World Theatre

"Penny Plain, a marionette show about the end of the world, opens in Toronto on Tuesday after winning rave reviews in Alberta and breaking a box-office record in Vancouver. It's the latest production from Alberta-born Ronnie Burkett, an acclaimed puppeteer with an international reputation. The play opened in Alberta last fall before moving to British Columbia. It will head to Ottawa and Montreal next, after a stint in Toronto where tickets have been selling fast in spite of the dark terrain Burkett covers in the play. "It's kind of my love letter to the earth in a weird way, even though it's about the last three days of civilization," Burkett says. "So I'm not introducing new information. It's just a way of saying we all know we're perilously close to something here."" - Brent from Bookmarklet

might be a daft question but did you ever see "Monster In A Box"? "Terrors Of Pleasure"? - Joe The Sausage

Not a daft question, and nope, this is the only Spalding Gray I've seen. Time I watched more, I think. Would you recommend them? - Brent

You know I would if I could! - Penguin from iPhone

*waits for email confirming flight to Montreal* - Corinne L

*fans self* - Joe The Sausage

Well, there's that, too. Heh. - Brent

"Fringe theatre is a term used to describe theatre not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival (1948) as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe of official Festival drama, there seems to be more private enterprise than before’. The term has since been adopted by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and thence by alternative theatres and alternative theatre festivals." - Brent from Bookmarklet

He sees himself as the "creative" one, and me as the business manager, which I can do, but... - Brent

Nothing like it :D - Brent

It would mean bringing my drag persona out of semi-retirement. - Brent

My next play, I'll make sure it has legs and can do the tour :D - Brent

"Nggrfg. For most people, the title of Vancouver actor and playwright Berend McKenzie’s play is nearly unsayable. But for McKenzie, naming his one-man play after the two slurs that plagued his childhood is the best way to understand and neutralize hatred. Audiences seem to agree: his play was a hit at the Edmonton and Vancouver fringe festivals and has since toured Vancouver high schools and even, with tweaks, elementary schools, where McKenzie talks with students about racism, homophobia, and bullying." - Brent from Bookmarklet

I return to theatre a lot because it's human-sized. - Brent

"The warm, deeply humane TV series Slings & Arrows uses stage traditions and Shakespearean nuances to create one of the great series no one watched when it first aired in 2003. Originally run on Movie Central and The Movie Network, Canada’s rough equivalents to HBO, the show spread to the Sundance Channel, where it picked up a small but vocal cult audience. Although it won nearly every award there was to win in the Canadian TV industry and garnered ecstatic critical notices in both countries, the show was never a huge ratings hit, and it ended after just three seasons. Fortunately, a new release of the series on Blu-ray should help the series solidify its position as an excellent combination of the crass humanism of the British Office and Northern Exposure’s inviting sense of community." - Brent from Bookmarklet

One of my all-time favourite tv shows. About 20 people, in total, have seen it lol - Brent

Love this show. And I think a lot of Canadians have seen it, or maybe I just run with a rarified crowd;). - Marianne

"Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM (22nd May 1907 - 11th July 1989) was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson. He married Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh and Joan Plowright. Olivier's third major Shakespeare project as director and star was Richard III. Alexander Korda initially approached Olivier to reprise on film the role he had played to acclaim at the Old Vic in the 1940s. This role had been lauded as Olivier's greatest and is arguably considered to be his greatest screen performance. PUBLIC DOMAIN News item." - Brent from Bookmarklet

For a while, I had a niche in Montreal's underground cabaret scene where I would recite this in drag. You'd be surprised by who dug it :) - Brent

LOVE LOVE LOVE - Anna Haro

"Since the beginning of motion pictures, filmmakers have gone repeatedly to the theatre for source material. Although time and again, poor screen adaptations of hit plays have proved that the transition is not always as easy as it seems. For every Oscar contender like Driving Miss Daisy or Frost/Nixon, there's a misconceived turkey like Other People's Money or the 2007 remake of Sleuth." - Brent from Bookmarklet

"Two recent stage successes, Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage and August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, will be heading before the cameras in 2011. Another, Incendies, is being released this week. The picture, directed by Quebec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Polytechnique), is based on the much-lauded drama by Lebanese-Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad. Although the film has been chosen as... more... - Brent

"It got me thinking about better stage-to-screen transfers, ones in which the film either replicated or enhanced the brilliance of the theatrical work. Setting aside musicals and the many celluloid versions of Shakespeare, here are 10 examples of outstanding plays that became equally outstanding movies." - Brent

"Il ne s'agit que d'une deuxième mise en scène en solo pour Philippe Cyr et déjà on ne peut s'empêcher de s'enthousiasmer pour son travail. Après s'être approprié Les Escaliers du Sacré-Coeur, de Copi, un spectacle délicieusement iconoclaste, le jeune homme se porte avec beaucoup de doigté à la défense de Norway.today, un texte d'Igor Bauersima. C'est le Groupe de la Veillée qui a eu la bonne idée de faire découvrir le texte de l'auteur suisse de langue allemande, une pièce qui se penche avec finesse et sensibilité sur la soif de sens des rejetons de l'ère virtuelle." - Brent from Bookmarklet

*shakes fist at Google translate* "When Juliette proposes to August to die by jumping into the indescribable beauty of a Norwegian fjord, the young man accepts." -- would be my rough translation. - Brent

"The internet is for porn!!" - Brent from Bookmarklet

A professor of playwrighting I had said this to our class, repeatedly. - Brent

Sympathy for the Devil. - Brent

"It’s a bit startling during a show when the guy sitting next to you climbs out of his chair and joins the dancers onstage. But that’s what happens with Radioheaded 2, a dance performance piece that goes track-by-track through the band’s newest album, In Rainbows. Culled from a casting call that emphasized music fandom over technical training, the 20 dancers are not always the most coordinated bunch. Nor are they the most flexible. But nobody seemed to mind. The performers were just completely, passionately, and just utterly into it — digging the tunes and mouthing the words." - Brent from Bookmarklet

There were moments towards the end, during 'Videotape', that were so achingly beautiful, I had to weep. - Brent

"If you've ever zoned out with Radiohead on your earphones, this show is for you! Directed by Denise Clarke, a group of talented young artists perform a physical exploration of Radiohead's latest album, In Rainbows." - Brent from Bookmarklet

I'm selecting theatre productions to go see this Fall. This one, an interpretation of Radiohead's album, is at the top of the list. - Brent

One Yellow Rabbit theatre is da bomb -- funny, avant-garde and original. - Brent

"The Betty Mitchell Awards, named for a pioneer of Calgary’s theatrical community, Dr. Betty Mitchell, were started in 1998 to celebrate and honour outstanding achievement in Calgary’s professional theatre  community. The Betty Mitchell Awards provide the opportunity to recognize the excellent work that takes place on our stages in Calgary throughout the year." - Brent from Bookmarklet

Marianne: I know just what you mean. I saw a great play yesterday -- actors breathing and sweating... live. Live theatre rocks :) - Brent

"The Black Watch play that won best show at the Edinburgh Festival 2007." - Brent from Bookmarklet

This play does not propagandize... it analyzes propaganda. - Brent

"The Black Watch play that won best performance of the Edinburgh festival 2007." - Brent from Bookmarklet

"The Black Watch play that won best performance of the Edinburgh festival 2007." - Brent from Bookmarklet

Balls! :) - WoH: Minding her Botts

Well, they had to get creative with a few scenes e.g. the Wonderflonium heist lol. They even included some numbers at the end of the show that were only on the DVD as commentary: "Asians on TV" and "10-dollar solo". - Brent

"An interview with Lamberto Tassinari, who believes he's got the goods on who Shakespeare really was." - Brent from Bookmarklet

It's conceivable . . . - Brent

"Pee-wee's next big adventure will take place on Broadway, with a reimagined version of Paul Reubens's stage and television show scoring a fall run in New York. Reubens revived his famed character Pee-wee Herman for a series of well-received performances in Los Angeles earlier this year. The new stage production will travel to Broadway for a limited, six-week run beginning in late October." - Brent from Bookmarklet

i would go just for the pee-wee dance, :) - chaz2b

*plays 'Tequila' on the juke-box* - Brent

"Once the curtain goes up on Alberta Ballet's Love Lies Bleeding on Thursday, don't be surprised if the imaginatively outrageous garb worn by the dancers to convey the look and feel of the world of pop icon Sir Elton John reminds you of something straight out of Lewis Carroll-meets-Barbarella-meets-A Clockwork Orange." - Brent from Bookmarklet

LOL - Brent

"Dog Days is an in-progress work of contemporary music theatre from composer David T. Little, and based on the short story by Judy Budnitz, that incorporates elements of opera, musical theatre, and rock-infused-concert music to investigate the psychology of a working class American family pitted against a not-so-distant-future wartime scenario. Created in collaboration with librettist Royce Vavrek, this black comedy asks: is it madness, delusion, or sheer animal instinct that guides us through severely trying times? Where is the line between animal and human, and at what point must we give in to our animal instincts merely to survive?" - Brent from Bookmarklet