhouse)
Peter Morgan’s heralded 2006 script draws its inspiration from the hard-hitting 1977 face-off between self-promoting TV interviewer David Frost and the notoriously slippery Richard Nixon. It’s about ego, control of the camera, and the manipulation of one’s image. The Draw: The script is a showcase for superb actors—and this Playhouse production has got ’em. Dora and Jessie award-winner David Storch will appear as Frost and theatre giant Len Cariou, who is most famous for his Sweeney Todd on Broadway, embodies Tricky Dick. Target Audience: Fans of Greek tragedy and American politics, which can look very similar.

The history boys
(October 1 to 25 on the Granville Island Stage)
The lads in a Sheffield grammar school are preparing for their entrance exams to Oxford. Alan Bennett’s 2004 play is about education: should it encourage students to think deeply or enable them to impress their examiners with intellectual tricks? It’s about history, which Bennett presents as a series of random events. And it’s about sex: one of the play’s random events involves a teacher getting caught fondling a student. The Draw: Artistic as well as moral complexity. The script combines comedy, drama, poetry, and popular song, and refers to everyone from W. H. Auden to Gracie Fields. Target Audience: If you’re interested in education, history, or sex, you’re in.

Mourning dove
(October 17 to November 15 at Pacific Theatre)
In Montreal playwright Emil Sher’s script, a Saskatchewan farmer prepares a puppet show for his severely disabled daughter, even as he collects the equipment he needs to end her life. Unlike Robert Latimer, whose case inspired this play, Sher’s protagonist Doug is torn by doubt. And Sher introduces Keith, a physically and mentally disabled family friend, who stands for life at all costs. The Draw: The opportunity to go deep—emotionally and intellectually—into a complicated debate. Target Audience: People who are willing to engage both their hearts and their heads as they dismantle preconceived positions.

Jake’s gift
(November 11 to 15 in the Vancity Culture Lab at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre)
In Vancouver writer Julia Mackey’s self-penned solo show, an octogenarian veteran named Jake returns to Juno Beach for the 60th anniversary of D-Day. There, he meets a French child and her grandmother, who help him to lay some ghosts to rest. The Draw: Word of mouth. Everybody who has seen this show raves about it. Target Audience: If you’ve ever felt conflicted about whether or not to wear a poppy on Remembrance Day, this one’s for you.

Billy Twinkle, Requiem for a golden boy
(January 20 to February 8 at the Waterfront Theatre)
Billy Twinkle is a puppeteer on a cruise ship. His fans say he’s the best in the world. Then the cruise line fires Billy. He’s considering a watery end when his dead mentor, Sid Diamond, manifests as a sock puppet and insists that Billy reenact his life as a marionette show. Doing so rekindles Billy’s love for his art. The Draw: Ronnie Burkett performs this show, which is produced by his Theatre of Marionettes. Burkett is a genius. Target Audience: Anybody who’s stuck in a rut and needs a kick in the pants.