So. How’s everyone enjoying our faux-spring? Basking in it, I hope. And if that wasn’t enough to make your week start off right, there’s enough art going on that you can take your pick. It’s all here in this week’s Round Up. Enjoy.
Bloodshot is Bloody Brilliant
Simon Slater stars in Bloodshot as part of Vertigo Theatre’s BD&P Mystery Theatre Series running until February 15.
Photo by Tim Nguyen, Citrus Photography
Going into Vertigo Theatre’s current show I was perplexed.
Bloodshot – a one-man mystery – how was this going to be accomplished? And at over 100 minutes long, how would I keep it all straight in my head and engaged the whole time.
And then Simon Slater took the stage and with in seconds I understood.
I couldn’t imagine a better fit as Derek, the photographer who gets sucked into a web of deceit, murder and dubious characters. He switches from character to character effortlessly, and unlike a few shows I have seen with only one actor, never misses a beat.
“Bloodshot from the UK’s SAS Productions has been wowing audiences on London’s West End and features a tour-de-force performance by renowned British stage actor Simon Slater.” says Vertigo Theatre’s Artistic Director, Craig
Hall. “It is a gritty, powerful work that both challenges the perception of the thriller as disposable entertainment and defies our preconceptions about the one-man show. Douglas Post’s wonderfully intelligent thriller does more than keep you on the edge of your seat – it examines the turbulent human heart.”
London in the fall 1957 we meet Derek, a down on his luck photographer who drinks too much and has many clouds hanging over his head. When a mysterious envelope arrives with money and a request for him to take secret pictures of a young woman, he falls in love with her and is whisked into a twisted game of revenge.
Slater switches role to role – an Irish comedian with his ukulele, an American saxophone player, and Russian magician – without hesitation and immense talent.
With a little bit cabaret, a whole lot of mystery and a dash of noir, Bloodshot is unlike any show I’ve seen before and am unlikely to see again. See it while you can.
Bloodshot runs until February 15 at Vertigo Theatre.
Gilded Glam and Powdered Wigs
Ornate costumes and mile high powdered wigs bring Lyne Fortin (Countess Almaviva) and Etienne Dupuis as (Count Almaviva) to the late 1700s in true operatic fashion for The Marriage of Figaro, opening this week at Calgary Opera.
Photo by Brigitta Diehl courtesy of Calgary Opera
Quintessential opera, that’s what Calgary Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro aims to be.
Composed by Mozart, it’s one of the most popular operas of all time and is everything you can imagine a production of this kind to be.
“It’s a brand new sparkling production of this opera,” says Calgary Opera General Director and CEO W.R. (Bob) McPhee.
Not only are the compositions instantly recognizable and regarded as one of the great operatic masterpiece, the cast is top notch and the set is unbelievable. Think enormous costumes, giant powdered wigs, a glittering set full of ornate mirrors and exceptionally beautiful singing.
“This is a new production recently designed for us and Pacific Opera Victoria in BC,” he explains. “Cameron Porteous is one of Canada’s most revered stage designers and has created an impressive, grand and glided set. This is an impressionistic version of the century this opera was set.”
And as to why everyone should see this production, well, why wouldn’t they jokes Bob.
“You’re going to have a great time.”
The Marriage of Figaro runs Saturday, January 31, Wednesday, February 4 and Friday, February 6 at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.
The Art of North North America
Check out Dean Baldwin’s installation chalet as part of the giant exhibition Oh, Canada, and can be found at the Esker Foundation, January 31 to April 26.
Video by Village Brewery
Opening this week is a once-in-a-life-time Canadian art experience you won’t want to miss.
Four Calgary art institutions – Esker Foundation, Glenbow, Illingworth Kerr and Nickle Galleries – have teamed up to present an enormous survey of Canadian art. It’s simply too big to be contained to one gallery space in Calgary.
Oh, Canada: Contemporary Art from North North America is presented by TD Bank Group, organized by the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and curated by Denis Markonish.
And in addition to the four main exhibition spaces, Calgary’s art community is joining in to create a three-month long festival of Canadian art where Calgarians will encounter special art events and programs at galleries and cultural spaces throughout the city.
The other interesting thing about this exhibition is that it presents an outsider perspective on Canadian art. The creation of American curator Denise Markonish, Oh, Canada is the largest survey of contemporary Canadian art ever produced outside the country. It debuted in 2012 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and the exhibition has been shown in Canada only once before, in the summer of 2014 in Atlantic Canada.
“I found myself in an art world that knew more about artists in China than in Canada … what started out as a quest to find art has turned into an exploration of a whole country,” she states.
Not only are there two pages of participating artists including Kent Monkman, Doug Coupland and Bill Burns, works from Michael Fernandes, Micah Lexier and John Will will be at all four venues.
It all starts this Saturday, January 31 with a massive opening party from 2 pm to 10pm with Canadiana themed entertainment and refreshments.
Start at the Nickle Galleries & Illingworth Kerr Gallery from 2pm to 5pm with opening remarks at the Nickle Galleries at 2:30pm alongside outdoor and indoor events, the Canuck Fotohouse and the first viewing of the exhibition. Then move on to the Illingworth Kerr Gallery for 3:30pm with special musical performances by the art-enative musical duo the Cedar Tavern Singers AKA Les Phonorealistes (3pm and 4pm sets).
Then it’s off to the Glenbow for opening remarks at 6:45pm with Henry Svec performing from his Artificially Intelligent Folk Songs of Canada (7pm) plus a set by DJ Faust and rock and roll by local rockers Napalmpom (8:45pm).
And finish off the evening at the Esker Foundation (8pm) with more fun, food and art. There’s even going to be beer.
See the whole show and get to the whole party with the Oh, Canada shuttle bus.
All the details including upcoming events, a full artist roster and more can be found here.
So Long and Thanks For All The Art
Oh, High Performance Rodeo. Why must you be over so soon?
The last few weeks saw some amazing performances and although it’s coming to an end, you still have some time to take it in.
This week you can see The Keith Richards One Woman Show at the #1 Royal Canadian Legion.
Performed by St. Catharines, ON’s Deanna Jones from Suitcase In Point, the piece acts as a ‘trip’ through Keith’s life from boyhood to Toronto 1977’s infamous drug-bust. And the show includes a live rock score performed by Kevin Richardson.
The Keith Richards One Woman Show runs January 27 to 31 at the #1 Royal Canadian Legion.
Then there’s the ever popular The Walrus Talks.
This time around the theme is Vice and includes eighty minutes of though provoking talk from eight of Canada’s liveliest minds – Bidiniband musician and author, Dave Bidini; AshleyMadison.com’s Noel Biderman; CBC Wiretap host Jonathan Goldstein; Author of Drink, Ann Dowsett Johnston; Concordia University’s Viviane Namaste; Concordia University’s Jim Pfaus; Globe and Mail’s Elizabeth Renzetti; and Journalist Shelley Youngblut.
The Walrus Talks: Vice takes place January 29 at the Jack Singer Concert Hall.
Also, don’t forget about ProArts@Noon who has Dave Bidini on tap for Wednesday lunch hour.
Bidini is the only person to have been nominated for a Gemini, Genie, Juno and CBC’s Canada Reads. A founding member of the acclaimed rock band the Rheostatics, he has also published 12 books, most recently including the Toronto Book Award-nominated Writing Gordon Lightfoot.
Join him for a free performance at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer at 12pm on Wednesday, January 28 and don’t forget to bring your lunch.
If you haven’t had a chance to see Mump & Smoot with Knooma in Anything yet, go. You won’t regret it.
Although not as polished as their previous works I’ve seen, Anything is full of raw emotion and this piece enters into a lot of dark, heartbreaking realms. Combined with the laughter and outrageous antics, the show keeps you off balance and is certainly worth checking out.
Anything runs at Alberta Theatre Projects until February 1.
And, celebrating its 16th year as Calgary’s premier wine and food event, join One Yellow Rabbit for their Wine Stage.
An annual fundraiser, the evening will be full of the world’s finest wines from the city’s best wine merchants, paired with culinary creations from an assortment of Calgary’s finest dining establishments.
Wine Stage takes place Monday, January at Heritage Park’s Gasoline Alley. And a little birdy told me that more tickets have just been released. Hint. Hint.
Thanks again HPR for all the awesome. See you again next year.
Show Me The Money
Hey Calgary. I know times are a bit lean right now but if you’ve got an extra few bucks kicking around there’s some really awesome projects from local powerhouses that could use your help.
First there’s Peep: A Puppet Play About the Flood from Green Fools Theatre. Yes. The same Green Fools Theatre that does awesome, unbelievable puppetry but lost everything – their venue, materials and irreplaceable art – in the 2013 Flood.
So, to help heal those water wounds they’re doing what they do best – make art about it.
Check out their InvestYYC campaign and support this wonderful project. The finished piece is expected to premiere between September 17 and October 4.
Another good one to put your hard earned money behind is Quest Theatre’s A Snow Angel for Calgary.
Also on InvestYYC, this theatrical piece is inspired by the City of Calgary’s Snow Angel program.
A story told without words, in full mask, is set in an Alberta community and shows the ripple effect a little kindness can cause.
And if you want to see the piece, bring your lunch and join them at noon on Wednesday, January 28 in the municipal atrium for a free performance before it goes on national tour.
Mark Those Calendars
Coming soon to Calgary is Broadway smash Once, as part of Broadway Across Canada’s 2015/16 upcoming season.
Photo © Joan Marcus courtesy of Broadway Across Canada
I know it seems like we just turned those calendar pages but YYC theatre groups are jumping at the bit to get their 2015/16 seasons announced.
And as those announcements trickle in, the more and more excited I get for when all these great seasons start.
Take Broadway Across Canada for instance.
They announced their 2015/16 season for Calgary today and it looks to be a great one, especially if you love screen to stage adaptations.
Kicking it all off is the Broadway phenomenon, Disney’s The Lion King.
Yes. The Lion King.
Running August 11 to September 6 (I love it when their runs are more than a few days), the winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, comes to the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium and features music crafted from Elton John and Tim Rice.
I know more than a few people who would do anything to see this show.
Other performances slated for the season include Dirty Dancing (December 29 to January 3, 2016), the 20th anniversary world tour of Riverdance (October 9 to 11, 2015), Annie (April 26 to 29) and a staging of The Wizard of Oz (February 16 to 21, 2016), but perhaps the most intriguing on the list is Once (November 3 to 8, 2015).
Winner of eight 2012 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Once features an ensemble of actors and musicians who play their own instruments onstage, while telling the tale of a Dublin street musician who’s about to give up on his dream when a beautiful young woman takes a sudden interest in his haunting love songs.
Season packages for the 15/16 Calgary Season will be available for renewing subscribers beginning this Monday, January 26 and go on-sale to the general public on March 16 at 10am.
And over at Theatre Calgary, they too have announced their upcoming season.
Not only do they have the world premiere of The Little Prince adapted for the stage by Nicholas Lloyd Webber and James D Reid – running January 19 to February 28 2016 – they’ve got a well rounded group of shows including the Canadian premiere of The Shoplifters, contemporary comedy Bad Jews, the romantic musical The Light in the Piazza, the classic Arthur Miller piece The Crucible. Plus expect special presentations of The Tempest for this summer’s Shakespeare by the Bow, Spin for 2016’s High Performance Rodeo and, of course, their annual production of A Christmas Carol.
Subscriptions are now available and individual tickets go on sale this summer so stay tuned.
Arts Out and About
What? There’s more? How can there possibly be more? Because Calgary is awesome and it just keeps getting better.
This week Calgary Cinematheque continues their series Masters: Agnès Varda.
The second of four films from the mother of French new wave Cleo from 5 to 7 shows this Friday, January 29 at 7pm at The Plaza Theatre (1133 Kensington Road NW). This is one of the movement’s benchmark pieces and well worth a look.
All screenings are $12 General and $10 Members/Seniors/Students. Details here.
Over at Lovecraft Gallery join Rob Furr has he leads a workshop and lecture on how to design for 3D printers. Learn how to design products for 3D printers and use the two printers at the gallery for a nominal fee plus filament.
Course cost is $15 and the workshop will run approximately one hour. Details here.
Although the Exposure: Photography Festival doesn’t really get rolling until next week, George Webber is getting a jump on the crowd with his new exhibition at the Lougheed House.
The Turner Valley Gas Plant Portfolio features photographs by the amazing and renowned Calgary photog George Webber.
Focusing on the industrial architecture of the Provincial and National Historic Site that turned 100 last year, George was granted permission to photograph the site’s heritage plant buildings last summer and captured some of the most intriguing remnants of industrial history left standing in North America today.
The Turner Valley Gas Plant Portfolio runs until March 22 and the public is invited to the free opening reception on Friday, January 30 from 5 to 7pm with the artist and a cash bar.
And last, but not least, remember how I told you all of those curious guerrilla art pieces popping up around town as part of the Calgary Biennial?
Well. They’re launching their Calgary Biennial catalogue this Friday, January 30 at 8pm at artBOX on 17 Ave SE (1807 42 St SE).
During the event they’ll be giving away free copies of the catalogue as well as having an introductory lecture and slideshow of all Atlas Sighed projects.
The book includes interviews with several participating artists as well as specially commissioned writing by Derek Beaulieu, Bogdan Cheta, Mohammad Rezaei, Lindsay Sorell, and Marilyn Volkman.
This event is open to the public and all are welcome. Drinks will be served by donation. Details here.
Do you have something awesome coming up and want to be part of the Calgary Arts Round Up? Drop me a line at amy @ calgaryisawesome.com!