Halloween terror at Boardmore
‘Punch Up’ cast reunites at Highland Arts Theatre
In a first for the venue, the Boardmore Theatre is offering an experiential circus ride of a show guaranteed to scare even the most hardened Halloween trickster.
“The Circle of Terror” is not a play, but a series of ghoulish mind games played out on participants while they ride atop a revolving stage in a darkened theatre as a slightly mad scientist uses them to enter another dimension to rescue his long lost sister.
The “volunteers” involved quickly discover, under a sinister black light, things are not what they seem — among other sensory experiences, spider webs descend, rats come a-sniffing, and the sights and smells from the doctor’s past come whizzing around them and make the story more real than life itself.
Unwary participants might find themselves permanently trapped on the other side of reality.
Public performances of “The Circle of Terror” run from Thursday to Monday at 7 p.m., with a new set of “volunteers” invited to the doctor’s laboratory at 15-minute intervals.
Tickets are $10 per person and are available from the Boardmore box office, on the Cape Breton University campus, 1-5 p.m., Monday to Friday, and one-hour before show time. The box office is available by phone at 902-5631652 or online at www.cbu. ca/campus/boardmore-playhouse/box-office-and-ticketinformation/.
This week, the Highland Arts Theatre in downtown Sydney is reviving a hit show from their first year.
“Punch Up” is a scouring love story, full of sweetness and pain, laughs and winces, as Pat, a kidnapped stand-up comic, is forced to tutor Duncan (The Most Pathetic Man Ever) in the fine points of romance as Duncan woos Brenda (The Saddest Girl in the World).
This show reunites the original cast of Wesley J. Colford (Duncan), Hilary Scott (Brenda), and Nick Porteous (Pat).
They all gave first-rate performances
in the show’s original run but I remember seeing Porteous back then and thinking the stage was going to ignite with the intensity of his work.
The play was written by Kat Sandler (who also wrote another HAT hit, “Sucker”) and debuted at the 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival where it won awards including best of fringe, patron’s pick and outstanding production, new play, ensemble and direction awards from NOW Magazine.
The HAT’s subsequent Cape Breton production travelled
to the Halifax Fringe Festival where the festival judges awarded it the best of fest title as their favourite production.
The director of that production, Kristen (Birdi) Gregor, returns to “Punch Up” and the HAT to oversee an entirely new production.
Remembrance Day in Sydney will see members from past HAT productions participating in a special presentation during the veterans service at Centre 200.
The 45-minute show will feature songs and dramatic pieces honouring the service and sacrifices of Cape Bretoners in wars past with selections from past HAT productions, like “Heart of Steel,” along with oldie hits made popular by groups like the Andrew Sisters all under the musical direction of Barb Stetter.
The performance, open to the public, will begin at 9:30 a.m.,
Saturday, Nov. 11 at Centre 200.
Later that same day, at 7 p.m. at the Church of Christ the King, Trinity Avenue in Sydney, the Cape Breton Chorale, along with musical guests, the Northside Honour Choir, are performing “Go Forth Upon Thy Journey: A Reflection on Remembrance Day.”
Tickets are $20 each and are available from chorale members, the Cape Breton Curiosity Shop, Charlotte Street, Sydney, and at the door.
This concert, as with other chorale concerts through the year, is a source of fundraising for the group with part of the money set aside for the Sr. Rita Clare Scholarship Fund.
For more information about the chorale and its upcoming performances, visit www.capebretonchorale.com/.