STAGING LOVE AND STRIFE
Season's theatre offerings include a two-hander on fraught friendship and a look at the first Black Othello
Almost as if celebrating winter's transition into spring, Vancouver's theatres are bursting with song.
Musicals loom large in the coming months, including the Arts Club's Guys and Dolls, Royal City Musical Theatre's Mary Poppins, and United Players' When We Were Singing. As we continue moving toward making reconciliation a reality, Indigenous plays incorporating music also take centre stage: The Cultch's You Used to Call Me Marie, Pacific Theatre's The Way to the River, and the Firehall's Paddle Song.
Here are five more plays that hold special promise this spring and also capture the diversity of Vancouver's theatrical offerings.
AN INTERVENTION
When: Opens Friday, runs to March 17
Where: Performance Works, Granville Island
Tickets and Info: $15-$35 at mitchandmurrayproductions.com
British dramatist Mike Bartlett's two-hander dissects the relationship of best friends who intervene in each other's lives and come apart over their clashing feelings about a foreign war. The Guardian's four-star review called it a “punchy play (that) provocatively questions our responsibilities as friends and citizens who sometimes let each other down.” Mitch and Murray Productions' annual show is always an annual highlight. Directed by Aaron Craven.
PARADE
When: March 21-April 13 Where: 191 Alexander St., Vancouver
Tickets and Info: From $43 at raincitytheatre.com/parade
Raincity Musical Theatre has previously turned Gastown storefronts into Cabaret's Kit Kat Club and the shop where Sweeney Todd grinds his victims into meat pies. The company returns to Gastown for Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown's musical about lynching and antisemitism in early 20th-century Georgia. Vancouver's Brent Carver starred in the 1998 Broadway premiere. The 2023 revival won two Tony Awards. Raincity's sterling cast includes Josh Epstein, Warren Kimmel and Jennie Neumann. Chris Adams directs.
RED VELVET
When: March 21-April 21 Where: Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage Tickets and Info: From $29 at artsclub.com
In 1833 London, amid heated parliamentary debates about abolishing slavery, African-American Ira Aldridge became the first Black actor to play Othello, replacing the great Edmund Kean on the Theatre Royal stage. Lolita Chakrabarti's
Red Velvet dramatizes the public controversy, Aldridge's private struggles, and the contrast in acting styles. Montreal's Quincey Armorer stars. Director Omari Newton has helped power Vancouver's Black theatre renaissance.
THIS IS HOW WE GOT HERE
When: April 13-28
Where: Firehall Arts Centre
Tickets and Info: From $30 at firehallartscentre.ca
Set on a small First Nations reserve in northern Ontario, Keith Barker's drama investigates the ways a family copes with the suicide of a loved one. Nominated for a Governor General's Award, the play got strong reviews for its 2020 Toronto premiere. The Star called it “just a real story, beautifully told.” Regardless of its subject, the
Globe and Mail stressed, the play is “as hopeful as it is mournful, full of life and lovable characters.” Donna Spenser and Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen co-direct.
HOMECOMING
When: May 2-12
Where: The Cultch Historic Theatre
Tickets and Info: From $29 at thecultch.com
Vancouver's substantial Filipino population has been almost invisible on our stages. Kamila Sediego's new play follows three generations of Filipina women as they move between the Philippines and Canada. Producer Urban Ink promises explorations of “cultural identity, familial duty and delicious Filipino food.” The show moves to Coquitlam's Evergreen Cultural Centre, May 14-18. Hazel Venzon directs.