Macbeth is coming to Neptune, but not in the way you might expect—director Ken Schwartz has reimagined it as a five-actor enterprise, with Jeremy Webb as the titular would-be king, and actors Francine Deschepper, Sarah English, Margaret Legere and Jeff Schwager juggling multiple characters apiece. Deschepper, playing Lady Macbeth and others, says the balancing act is […]
Neptune Theatre
Posted inArts + Music
The Addams Family’s deliciously death-obsessed
They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky. They’re all together ooky—The Addams Family. Buh-da-da-dum. Snap, snap. That pesky little ear worm will be familiar to viewers of the 1960s TV series The Addams Family, about the deliciously death-obsessed Addams clan. The show, which featured characters like the hunched and hairless Uncle Fester and Lurch, […]
Posted inArts + Music
Neptune Theatre launches 2015/2016 season
Neptune Theatre‘s 2015/16 season launch was announced yesterday, and yes, there is a Shrek musical. Now in its 53rd season, Neptune’s lineup includes six productions as part of the Fountain Hall series, and three in the Studio series. There are also four “bonus features”: Hank Williams Live – 1952 October 9-11, brought to life by […]
Posted inArts + Music
The more you Know
Love. Marriage. Baby carriage. Until the advent of the birth control movement, both practical considerations and societal expectations placed women firmly on the path of this schoolyard rhyme. In What a Young Wife Ought to Know, playwright Hannah Moscovitch explores the emotional and physical costs of living in a time where fertility could only be […]
Posted inArts + Music
39 problems but a play ain’t one
The 39 Steps To February 15 Neptune Theatre, 1592 Argyle Street neptunetheatre.com “Kinetic” and “joy” are words Rhys Bevan-John uses a lot when he talks about the Neptune Theatre production of The 39 Steps, and that makes sense: the long-limbed, rubber-faced actor is known for his exuberant physicality on stage, and this play makes the most […]
Posted inArts + Music
Death becomes her
A Good Death To January 18 at 7:30pm (Thu-Sat), 2pm (Sat-Sun) Neptune Studio Theatre, 1593 Argyle Street $25/$20 Kim Parkhill isn’t sleeping so well lately. As both playwright and producer for A Good Death, currently playing at the Neptune Studio Theatre, she’s got a lot on her mind. “I’ve discovered sleeplessness accompanies most of my […]
Posted inArts + Music
Last Christmas
A Christmas Carol Dec 26, 2pm & 7:30pm Neptune Studio Theatre 1593 Argyle Street $18-$25 902-429-7070 In a very Haligonian turn of events, what began in 2003 as a make-your-own-work project for Jeremy Webb—a one-man version of The Christmas Carol—became 11 years, nearly 500 performances and a holiday theatre tradition. “I’d done the Neptune show […]
Posted inArts + Music
TOP PLAYS OF 2014
Chess and the Doomsday Machine (Onelight) This play about a young soldier in Abadan during the Iraq-Iran war is told in a manner that engages on many levels. Music, projections and three “languages” (English, Farsi and unverbalized communication) are all integral to telling the story. The result is startlingly unique and emotionally captivating. Gallathea (Vile […]
Posted inArts + Music
Billy Bishop Goes to War
Before seeing Billy Bishop Goes to War, I knew very little about either Billy Bishop himself or the 1978 iconic Canadian musical. On the history front, I learned that Bishop was a Canadian hero, a World War I flying ace from Owen Sound who’s credited with destroying 72 German planes. I also discovered that the […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Theatre Production
Gold Winner Tribe of One, The Doppler Effect Silver Winner Mary Poppins, Neptune Theatre Bronze Winner Cinderelly, Shakespeare by the Sea Earning the top spot from a year’s worth of Halifax theatre is no small endeavour—but The Doppler Effect’s Fringe Hit wasn’t one either. Michael McPhee’s Tribe of One shone at this fall’s Atlantic Fringe […]
Posted inArts + Music
Mending Fences down to earth
Mending Fences is the story of 28-year-old Drew (Iain Stewart) who returns to a farmhouse in rural Saskatchewan to re-connect with his emotionally-distant and difficult father after 13 years apart. While this set-up may not sound laugh-out-loud funny, in the hands of playwright Norm Foster, there are plenty of comic moments and zingy one-liners to […]