The first play of my 22nd Annual Atlantic Fringe Festival was Emily Forrest’s play Ash, produced by Forerunner Playwright’s Theatre Company, which plays at the Pier 21 Museum- Bratty Hall until September 6th, 2012. I actually saw an early production of Ash at Once Upon a Theatre Collective’s recent Evening of Short Plays and it […]
review
Posted inArts + Music
Bruce Springsteen’s essence (update: with slideshow!)
The ravages of time shine a stark light on the truth of all things. This was evident when Bruce Springsteen, and Canada’s answer to Bruce Springsteen (Tom Cochrane) shared the stage for a cover of The Isley Brothers’ “Twist and Shout” on Sunday night at the end of the Magnetic Hill show in Moncton. Bruce […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Box
Richard Kelly refused to hold the audience’s hand in his excellent directorial debut, Donnie Darko, so it’s surprising that his lack of restraint cripples this thriller. James Marsden and Cameron Diaz, a married couple in 1970s Virginia, face temptation when a disfigured mystery man (Frank Langella) delivers the titular box and explains that pushing its […]
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Theatre Arts Guild: Thirteen Hands
The TAG production Carol Shield’s Thirteen Hands brought back a lot of memories. My mother belonged to a bridge club, as do the women in this play, and I remember being kept up by the sound of hysterical laughter, the acrid smell of cigarette smoke wafting up the stairs and that sickly sweet (but delicious) […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Take a Greek vacation at Estia
If I close my eyes tight enough, opening the door on the cold, salty curb of Spring Garden Road into the doors of Estia feels like walking into my own personal Narnia. Crossing the threshold, I step out of winter into the warmth of a summer day in Greece. The air hangs heavy, warm with […]
Posted inArts + Music
Theatre Review: Return Ticket: Halifax-Abadan-Halifax
There’s a point in Return Ticket where it really hits home that playwright Shahin Sayadi (played by Theo Pitsiavas) has put himself in danger by returning to his hometown in Iran. He has been interviewing people for a play he hopes to write about his uncle, a “sacred martyr” in government terms, but an intriguing, […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Danger Bees
Former Coast “best new music” honourees The Danger Bees have packed up house and moved to Toronto. Before leaving they played a final show featuring tracks off their one-night-only release, Bee-Sides. Recorded between 2006 and 2009 from primarily four limited-release recordings, Bee-Sides removes the clutter to offer a palatable presentation of these hidden gems. These […]
Posted inArts + Music
Tegan and Sara
After the major critical and commercial success of 2007’s The Con, Tegan and Sara Quin could have recorded cats crying and taking poops on napkins and people would still be into it. Thankfully, our strange little sisters emerged with Sainthood, another album that explores those time-tested themes—relationships and fucking them up—with beautiful precision. Songs like […]
Posted inArts + Music
Don’t be scared by 2012
Director Roland Emmerich declares his superiority to Italian Renaissance artists in 2012, first by threatening the Mona Lisa, then by reveling in the destruction of the Sistine Chapel. 2012 (AKA Revenge of the Earth) has been under some scrutiny for exploiting 9/11 imagery. But its failure isn’t that noble: Emmerich hasn’t the skill to invoke […]
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Pirate Radio play
Richard Curtis’ story of a rock radio station broadcasting from a ship anchored on the coast of England in the 1960s manages to capture an anarchic and anti-authoritarian spirit, without being strident or shallow. By not taking either of the main plots—the rock boat and Kenneth Branagh’s governmental crusade to bring it back into harbour—too […]
Posted inArts + Music
Selected Blackouts, John Goldbach (Insomniac)
Full of honest but not overly sentimental emotion, Selected Blackouts is a strong debut collection of short stories based mainly on adolescence and young adulthood. A blackout theme ties the book together subtly but neatly. “How Much Do They Know?” is a painfully detailed interior monologue about romance and secrets within a group of friends, […]
Posted inArts + Music
An Education unsettles
An Education certainly has enough achievements to boast about, namely the star-turn from Carey Mulligan and Nick Hornby’s expertly crafted screenplay. But director Lone Scherfig can’t lift the fog from the creepy undertones of its central relationship. Mulligan’s clever yet sheltered schoolgirl, Jenny, is romanced by the seemingly urbane (and grown up!) David (Peter Sarsgaard). […]