Review: (Victoria / Opera) Das Rheingold

                                    (photo by David Cooper)
Girl Meets Wagner          
My Return to the Opera Oeuvre
by Morgan McPherson, Senior Contributor

I have an interesting relationship with opera. It used to be this strange, mystifying form of Art with a capital "a" to me. Serious stuff, foreign languages, fat ladies singing in horned helmets. I'm still a little intimidated when it comes time to go to an opera. I never feel well-enough dressed, am worried that the other patrons won't be friendly, or that I'll be out of place. Every time I go, however, I'm always reminded of what a gorgeous art form opera truly is. I've always been enchanted by the way it can feel classic and old, but also pleasantly young and fresh. I didn't know what to expect last night, but I was blown away.

Review: (Victoria / Theatre) Equivocation

(photo by Emily Cooper)

Theatre and the Truth
Equivocation Rounds Off Spectacular Shakespeare Season at the Belfry
by Morgan McPherson

Since I have started my very young career as a theatre reviewer, I have seen the process of going to a show in a whole new light.  As a Fringe Festival theatregoer since 2003, I usually thoroughly research a show beforehand and make a very conscious decision about what I see.  After my first review, I decided to surrender myself to the shows I would be attending as a representative of this publication with little foreknowledge of the details.

On every occasion, I have been incredibly pleased with the result.  The Belfry Theatre here in Victoria has put on a simply smashing season; so goes the theatre's current offering, Bill Cain's Equivocation.

Review: (Victoria) Proud

Rick Roberts (photo by David Cooper)

Introduction to Government 101
In Which the Writer Receives Her First Political Education

by Morgan McPherson

My name is Morgan, and I am a political neophyte. I’m rather sorry to admit that I’m one of those youths (although rapidly not becoming a youth anymore) that has only voted once, and seems to know very little about the candidates. Once I even got suckered into the “your vote doesn’t matter in this riding which is 95% X Party anyway” stream of thinking. For shame, right?  I’ll tell you a secret about why I’m uninterested in politics:  POLITICS ARE BORING.

Review: (Victoria) Home is a Beautiful Word

Youshie Bancroft (photo by David Bakuch)

A Community Given a Voice
Homelessness in Victoria Takes Centre Stage
by Morgan McPherson

Last night, I had the honour of seeing Joel Bernbaum's Home is a Beautiful Word (directed by Michael Shamata) performed at the Belfry Theatre. I was glued to my seat, riveted by the honesty and emotion that was portrayed onstage, and I felt privileged to be a part of the mind-expanding performance that took place.  But let me back up a second.

Homelessness is a big topic, and a sensitive one. There are such a wide range of emotions that people experience when reflecting back on their encounters with those that are homeless. There are a lot of misconceptions, a lot of prejudices, a lot of anger, and a lot of sadness swirling around the issues. Joel Bernbaum conducted over 500 interviews with Victoria's homeless, and the result is an eye-opening piece of verbatim theatre that shines a light on the thoughts, feelings and experiences of the interviewees. And by verbatim, I mean every um, every sniff of a tear held back, every curse word and every stutter were faithfully transcribed and beautifully performed by the five talented actors onstage. Each interviewee's interview started with two open-ended questions: "Homelessness is…?" and "Home is."

Review: (Victoria) A Tender Thing

Belfry poster art

Life Long Loves
Changing Romeo and Juliet’s Stars
by Morgan McPherson

Young love. Burning, all-consuming, can’t-imagine-life-without-the-other passion that lights up the soul.  There’s no more classic example of this type of love than Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. We all know the tale.

But what if that kind of love endured over time?

Ben Power's A Tender Thing (directed by Peter Hinton), now playing at the Belfry Theatre, paints a stirring picture as to what this might look like.  Romeo (Peter Anderson) and Juliet (Clare Coulter) did not commit suicide in their early teenage years, as originally written, but they have lived their lives together and are every bit in love now as they were then. However, not everything in life can stay golden forever, and the play raises this question: what would you do for the love of your life? How far would you go?

Review: (Victoria) Fractured Fables

Preposterously Good Puppetry
The men of William Head captivate audience with highly original show.
by Morgan McPherson

Well, dear readers, I seem to be saying this with each review I write, but this show is probably one of (if not the best) performances I have seen on stage.  The main difference between this and any other production I have seen over the years? I saw this show on a prison stage.  On Friday night I attended the opening night of Fractured Fables: The Prison Puppet Project, staged by the men of William Head Institution and co-directed by Ingrid Hansen and Peter Balkwill. It was tremendous.

Review: (Victoria) Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)

FROM QUEENS TO CYPRUS
Canadian Classic Kicks Off Belfry Theatre's Shakespeare Season
by Morgan McPherson

Tonight was the night where I got to experience that intangible transformation that takes words on a page and, as if through alchemy, changes them into an experience you can properly lose yourself in.  I got to see Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Canadian classic, Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) at the always-charming Belfry theatre.

Eleven years ago, as a fresh-faced teenager, I took the one English class of my university career, and recall reading both Othello and Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet). To be honest, until tonight, I forgot that I had read Othello at all, but never forgot Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet).  I distinctly recall it to be one of the only works in that class that I enjoyed reading, and when given the opportunity to see it staged, I did a little happy dance and headed off to the theatre.  It’s so rare for someone who hasn’t studied theatre to have read a play, then finally get to see that work put forth onto the stage.  Everything about this production was fantastic, and a testament to the magic that can be worked when the right material meets the right creative team.

Review: (Victoria) Marilyn Forever

Marilyn Monroe show has a happy birthday
by Morgan McPherson

Opera. Intimidating, stodgy patrons, opera glasses, and fat ladies in horns belting their hearts out? Not this opera! I had the pleasure of attending the world premiere of Marilyn Forever, in all of its glorious modernity, and it was an experience unlike any I’ve had before.

Opera and I have had an interesting relationship. I have seen three operas prior to seeing Marilyn, and all of them were quite different from one another. I have seen a modern retelling of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (where I first discovered that even though the libretto is in English, it can be downright unrecognizable when sung operatically), Mozart’s The Magic Flute (light and fun, as Mozart’s works are wont to be), and Tchaikovsky‘s Eugene Onegin (a highly dramatic and stunning Russian opera based on a novel by Pushkin). As an instrumentalist of nearly 20 years, I have previously found it a struggle to stop watching the orchestra pit and pay attention to the stage.