Browsing “Cue To Cue Series”

Shining the theatre light on the best of Vancouver’s comedic underground.

On November 26th, GIANTS Comedy and The Cultch are proud to present the second of six instalments of this first-of-its-kind project uniting the best of Vancouver’s comedy scene with the ambition and professionalism of the local theatre community. After a sold out premiere, GIANTS’ sophomore show features a mix of sketch, and stand-up culminating Vancouver’s first comedic RAP BATTLE where a dozen of our funniest comedians will twist rap battles with pro wrestling type characters to make one MASSIVELY entertaining experience that we at Vancouver is Awesome are proud to be media sponsors of. This show will sell out.

GIANTS is more than just a live show, it is a collaboration between some of Vancouver’s best comedic talents. The latest video offering created by Weekend Leisure, features the uber-talented Canadian Comedy Award nominee: Morgan Brayton

Morgan Brayton was the inspiration for Nicholas Cage’s classic films, National Treasure and National Treasure 2: More Treasure.  If you didn’t know that, you may recognise her from her hit shows Raccoonery and Girls Like Me which were both highly acclaimed and highly nominated.  If you’re even further under a rock than anticipated, you may know her from The Vancouver Comedy Festival, , or local stages like The Hero Show, Girls Girls Girls, and Paul Anthony’s Talent Time.  If by chance you cannot see, you may remember her voice from  CBC’s The Debaters.  I’m just saying, she’s the funniest person in my the room on a regular basis.

The November 26th GIANTS show also includes some of the golden boys and girls of the scene, many of whom have never shared the stage. Guests include: RAP BATTLE MC Taz VanRassel (The Sunday Service, Vancouver Theatresports), Ben McGinnis (CTV, Comedy Now), Pump Trolley (Chicago Sketch Fest, Music Waste), Alicia Tobin (City TV’s The List), as well as a slew of surprise Vancouver celebrity comedians battling one another in rhyming hip-hop parody.

GIANTS II is not to be missed.

Location: The Vancity Culture Lab 1895 Venables Street

Tickets: $10 Available at the door or in advance at www.giantscomedy.com

Follow GIANTS on Twitter @giantscomedy

Like GIANTS on Facebook

Find out more! www.giantscomedy.com

Laurence Olivier once said that “in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, great theatre is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture“. There is no better proof of this than in the umbilical connection between Vancouver’s thriving culture and bourgeoning theatre scene.Here on Cue to Cue we’ll regularly feature in-depth previews and reviews of the shows that create the face of Vancouver theatre, as well as interviews with the local artists behind it all…

Sometimes it’s hard to say what made a show so great. Sometimes it’s a brilliantly executed script, and at other times it’s the show lacking polish that is most full of resonant moments. When seeing one of the many fall/winter theatre offerings in the city, it’s sometimes the chance to grab a drink and talk about what worked (or what didn’t) that makes the experience more personal and in that way is one of the many reasons live theatre is unlike any other medium.

This week, the gripping and fantastic Re: Union (by Vancouverite Sean Devine) continues at Pacific Theatre. Screaming Weenie’s latest provocative and emotional Falling in Time continues at Performance Works. The Margaret Atwood penned The Penelopiad, The Arts Club’s latest fare, features an incredible all female cast. Also on this week, The Firehall pays homage to the men and women who have lost their lives or loved ones to war with a special Remembrance Day performance of VIMY tomorrow Friday, November 11. The play, called “a sincere work about awful sacrifice”, tells the story of a nurse who mourns her lost love while caring for four wounded soldiers in a field hospital soon after the Battle of Vimy Ridge during the First World War.

Also continuing this week is Headline Theatre’s Us and Them:

Photo: David Cooper

Before I talk a bit more about Us and Them, I think it’s important to never forget how important a good publicist can be to a production.  To use this experience as a most recent example of this point,  with the amount of press releases I get in a day I likely would not have attended this production initially.  After a few more polite but urgent personal emails from their publicist I realised the only way to make them stop was to go.  Even after the show, her bubbly personality and specific compliments to the production were a nearly perfect pitch.  I wish I could say that after attending, I realised the error of my initial aversion to the event…but that was not the case.  Oh well. 

I found the script akin to a highschool awareness skit, and though the piece aimed to bring awareness I was offended by the simplified portrayal of  the many plights of our community members.   This is all not to mention the extra 45 minutes added to the piece attempting to showcase Artistic Director David Diamond’s intelligence and empathy while he belittled audience members’ ideas in the post-show forum, which was unfortunately the nail in the coffin.

That aside, I can absolutely appreciate the intentions of the work.  It is clear that Headlines Theatre has made a concerted effort to create works from a group mind, and that has earned them the financial backing not usually synonymous with theatre.  The production value was high as lighting/sound design was extraordinary, and it was clear that the community members attempting to fill the one dimensional lines had put a lot of time and heart to fill the night.  I am also very aware based on the size of the crowd, and the discussion that followed, that many benefitted from the night…and that can be just as or more important than any of its short comings. 

As always, stay in touch on Twitter @viaplays, or at cuetocue@vancouverisawesome.com

Shining the theatre light on the best of Vancouver’s comedic underground.

On November 26th, GIANTS Comedy and The Cultch are proud to present the second of six instalments of this first-of-its-kind project uniting the best of Vancouver’s comedy scene with the ambition and professionalism of the local theatre community.   After a sold out premiere, GIANTS’ sophomore show features a mix of sketch, and stand-up culminating Vancouver’s first comedic rap battle where a dozen of our funniest comedians will twist rap battles with pro wrestling type characters to make one MASSIVELY entertaining experience that we at Vancouver is Awesome are proud to be media sponsors of.    

The first video release features a fixture of Vancouver’s comedy scene, and host of GIANTS rap batter: Taz VanRassel.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Laurence Olivier once said that “in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, great theatre is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture“.  There is no better proof of this than in the umbilical connection between Vancouver’s thriving culture and bourgeoning theatre scene. Here on Cue to Cue we’ll regularly feature in-depth previews and reviews of the shows that create the face of Vancouver theatre, as well as interviews with the local artists behind it all…

It’s a fantastic time of the year for theatre.  With the change of seasons come a plethora of festivals to bring in the fall, and kick off the start of the new theatrical calendar year.  The largest, and my personal favourite of these festivals is the Vancouver Fringe Festival which is currently in its 27 year and runs until September 18th.  If you haven’t ever made your way down to Granville Island for a show, I’m not sure what to tell you other than “go!”.  If you haven’t made it down this year, I’d say “go, it’s even better than last year!”.

I saw my first Fringe show when I was 16, and can say without question that it was a game-changer for me.  The first of these game-changers was a Monster Theatre show called The Canada Show which drew hordes of festival goers at the 2002 Fringe to see a hilarious re-telling of Canada’s entire history in one hour.  Years later, Monster Theatre Artistic-Director Ryan Gladstone is still creating magnetic works in the Fringe circuit and beyond that transcend time and genre to tell stories that audiences wide and far manage to connect to.  Now back in Vancouver for his TWO shows in this year’s festival, I had a chance to chat with Ryan about it all.  Enjoy!

Photo Credit: Laura Leegerwing

Who are you?
Ryan Gladstone, founder and artistic director of Monster Theatre.

What is Monster Theatre?
Monster Theatre is an 11 year old independent theatre company that creates, develops and tours original plays. Most of our plays are comedies, but our mandate is more serious.  Our plays are always based on history or mythology.  Actually my one-man play this summer is sort of about what inspires all of our shows.  We believe that the human experience is more or less unchanged for the last ten thousand years – we are born, we live, we come of age, we fall in love, we have children, we die – and that stories are like signposts on the road of life to help us cope.  This is why the same story pattern recur over and over, and we believe that it the artists duty to re-tell these stories, adding in their own details to make these archetypes relevant to their own time and place in the world.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Laurence Olivier once said that “in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, great theatre is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture“.  There is no better proof of this than in the umbilical connection between Vancouver’s thriving culture and bourgeoning theatre scene.  Here on Cue to Cue we’ll regularly feature in-depth previews and reviews of the shows that create the face of Vancouver theatre, as well as interviews with the local artists behind it all…

As the man outside my apartment scores my typing with maniacal singing and screaming, I realise there is theatre to be found everywhere.  This week is no exception as an exciting crop of shows emerge in all corners of the city, despite the midsummer winter.  Some highlights include Leaky Heaven Circus’ Project x (faust) on until July 24th at the Russian Hall, Dave Deveau’s Homecoming King at the Neanderthal Arts Festival, and Pipedream’s latest Adding Maching: The Musical on at Performance Works until July 24th.  Lots of great shows continuing this week as well, such as a full line-up of shows at Bard on the Beach, and Theatre Under The Stars’ Bye Bye Birdie & Anything Goes on at Malkin Bowl.

This week I had a chance to chat up one of my favourite local artists, Aaron Craven.  When I was in school I was fortunate enough to have fallen into one of Aaron’s classes at Studio On the Drive, and I can say for sure that his critical eye, generosity of knowledge, and sense of humour was a fundamental mentorship for future work.  Plus he’s just all around awesome.  Aside from his work as a coach he is a successful film and television actor, and a champion of the independent theatre community in Vancouver.  An example of the latter is his current fundraising campaign for his upcoming production of Michael Weller’s Fifty Words which is set to run October 25-November 5th at the Cultch.  While normally I feature productions a little closer on the horizon, this week we get to see a behind the scenes look at the real timeline of an independent project and how integral fundraising is in its success.

photo by Gordon Dumka

Can you tell us a little bit about your fundraising campaign?

Well we’re producing the Vancouver premiere of Michael Weller’s “Fifty Words” this fall at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Currently, we’re holding an online fundraiser on this site