NS reviews

Reviews of theatre and art in Nova Scotia and beyond

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Digital tech in a teen thriller and a Covid parody at the Stages Festival this weekend

I sat with high school students for a matinee performance of Josh MacDonald’s hour-long, digital thriller #IAmTheCheese, a co-production by Eastern Front Theatre (EFT) and Halifax Theatre for Young People (HTYP), playing at the Stages Theatre Festival in Alderney Landing today, 2 p.m. (Alderney Landing / Buy Tickets (ticketpro.ca) This teen audience, which could have been rowdy and distracted, was completely silent –no whispering, no fidgeting, just a few gasps […]

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‘Til Death Do Us Part: Pure Comedy

‘Til Death Do Us Part, a skillful, new comedy by Halifax writer Katerina Bakolias, is serious fun and selling out fast at the Neptune studio theatre. The 90-minute play, produced by Kick at the Dark Theatre for a short run through Neptune’s and Theatre Nova Scotia’s Open Spaces program, recalls Norm Foster in its situational comedy and Noises Off! in its rapid, door-opening, door-closing pace. If you want guaranteed laughs […]

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The Aliens Rocks In A Perfect Outdoor Location

Theatre in Space is staging Pulitzer Prize-winning Annie Baker’s The Aliens through May 29 in a lot behind Propeller Brewery on Gottingen Street which perfectly suits a 2010 play about a trio of disaffected, artsy youth. This is indie theatre at its best: an imaginative, experiential location, experienced and passionate local actors and a contemporary play about love and death and what it means to be a dreamer drop-out in […]

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Do The Time Warp Again: The Rocky Horror Show is a Must-See

The Rocky Horror Show, at Neptune Theatre to June 26, is a fast, fun and fabulous toe-tapping, Transylvannian trip back in time to the wacky, black-leather world of trans-sexual, mad scientist Frank ‘N’ Furter and his lascivious minions. While Rocky Horror was first a musical comedy in 1973 and a movie in 1975, it is hardly an old chestnut. This campy, sci-fi, cult classic shimmers and shimmies with still-current politics […]

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The Ins and Outs of Fingers, Spoons, and an Open Marriage: a brave adventure into truths about being a woman, a mother and a lover

Pascale Roger-McKeever strips away all the bells and whistles of theatre and conventional ideas about mothers and sexuality for an amazing, unflinching look at a woman’s life. The Ins and Outs of Fingers, Spoons, and an Open Marriage is honest, gutsy, funny, painful and ultimately liberating theatre by actor/writer Pascale Roger-McKeever, who left Halifax for life and work in California 10 years ago. Her 80-minute play, directed by Austin Pendleton, […]

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Colloquy a must-see on its final weekend; plus buy some textiles in honour of Sandra Alfoldy

Top, from left, jade bowl by Wesley Harris; Venice ring by Vicki Ambery-Smith; middle, landscape brooch by Gill Galloway-Whitehead; bottom, vessels by Yusuke Yamamoto and Ndidi Ekubia. The Mary E. Black Gallery gleams in silver with a must-see metalsmithing show, Colloquy, that wraps up this weekend on the waterfront next door to Pier 21. Curated by Welsh artists Mary Ann Simmons and Beate Gegenwart and Halifax artist Kye-Yeon Son, the […]

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Repeating Patterns: Julie Rosvall at the Lunenburg School of the Arts

Textile artist and printmaker Julie Rosvall takes knitting to a new level in Iterations II, on exhibit to May 9 at the Lunenburg School of the Arts. This is a gentle, thoughtful, lyrical show about process, transformation, preservation and modes of mark making. It has all sorts of metaphorical powers depending on who’s seeing it. Rosvall knits lace with its loopy open holes and exquisite repeating patterns in swatches and […]

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History, travel and the human figure in 3 April art shows

Revising History is a moody, well-concocted exhibit exploring personal history, women’s history and the shadowy nature of history itself. The exhibit, curated by Brandt Eisner and at the Ice House Gallery, Tatamagouche to April 24, features four artists: Jessie Fraser, Kevin MacLean, Jen Worden and Terry Havlis Drahos as well as guest potter Rachel Morouney of Hidden House Pottery. (Her use of patterns and blue and white fit in with […]

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KOQM: powerful stories of L’nu Mi’kmaw women at Neptune Theatre

L’nu (Mi’kmaw) storyteller shalan joudry powerfully brings Mi’kmaw women through the centuries to life in her enchanting, emotionally moving show Koqm. Koqm – playing on Neptune’s main stage to April 17 – is full of heartache, humour and a harsh history. What shines through most is the remarkable spirit of joudry’s women, their strength and their struggle to preserve their culture and people. The play starts with a Mi’kmaw woman […]

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SBTS’s guiding light leaves the company in good hands

I remember many years ago sitting in Trident Cafe on Argyle Street talking to Elizabeth Murphy, Patrick Christopher and the late Jean Morpurgo about their dream to stage Shakespearean plays outdoors in Point Pleasant Park. It seemed like a wonderful but elusive idea for a city where new creative projects were (and still are) hard to fund. However, I underestimated the steely determination of this trio. Now, 28 years later, […]

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