NS reviews

Reviews of theatre and art in Nova Scotia and beyond

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Bed and Breakfast: summer comedy with a heart at Ship’s Co. in Parrsboro

Gordon Gammie and Kevin Curran play 28 characters in Ontario playwright Mark Crawford’s small-town comedy Bed and Breakfast. (Alexa Robin) Two Nova Scotia actors thrill the audience in Bed and Breakfast, the season-opening comedy at Ship’s Company Theatre, Parrsboro, to July 28. Kevin Curran and Gordon Gammie are amazing as Brett and Drew, two gay men who move from Toronto to open a bed and breakfast in rural Ontario in […]

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41st Tattoo delivers fun and fanfare

The 41st Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo delights an audience of tiny tots to seniors in dramatic, mass gatherings of highland dancers, pipes and drums with incredible circus acts at the Scotiabank Centre to July 5. This year’s Royal International Tattoo starts with a dog who can see colour and ends with a massive, majestic, moving tribute to loved ones in service. There is everything else inbetween – good choices, […]

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Three colourists spark up nature and buildings at Argyle Fine Art

Just the Beginning, 30 ” x 40 “, acrylic on canvas, Danny Abriel Where other landscape painters see blues and greens, Danny Abriel sees pinks and violets. His arresting images zing with bold colour choices, line and pattern in Painted Poems, one of a trio of shows at Argyle Fine Art, 1559 Barrington St., to July 9. Jan Davison is also a colourist in her red-infused paintings of local hot […]

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Imagination rules in Joy and Possibility at the Chase Gallery to June 28

Down by the Fish Shack (Blue Rocks), 170 x 200 cm. 2018, oil on linen, by Timothy Andrew McGuire, in Joy and Possibility, at the Chase Gallery, Nova Scotia Archives, to June 28. New York artist Timothy Andrew McGuire came to Nova Scotia “for that scene right there,” he says, pointing to his large, masterful, oil painting of Blue Rocks. “I saw a music video Joel Plaskett filmed on the […]

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Here We Are Here: dramatic, complex exploration of black history and identity

Chantal Gibson, Souvenir, 2017, Multimedia installation with 2000 souvenir spoons (metal, silver, copper, pewter), black spray paint, in Here We Are Here: Black Canadian Contemporary Art, on view at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.  (Image courtesy of Brian Boyle, Royal Ontario Museum) Sylvia D. Hamilton’s list of 3,000 names of Nova Scotia black settlers from the 1700s to 1812 gives its name to Here We Are Here: Black Canadian […]

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Get Tickets to Short Film Face Off Tapings

Short Film Face Off host Steve Patterson. Live tapings are in June in Halifax.  Tickets are available for live tapings of Short Film Face Off on June 11, 12, 13 and 14,  6:30 p.m., at CBC Halifax, 6940 Mumford Rd. Short Film Face Off is a four-part, one hour television series  showcasing emerging filmmakers from across Canada. The Nova Scotia producer of the series is Bill Niven of Idlewild Films. […]

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Brundibár: light-hearted children’s opera framed in bleak history in HTYP show

Talented local actors and musicians perform in Halifax Theatre for Young People’s production of Brundibár, at the Sir James Dunn Theatre tonight, 7 p.m., and Sunday, 2 p.m.  Context is everything. The half-hour children’s opera Brundibár, at the Sir James Dunn Theatre this weekend, is like an adorable school play. However, this delightful piece performed by talented young actors and local classical musicians, was written in 1938 and performed 55 […]

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Theatrical virtuosity in award-winning Irish caper at Neptune studio

Gordon Gammie and Francine Deschepper in Little Thing, Big Thing at the Neptune studio theatre until May 26. (Ashley Pettipas)  It’s a treat to see Little Thing, Big Thing, the entertaining, award-winning 2016 hit from  Festival Antigonish, restaged with the same team in the cozy Neptune studio theatre. This two-actor, Irish caper features remarkable performances by Francine Deschepper as a starchy “nun on the run” and Gordon Gammie as a […]

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The Children: excellently-acted, traditional drama about hot topic

Lee J. Campbell, Mauralea Austin and Martha Irving star in The Children, produced by Keep Good (Theatre) Company  at the Bus Stop Theatre through Sunday. (Stoo Metz) Three of Halifax’s top actors – Martha Irving, Mauralea Austin and Lee J. Campbell – dazzle in Keep Good (Theatre) Company’s high-quality production of Lucy Kirkwood’s unsettling play, The Children. This 2016 British play is traditional in style and highly contemporary in subject […]

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KAZAN’s back with odd, funny, contemporary play at Park Place Theatre

Christian Murray, Kathryn MacLellan, Gil Anderson and Matthew Lumley in KAZAN CO-OP’s The Realistic Joneses, to May 19, Tues. to Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m., at Park Place Theatre, Point Pleasant Park. Tickets at http://www.tickethalifax.com. (Janet MacLellan) New York playwright Will Eno’s 90-minute play, The Realistic Joneses, is very funny and unsettling, weird but familiar, in a passionate, perceptive production  at Park Place Theatre in Halifax. Trust KAZAN theatre […]

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