Five plays worth shooting for at rEvolver Festival

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      REvolver Festival has hit the trigger, kicking off 12 shows from now to June 4.

      With main-stage plays, off-site fare, free events like works-in-progress readings, and even barbecues, there's a lot on offer. 

      Here are five works worth seeing, from here and across the country.

       

      Vampires of Barcelona (May 25, 27, and 30, and June 1 to 3 at the Cultch Founders Lounge) You know those surreal, crazy late-night adventures that happen when you're travelling in a strange city? And the way you sometimes question whether they really happened? That's the kind of vibe you'll find in local theatre artist Brian Cochrane's tale of an evening when he was a 22-year-old backpacker Barcelona. It's a true story--or, as his press release states, "as true of a story as 'being sent to a vampire bar by a magician you met at a hostel' can be when it’s told eleven years after the fact". Think of it as a creepy-funny monologue in the vein of The Moth.

       

      Adam Grant Warren in Last Train In.

       

      Last Train In (May 30 to June 4 at the Culture Lab) Yes, another true-to-life solo show—one of the most intense and intimate theatre forms there is. Here, we find actor Adam Grant Warren, who has cerebral palsy, trapped between two stairways in an elevator-less train station in the U.K., where he was teaching in 2007. But if you're thinking about a heroic tale of triumph over adversity, think again. Another compelling tale for travel lovers.

       

      Tombstone: A Cardboard Western (May 25 to 28 at the Cultch)  If you saw Ramshackle Theatre's gloriously, giddily low-tech Sci-Fi Double Feature at rEvolver fest's debut event a few years ago, you know this is unmissable. A sci-fi spaghetti western performed with recycled-cardboard-cutout cowboys and robot armies, plus a bit of lasso rope? We're in. Don't miss this shoot-'em-up. Bring your kids and tap your inner kid all at once, and wonder at what's in the water in Yukon, where this gang is from. 

       

      SPAWN (May 26 to 30 and June 3 and 4 at the Cultch) We love the mystical, Coast Salish-infused layers of Cheyenne Scott's story about a woman reconnecting with her indigenous roots. In it, her unexpectedly pregnant Theresa is haunted by the traditional story of the salmon spirit, and the death of a mother who drowned in the Pacific Ocean.

       

      I'm Doing This for You (May 31 to June 3 at the Culture Lab) How far would you go to win someone back--just so you wouldn't have to be alone? Toronto performer Haley McGee pulls all the stops to stage a grand romantic gesture that doesn't quite go as perfectly as planned. There are balloons, cake, and vodka; McGee greets you in her platinum wig and bright-orange dress. Funny yet painful, her on-stage breakdown-meets-surprise party has received rave reviews around the world, including from The Scotsman, which called it "one of the most human moments" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

       

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