On The Boards This Week: Nov. 21-27

Simon has graciously requested that I take over On The Boards for the next couple of weeks while he works on a play of his very own - more on that in our next issue. I'm very flattered that he entrusted me with the job of steering you through our theatrical wasteland, but also rather terrified since Simon has some sort of drama-dar and manages to find hidden gems everywhere. So I find I'm left with...well, not a whole heck of a lot. Still, onwards - I know the 2 or 3 of you that go to see theatre in Vancouver might be disappointed if we missed a week of the column.

Simon noted The Ecstacy of Rita Joe at the Firehall last week, but I'm flagging it again in conjunction with Tomson Highway's The Rez Sisters, currently playing at UBC until November 24th. It's a distressingly rare moment when two of Vancouver's mainstream theatres are headlining Aboriginal plays. The Rez Sisters is the first of Highway's (a member of the Order of Canada) cycle of seven plays that combine traditional Native storytelling with Western dramatic structure. Sort of like the harmonious relationship between our cultures. Right.

"Listen to me, Beatrice. I kissed the TV screen. It was so cold. But I could feel the softness of their lips. I could even smell their perfume. The waxy scent of their lipstick. I heard them murmuring my name." Sexy, right? Those sexy sex lines are from John & Beatrice at the spanky new Performing Arts Lodge theatre, which, again, Simon already told you all about. What Simon forgot to mention, however (and don't blame him, he's very busy), is that it's FREE! Yes, FREE! All you have to do is show up. Free theatre! Free sex! How often does that happen?

Finally, something new: Raving Theatre opens the Canadian premiere of Terrance McNally’s Some Men at Performance Works, a “lush, mixed boquet of sex, pain, and laughs,� which includes a skit set in a 1970's gay bathhouse. Well, there you go - more free sex. Raving Theatre brought us last year's Take Me Out, a virtual canape platter of male nudity, so we can count on them to be pushing all the right buttons yet again.

And there you have it. I'm new at this, so comment away if I've missed anything.

Photo courtesy of Theatre at UBC