Neptune Studio Theatre’s Studio Series continued this past week with a fantastic presentation of Daniel MacIvor’s play Communion, presented as a co-production with new theatre company Kazan Co-op.
I was blown away by the power of the performances. The three women in this show have created masterful, nuanced, emotive characters that elevate this production head and shoulders above most of what I’ve seen recently. Jenny Munday is simply sublime as Leda, a woman coming to terms with her rocky past in her last few months of life.
From beautiful lighting, a creative set, right through to these three powerhouse actors (Munday shares the stage with Stephanie MacDonald and Kathryn MacLellan). Communion is a lighthouse of theatrical skill in a stormy sea of mediocrity.
Communion, directed by Linda Moore, closes tonight and you still have two chances to see it at Neptune. Don’t waste those chances.
There was a Fiddler on the Roof of Halifax’s Metro Centre last week. Why, oh why, does the Metro Centre keep attempting to present theatrical shows? I wish they would accept it — they are an arena, perfect for games and big concerts. Leave theatre to the theatres.
Fiddler was probably a good show, but there’s no way I could tell.
The stage was the size of a small portable TV way in the distance, with a 60-metre gap between the front section and us at the back. I didn’t see an actor’s face all night and the sound was far, far away. A major disappointment for $60 a ticket.
I may as well have been sitting — with the fiddler — on the Metro Centre roof.
The relief of the night was taking in drinks and dessert at the delicious Barrington Street sweet spot, The Middle Spoon. We had an early Valentine’s Day celebration, and if you like to feel your stresses slip away into a sumptuous sugar coma, then my advice is take a loved one to this new specialty restaurant.
The staff was as sweet as the cheesecake and chocolate lava cake we consumed. Date night just became a little easier to plan.
I was invited to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (read: ordered to get my British keister down there!) to attend not one, but four, exhibitions opening in one night at an exclusive members-only event. AGNS never does anything by half-measures.
I could only pop by for 20 minutes, so managed to catch some of the Emerging Artist Series, Lisa Lipton’s Stop@Forever show. Lipton incorporated live performance into her work at the gallery, with the VIPs pausing in their chatter and hors d’oeuvres consumption to enjoy seven presentations of song on the AGNS lobby staircase.
The other shows opening that night were Material World, Kekina’masuti Nemitekemk Nktuey Mijua’jijk: Through Children’s Eyes and Reinvention: The Art and Life of HM Rosenberg.
Now if only someone would tell me what my keister is!
I got so far off the leash this week when I took in Plutonium Playhouse’s Sex Festival that I thought I was lost forever. The fest is a collection of erotic, horny, anguished and languid performances running until Feb. 27.
I caught Pluto’s Playthings (a sexy amalgam of burlesque and cabaret), featuring a talented, brave and sometimes naked quartet of risque performers: Stewart Legere, Annie Valentina, Naomi-Joy Blackhall-Butler and Mike McLeod. Pasties, peppers, penis and a grand piano, what more could you ask for on a chilly Thursday in February?
Well, a bus home would have been nice!
To invite Jeremy Webb to go off the leash at your event, opening or party, contact him at offtheleash@herald.ca, follow him on Twitter @offtheleashhfx, or find his website offtheleash.ca
