Billy Bishop Goes to War decent comedy with missed dramatic potential

Billy Bishop Goes to War is a fictional retelling of the real-life exploits of a WWI fighter pilot. RJ Peters portrays Bishop, and 17 other characters, and his stage presence is explosive. Gabriel Macdonald delivers an equally robust supporting performance, along with piano accompaniment to their frequent duets. Although produced by a small theatre, incredible […]

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Rope shows dangers of ignorance

Local director Alan Penty has adapted British playwright Patrick Hamilton’s 1929 play Rope by mainly staying true to its structure, and he does it well, with the production examining just how dark humanity can be. It’s what I like to call a “back-seat thriller”: the audience is never jump-out-of-their-seats frightened—instead, eeriness claws at us throughout the […]

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Othello a passionate lesson in how not to love

I’ve been an appreciator of the theatrical arts for as long as I can remember, and I have a habit of picking apart and analyzing shows even when I’m not reviewing them (much to the chagrin of those near and dear to me). Yet, after seeing Shakespeare’s Othello at the Phoenix Theatre last night, I have […]

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New Music Revue: Exhumed deliver appropriately gory new record for October

Exhumed Horror (Relapse Records) 4/5 Exhumed, the death-grind legends from San Jose, California, are back with their seventh full-length studio album, Horror. Horror will satisfy the cravings of fans of brutal music. Horror contains 15 tracks, each as scary as the album title. Each song depicts scenes coming out of a slasher horror movie, with titles such […]

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Opera tells story of missing and murdered Indigenous women

Missing is an opera set in Vancouver’s downtown eastside and on Highway 16, also known as the Highway of Tears; it tells the story of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and, according to Stó: lō mezzo soprano Marion Newman, that’s a story that needs to continue to be told. “Probably [Missing is] one of the operas that […]

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Blue Bridge’s The 39 Steps a huge success

A boisterous jaunt from start to finish, Blue Bridge Theatre’s The 39 Steps is a must-see piece of theatre. Patrick Barlow’s satirical adaptation of the classic Hitchcockian thriller of the same name manages to create real suspense while pulling big laughs from the audience from the moment it starts. The idea is that the entire cast […]

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How a Liberal-NDP minority government will impact students

The 2019 Canadian federal election ended on Monday with the Liberal Party forming a minority government. The Liberals can negotiate with either the NDP or Bloc Quebecois to form government, although, realistically, they are far more likely to end negotiations with the NDP. How would a Liberal-NDP minority government impact students? Examining each party’s platform […]

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Temper-tantrum talks of western secession after election ridiculous

The 43rd Canadian national election came to a close last night with the Liberal Party in the clear lead for seats in Parliament, leaving them in a strong negotiating position as a minority government. This leaves the NDP and Bloc Quebecois both with the potential to negotiate their way into the Canadian government. However, the […]

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Weaksauce earns its name several times over

I expected Sam Mullins’ Weaksauce and Other Stories would be a show where one man takes possession of a small stage, bringing it alive with story. This came partly true. At some points, Mullins (a UVic alumnus and two-time Canadian Comedy Award-winner who has contributed to This American Life, Definitely Not the Opera, and more) owns the […]

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Griffin Poetry Prize winner Billy-Ray Belcourt brings poetry to Camosun College

Billy-Ray Belcourt—a poet who currently teaches at the University of Alberta and is reading at Camosun College on Thursday, October 3—had his most recent book, NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field, published earlier this month. It’s just the latest achievement for Belcourt, who became the youngest person in history to win the Griffin Poetry […]

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