NS reviews

Reviews of theatre and art in Nova Scotia and beyond

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Listen to the Wind: site-specific, dreamy, gothic theatrical adventure

In Steady Theatre’s Listen to the Wind are, clockwise from top, Sam Vigneault, Amy Weisbrot, Stepheny Hunter and Rachel Lloyd. Steady Theatre’s production of Canadian playwright James Reaney’s 1972 Listen to the Wind is an intriguing, theatrical experience twinning location with content. In the play-within-a-play children stage a Victorian melodrama in an old house much like the March sisters do in Little Women. This show, whose short sold-out run ends […]

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WILD about Blue Mountain Birch Cove

Goodnight Suzie, by Shelagh Duffett, in WILD Where there is landscape there is light. The seam of searing yellow above midnight-blue trees in Mark Brennan’s painting Sunrise At Honeymoon Bog is visible from far across the room at the Chase Gallery, Brennan is one of 10 artists in WILD, an exhibit in support of the Nova Scotia Nature Trust’s Save the Wild Blue Campaign for the Blue Mountain Birch Cove […]

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Decoupling in song: a rich musical journey

Heather McGuigan and Aidan deSalaiz star in Neptune Theatre’s production of The Last Five Years on the main stage to Feb. 9. (Stoo Metz) Told entirely in song, The Last Five years is an 85-minute journey in joy and sorrow with bristling anger, tender love, beautiful music and excellent, haunting performances. The award-winning, off-Broadway musical by Jason Robert Brown on Neptune Theatre’s main stage stars Adam deSalaiz and Heather McGuigan […]

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Joy Laking celebrates winter in children’s book, Colours in Winter

  Joy Snihur Wyatt Laking brings colour to winter’s white in a playful children’s picture book about learning to see beauty wherever you are. Colours in Winter (Pottersfield Press, $14.95) is about a little girl who wishes winter was full of colour then ends up tangled up in multi-coloured snowflakes to the point she wishes all the colour gone. She then discovers that winter does have its own colours: in […]

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Fly into Never-You-Mind-Land

Kelly Holiff as Captain Hook and her band of scallywags in Neptune Theatre’s send-up of Peter Pan to Jan. 11. (Stoo Metz) Neptune Theatre’s already-extended Peter Pan is a rollicking, musical comedy of high energy, a lot of silliness and a dazzling array of cultural references. The two-hour, 30-minute show, written and directed by British-born Jeremy Webb, is a Christmas pantomime leaping off from J.M. Barrie’s classic. It’s good to […]

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A riot of realism: three Halifax shows by master Nova Scotian realists

Alan Bateman, North of Woodside, acrylic on canvas, 24” x 36.”  It’s a great time to see high-quality realist art in Halifax right now, all by first-rate, highly experienced Nova Scotia artists. Alan Bateman and Holly Carr are a dynamic art couple exhibiting together in Light in the Forest at Secord Gallery, 6301 Quinpool Rd. Their works are on view until the gallery’s Christmas show opens Nov. 29. The two […]

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Tiny is a big, multimedia experience

Ursula Calder and Stewart Legere in a scene from Tiny, by Bruce Barton, on view to Nov. 17. (Mel Hattie) Tiny is a mesmerizing, multimedia experience of an historical, sci fi world within the old NSLC store at Scotia Square. A co-production between Eastern Front Theatre and Zuppa Theatre, in association with Vertical City Performance and the Glenbow Museum, it was created by Calgary playwright Bruce Barton and Halifax’s Zuppa […]

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Every Brilliant Thing: theatre that’s good for your mental health

Andrew Chandler in Every Brilliant Thing, at the Bus Stop Theatre, 2203 Gottingen St., through Sunday, 8 p.m., and 2 p.m. Sunday. (Stoo Metz) Every Brilliant Thing is a tender, extremely funny play about depression and suicide with a wonderful, participatory approach to storytelling. Created by British author Duncan Macmillan with stand-up comic Jonny Donahoe, the 75-minute play is told in the round at the Bus Stop Theatre with Andrew […]

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Of Whales and Men: Artistic Fraud packs a punch – again!

Darryl Hopkins and Steve O’Connell in Neptune Theatre’s presentation of Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland’s Between Breaths, on the mainstage to Nov. 10. (Stoo Metz) Between Breaths is a powerful, poignant, spiritually uplifting story about Newfoundland’s “whale man” that will bring you to tears and leave you in awe. Within just 75 minutes Newfoundland playwright Robert Chafe tunnels inside a marriage, a work relationship, a devastating illness and a passion to […]

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Pleasureville: a fun, Canadian comedy about sex, identity and friendship

Julia Topple and Sherry Smith star in Ellen Denny’s Pleasureville at Neptune’s studio theatre to Oct. 20. (Stoo Metz) Ellen Denny’s Pleasureville, in its world premiere at Neptune Theatre, is a charming, intimate comedy about big issues. The Canadian playwright tackles feminism, gender, identity, politics and friendship in a two-hour drama that celebrates empowerment and the bridging of differences. When Leah decides to move into her late aunt’s country home […]

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