Review: (Vancouver) A Brimful of Asha (PuSh)

(photo: Cylla von Tiedemann)

Inventive family drama is filled to the brim with humour
PuSh festival presents a clash of Indian and Canadian culture
by Chris Lane

As the house lights come down, Asha Jain, an Indian woman in her sixties, kindly welcomes the audience to her home.

“Well, not really my home, but let’s pretend for today,” she says.

And yet it really does feel like we’re in the Jain family home. Asha isn’t a trained actress, but rather the mother of Ravi Jain, an actor and director. The two of them created A Brimful of Asha and perform it together. As themselves, they tell the story of a dispute they had seven years ago – a cultural clash between Asha, raised in India, and her son, born and raised in Canada.

Review: (Vancouver) King Lear (PuSh)

(photo credit: Eoin Carey)

A Cultural Curiosity

Shakespeare meets Peking Opera

by David C. Jones
@iamdavidcjones
Arts festivals like PuSh bring in boundary-pushing acts from all over the world. Sometimes techniques and styles do not transfer very well across borders, but good stories and emotional connection can help make the show resonate.

Earlier in the festival a show from Germany entitled Testament presented King Lear in the almost stereotypical stoic and austere way which at first was off-putting, but as the story of ageing and caregiving evolved it became relatable and quite moving.

Review: (Vancouver) I, Malvolio (PuSh)

(Photo credit: Bruce Dalzell Atherton)

Shakespeare Supporting Character Speaks

Funny and Tragic

by David C. Jones

Tim Crouch has created a series of five plays based on lesser characters in Shakespeare’s plays – Peaseblossom from A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Calaban from The Tempest, Cinna The Poet from Julius Caesar, Banquo from Macbeth and his most popular exposé is from Twelfth Night – I, Malvolio

Review: (Vancouver) The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (PuSh)

(photo credit: Drew Farrell)

A wild night out in Scotland
An experience not to be missed
by Chris Lane

The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart isn’t exactly a play. It’s an experience. It’s a ballad. It’s a night out in a Scottish town. It’s a dance with the devil. It’s quite something, really.

Only in town for a few days, the cast and crew hail from the National Theatre of Scotland. Their unforgettable performance takes place in a ballroom, where the audience is seated at tables where you can enjoy a beer or two while watching. There is no stage for this show, as the performers move all around the room.

You can’t just sit back and watch this passively – the whole audience is in it together. You even have to help the cast make snow out of your napkins.

Review: (Vancouver) Winners and Losers (PuSh)

(photo credit: Simon Hayter)

Brutal Brawl of Words and Feelings

Sneak Attack 

by David C. Jones 

The PuSh Festival is all about stepping over the line, about taking risks. Themes emerging so far this year are about the tyranny of aging/death and man vs man in a struggle to thrive. Sometimes they pack an emotional wallop and other times intent not always clear. A couple of the shows have laid groundwork that seems less than compelling, then it sneaks up behind you and punches you in the heart.

Winners and Losers did that and it was entirely unexpected. Although its purpose is not immediately clear one cannot discount the visceral last half of the show. A co-production between Theatre Replacement, New World Theatre and Crows Theatre, the show was written and performed by actors Marcus Youssef and James Long, directed by Chris Abraham.

Review: (Vancouver) Testament (PuSh)

(photo credit: Doro Tuch)

Funny , Weird,  and Extraordinary
What Would Your Father say?

by David C. Jones

What a fantastic and special experience. Incredibly brave and audaciously staged, She She Pop Productions from Germany has blended King Lear with the real life examination of aging and familial responsibility.  But this is “real” real life as the artists are on stage with their fathers – all over 70 years of age.

And it is surreal too. At one point there is father sitting in an easy chair on stage right and as his face is projected on a large screen he sings “I will always love you” while his daughter is downstage on a microphone calmly reciting sacrifices and obstacles she will face when he moves in with her. On stage left the rest of the cast sits at a kitchen table bathed in red light, slicing and eating apples.

Review: (Vancouver) Ride the Cyclone (PuSh)

(photo credit: Fairen Berchard)

Ride the Cyclone is one roller coaster worth riding

Anything’s possible in a show where all the characters are already dead.

by Chris Lane

Ride the Cyclone begins with a mechanized fortune-teller (richly voiced by Carey Wass) telling the audience about six teenagers who plunged to their deaths on the Cyclone coaster. The computer brings them back to life in order to play a game.

The game is to decide which of the six adolescents the machine will allow to keep on living, while leaving the other five to remain dead. The deceased youth, who had been members of a choir together, then proceed to tell their stories, dreams and fantasies through a series of songs, each one wildly different from the others.

Review: (Vancouver) Photog (PuSh)

Jay Dodge (photo credit: Karri North)

Harrowing Stories Grab You By The End
Multi-Media and Acrobatics!
by David C. Jones

Boca Del Lupo is one of Vancouver’s most celebrated theatre companies. Their love of international collaboration - exploring human truths with experimental staging in both outdoor and indoor venues - has earned them legions of fans.

It is not uncommon to see their actors airborne or strapped to contraptions that cause them to zig and zag through space.