Coffee-drinkers look up from their cups as Matthew Beasant pushes open the door at Two If By Sea on a drizzly Dartmouth afternoon. There’s an aura of barely contained excitement about the solid, bearded young man, and he moves with quiet confidence—as if he’s on a mission. And that’s not very far from the truth. […]
Theatre
Posted inArts + Music
Final weekend to get this Messenger
It’s no surprise that opening night of Messenger at the Neptune Studio brought out a huge cross-section of Halifax’s theatre greats and political progressives. After all, the play was written by award-winning playwright and former MP Wendy Lill. Her credentials put her in the perfect position to deliver both a beautifully written family drama and […]
Posted inArts + Music
Stewart Legere brings I Am My Own Wife to life
Back in the early ’90s, playwright Doug Wright conducted a series of interviews with Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a transvestite who had survived, and thrived, both in Nazi Germany and under the Communist regime in East Berlin. For Wright, who grew up gay in America’s Bible Belt, von Mahlsdorf appeared to be gay-icon material: an outsider […]
Posted inArts + Music
Steward Legere brings I Am My Own Wife to life
Back in the early ’90s, playwright Doug Wright conducted a series of interviews with Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a transvestite who had survived, and thrived, both in Nazi Germany and under the Communist regime in East Berlin. For Wright, who grew up gay in America’s Bible Belt, von Mahlsdorf appeared to be gay-icon material: an outsider […]
Posted inArts + Music
Tripping down memory lane with Leaves of the Virgin Mary
A young woman stands alone in the spotlight. She is dressed in white—a slim, pale, ghostly figure. The light undulates across her face, no longer a stationary spotlight, but a flickering candle flame. This is the opening of Leaves of the Virgin Mary, a hypnotizing one-act piece of dynamic theatre, that incorporates stylized movement and […]
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Q & A: Jeremy Banks, the new director of Bus Stop Theatre
Last month, The Bus Stop Theatre announced the hiring of its new executive director, Jeremy Banks. After incorporating as a non-profit co-operative in 2013 and establishing a Board of Directors, Waque’s vision to transfer leadership was accomplished with Banks, a west-coast arts and culture administrator who moved to Halifax two years ago. We caught up with Banks […]
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Leaving Wonderland has arrived
Some of the themes in Leaving Wonderland may be ripped from the headlines, but there is nothing sensationalized about Shelley’s Thompson’s heart-touching play. This story of grief and growth is firmly rooted in truths about the complexity of relationships. The story begins with a college professor and successful author named Jane (Geneviève Steele) berating two […]
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Great Expectations is brilliant theatre
Condensing the long and involved plot of Great Expectations into a play that comes in at under two and a half hours (including intermission) is no easy feat, but Neptune’s artistic director George Pothitos has done a brilliant job of it. His distillation of this epic coming-of-age tale is rich with character development, yet doesn’t […]
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Atlantic Fringe Binge – Day 11
The 25th Atlantic Fringe Festival drew to a close in the wee hours of Monday morning as the Fringe handed out its popular Fringe Hits and juried awards. Ginger Nation was the winner of the Number One Fringe Hit! Award this year. Shawn Hitchins’s one-man autobiographical comedy about a red-headed sperm donor was the most […]
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Atlantic Fringe Binge – Day 10
Fringe may be winding down, but you still have one day to take in some great plays. (And don’t forget to tune in tomorrow to discover the Fringe award-winners.) Delusions of Grandeur I dragged myself into Delusions of Grandeur at 10:30pm after a long, full day of Fringe Festival-ing. My eyes were heavy, my brain […]
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Atlantic Fringe Binge – Day 9
The reviews are winding down (final four, coming tomorrow), but there are plenty of shows to see this rainy weekend. Check back through all the Fringe Binge posts and make your selection. Six Stupid Things People Do Bud Hunter has a great are-you-kidding-me face and he makes it frequently throughout Six Stupid Things People Do, […]
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Atlantic Fringe Binge – Day 8
Follow Me Dan Bray’s play Follow Me, produced by The Villains Theatre as part of the Atlantic Fringe Festival, is a silly, tightly constructed homage to Early Modern plays, like Faust, which centre dramatically on the calling forth of spirits and devils for various nefarious purposes. Follow Me begins with renowned clairvoyant Gunter Buxtehude professing […]