Wild Honey a surprisingly sweet and genuinely emotional playWriter Michael Frayn has reworked Russian playwright’s Anton Chekov’s first play, Wild Honey, into a gratifying comedy full of scandalous love triangles. Wild Honey uses humour to tackle the sensitive subject that is infidelity in a playful, yet honest, way. Throughout the play, well-placed humour is juxtaposed with passionate, fiery dialogue. The original version of […] Continue Reading |
The Valley examines police brutality and mental illness, with mixed resultsThe four actors of The Valley tackled sensitive subjects such as mental illness and police brutality in their opening-night performance on February 4 at the Belfry Theatre. But it didn’t start strong: in the first half of the play, I was underwhelmed by the acting and found the monologues extremely cheesy. I could easily guess […] Continue Reading |
Old Man Luedecke brings his toe-tapping tunes to dinner in VictoriaBanjo player extraordinaire Chris Luedecke is the genius behind Old Man Luedecke (loo-deck-ee); the Chester, Nova Scotia-based musician was in town for not one but two shows last night at downtown Victoria restaurant Northern Quarter. The venue was perfect for this show, but not for obvious reasons. First of all, Northern Quarter is actually quite […] Continue Reading |
Raffi wins over kids and adults alike at recent Victoria showOn Saturday, January 16, “Beluga grads” and children alike gathered at Victoria’s Royal Theatre to sing along with Raffi (Beluga grads are adults who have grown up with Raffi’s music). As soon as the children’s entertainer walked on the stage, it was obvious by the smile on his face that he was excited and ready […] Continue Reading |
Monster X crushes in VictoriaHaving grown up in the ’80s, I’m only really sure of a few things: Hulkamania rules (uh, wait…), I’m supposed to just say no, and Bigfoot is king (the monster truck, although the sasquatch was also talked about a lot back in the day). Tonight, I saw Bigfoot, and I am a better person for […] Continue Reading |
Brooklyn dazzles with looks, disappoints with plotBrooklyn 3.5/5 Opens in Victoria December 11 Brooklyn is a sweet story of the young woman Eilis Lacey—played by Saoirse Ronan—and her experience of immigrating from Ireland to Brooklyn in the 1950s. Beautifully scored and costumed, the mood was set for a magically orchestrated period piece. The characters were well cast with some of my favorite actors and actresses (Domhnall Gleeson, Julie Walters, and Jim […] Continue Reading |
IFCon’s Ken Twyman speaks about cancelled event, backlash, online behaviourOn November 5, 2015, we published a story about the cancellation of local fantasy convention IFCon. The story did not have a comment from anyone associated with IFCon, as event founder Bill Code was hospitalized and, at that time, spokesperson Ken Twyman had posted that he would not return messages about IFCon. Since then, Twyman […] Continue Reading |
The Threepenny Opera tackles big issues with graceThe Threepenny Opera is a musical satire set in a future dystopia. Known as a “play with music,” it tells the story of villain Mack the Knife and his marriage to Polly Peachum, despite her parents’ dismay. The play, directed by Brian Richmond, starts off strong, with an entertaining beginning scene featuring “footed” boxes running […] Continue Reading |
IFCon’s sudden cancellation, lack of refunds, and organizers’ behaviour leaves would-be attendees stunned, angeredUpdate: Go here to read our interview with IFCon’s Ken Twyman. On Tuesday, October 27, the plug was pulled on Victoria’s Island Fantasy Conference (IFCon), which was slated to be held on Friday, October 31 and Saturday, November 1. Event organizers have gone silent, their online presence deleted, and would-be attendees and vendors who aren’t […] Continue Reading |
Shania Twain delivers amazing performance in VictoriaBeing a Shania Twain fan since I was a little kid, I was very excited for her recent concert at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre and had high expectations for the whole night. My expectations were definitely met. The opening act was Bastian Baker. Although the beginning of his set wasn’t as high energy as the middle […] Continue Reading |
