Category Archives: Recent Reviews

Cafe de Chinitas: when Flamenco and Chinese music meet

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Get your tickets hereCafe de Chinitas: when Flamenco and Chinese music meet

Saturday October 28
8pm
Norman Rothstein Theatre,
Mozaico Flamenco Company
+ Orchid Ensemble

I love Flamenco Music… so I was happily surprised when Lan from the Orchid Ensemble handed me this flyer for the latest project that she will be involved in. 

The Orchid Ensemble has been involved with both traditional and fusion forms of Chinese music in Vancouver for many years, as well as jazz and contemporary.  Lan Tung is the innovative erhu (Chinese violin) player whose influences cross classical, celtic, middle-eastern, folk and blues.  Gelina Jiang is a multi-instrumentalist who can play zheng, ruan, yuetqin, pipa, jinhu and jin-erhu. Jonathan Bernard is a percussionist who also loves the marimba.

Combine these fine musicians with flamenco dancers and musicians, mix them up, light a fire, and watch them go! (or listen!)

Oscar Nieto
and Kasandra founded the Al Mozaico Flamenco Dance Academy in 2002. “Mozaico,” refers to the diversity of the ensemble, a mosaic
of students from different ethnic backgrounds, ages, and various diversities who love flamenco at the academy. 

It's hard for me to play flamenco on my accordion… I have tried to play Al di Meola's “Mediterranean Sundance” but I think I have to stick to my tangos, and other latin tunes like El Choclo, Espana and Two Guitars.  I have seen flamenco greats, Paco de Lucia and Paco Pena in concert here in Vancouver.  And twice… I attended dinner with Paco after his Misa Flamenco concerts… wow… what a treat to have such an attentive cousin who was friends with Paco back in London in the early 1970's.

Theatre Review: Griffin and Sabine – an infinite world of love and possibilities

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Theatre Review: 
Griffin and Sabine – an infinite world of love and possibilities

review written by Todd Wong and Deb Martin

October 5th to November 4th
Arts Club Theatre
Granville Island

Surreal is a good way to explain sitting through the innovative Griffin and Sabine
play which began life as the  hit trilogy of books by author Nick
Bantock.  
This was followed by the sequel trilogy “The
Morning Star” in which new characters Isabella and Matthew are
introduced through a
correspondence of their own, and also with Griffin and Sabine. 
The play at the Arts Club includes all six books, each separate trilogy
forming Act 1 or act 2.

The books are unique. The readers are eavesdropping on the private
correspondence of two lovers who have not yet met.  I fell in love
with the books for their sheer beauty and intrigue, as did millions of people around
the world.  With each page I turned, I anxiously looked forward to
the next postcard or letter that they wrote to each other.  

Bantock began his own career as a graphic artist. The books are
exquisitely illustrated, and the book’s narrative is the correspondence
contained on postcards or letters written between the two characters.
The books are filled with envelopes that the reader opens to take out a
letter. The fonts were created to resemble handwriting. His postcards
were elaborate paintings or artistic photographs.  It's wonderful
that Bantock's paintings are used a projections which serve as both a
linkage to the book, and to illustrate the postcards that the
characters are reading.

The characters write to each other between London, England and a
possibly mythical island in the South Pacific.  They travel to
each other’s home but they never meet up… maybe because they live in
different dimensions?  It is like a pop-up book for adults that is
tactile and involving.  And this made it magical.

And now it has been turned into a theatre play.  Not just a
didactic narrative play, or a memory play… but an incredibly innovative play
that takes place as much in the mind as it does on the stage. 
There is no dialogue.  Only monologues as each letter or post card
arrives.

The action begins with the character of Griffin, played by Colin Legge,
holding up an imaginary postcard, as the writer of the card, Sabine,
speaks as if she was writing it. Images from the book are projected in
the background to create scenery on an undecorated stage with few sets.
They help to draw the viewer into the story. Sabine is in a sunken
circle on the right side of the stage that represents the island of
Katie, and there is a chasm at the back of the stage that moves closer
and farther apart depending on how close the characters are at any
moment.

Lois Anderson is superb in the role of Sabine, a girl of unknown
heritage who is found and adopted by her exploring parents on the island of Katie.
She has the gift of telepathic perception and can see Griffin  as he
creates his postcards in London England. She is enchanted by his
artwork, and finally writes to him. Griffin, of course, believes he is
hallucinating when he receives a letter from a woman from a far off
land claiming to know him. Sabine is able to describe details that she
could only know by seeing Griffin, and Griffin is so lonely in his life
that he welcomes the company, even in its unusual form.

The play requires a suspension of belief and a willingness to escape to
a bit of fanastical fantasy where visions of wonder become real, and
voyages between far off lands just happen, and people fall in love
without having met.

And that’s just the first act.

The second act is based on the second trilogy of books where Isabella
is a student , and her boyfriend Matthew is an archeologist working in
Egypt.  Soon, Sabine writes to Matthew, and Griffin begins his
correspondence to Isabella.  Rather than a repeat of the first
act, with four characters the interaction is exponentially
multiplied.  When a character recalls a dream, the other three
characters stand together, then sway and hum and sing.  Very weird
– but very cool.

To create a play from the books presents the challenge of taking the
tangible where so much depends on visual impact, and translating it to
the verbal medium.  Dramaturg Rachel Ditor writes in the program
that “experimentation is at the heart of play development – oftentimes,
we find out what the play is by finding out first what it isn’t.”

What they found is that the story is a beautiful series of monologues
held together by themes of love, fear, hope and compassion.  It
allows the actors to really play with their words, and to accentuate
with subtle or sustained physical movements.  

While the first act emphasized the physical and emotional separation of
strangers getting to know each other, the second act builds upon an
already realized intimacy between Isabella and Matthew. Actor Andrew
McNee is wonderful to watch as Matthew, an expressive yin to the
inwardly focused Griffin.  Megan Leitch as Isabella is similarly
brilliant as they must demonstrate their deep love  without
conversing, or touching – but through their words and actions. 
This allows the action to move to a more sensually heightened tension,
that is threatened by the mysterious Mr. Frolatti, who threatens Sabine
and Isabella to turn over the correspondence.  

Marco Soriano plays both Frolatti as well as the Griffin’s cat,
Minalouche, bringing both a convincing menace as well as gentle yet
humourous presence to the stage.   We think that Soriano must
really enjoy playing Minalouce the cat.  He does such a great job,
and probably really likes having his stomach rubbed onstage by Isabella

Griffin and Sabine, is an exciting play to watch – the actors make good
use of the stage, the set moves, the artwork of Nick Bantock is
projected on the back screen, and a live musical score is provided by a
double bass, and marimba/tabla drums.

It may not be all
understandable on a first sitting.  The play, like interculturalism,
demands the audience to be open-minded, which brings an appreciation of
new ideas and experiences. 
And like a good film, this play
will beg another reading of the books and a return.  Think of
going on talk back Tuesdays when the cast and crew answer questions from the audience.

Honouring Theatre: Frangipani Perfume – dynamic and fragrant theatre for the mind

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Honouring Theatre:  Frangipani Perfume
– dynamic and fragrant theatre for the mind


Firehall Arts Centre
October 13 to October 21st

Frangipani is known as the traditional Hawaiian lei flower.  Frangipani Perfume
is a dynamic three woman play that tells the story of three sisters who
left their native island of Samoa to find a better life in New
Zealand.  The play opens with three woman dancing to a beautiful
musical piece of opera, only to reveal that they are actually scrubbing
washrooms in New Zealand to make ends meet.

This is a play that I found astounding.  It works on many levels.

  It is not the didactic memory play style of  Windmill
Baby, nor the linear time line of the historically interpretative
Annie Mae's
Movement –
each part of the tri-national tour of 3 plays from Canada, Australia
and New Zealand – titled Honouring Theatre.  Frangipani Perfume is an exceptionally creative
work that incorporates dance, drama, martial arts, comedy, memory, and
so much more.  There were many times that I have to admit I said
to myself “Wow!” or “What did they just do?”

Actors Dianna Fuemanna, Fiona Collins and Joy Vaele, together give an
incredibly dynamic performance.  The sisters dance together, they
fight against each other, they support each other, they argue with each
other, and they reveal truths for and about each other.  The
transitions and topic flow smoothly.  Just as easily as the actors
themselves move across the floor, climb to stand on their chairs,
threateningly fight each other or hold each other lovingly. 

Anything seems to be able to happen in this play.  One moment they
are discussing boyfriends and marriage to escape the drudgery of
scrubbing toilets and cleanning skid marks off the tile floors, the
next they are literally flying across the stage floor, or dreamily
recalling the fragrance of frangipani perfume which their mother used
to make back on the island of Samoa.

And yet… social commentary fills the content of this play. 
Thousands of Pacific islanders left their island homes to work in New
Zealand as unskilled labourers.  They deal with the conflict of
traditional island life and values pitted against contemporary morals
and behaviors.  Post-modern sexuality threatens church morality
and values.  Margaret Mead's anthropological views are rebuffed by
native attitudes of knowingness.   Somehow the greatness of
Einstein and the terror of nuclear war find their way into the
balance.  And it all works brilliantly.  Kudos to playwright
Makerita Urale for her imagination and daring. 

I was able to speak with the actors after the performance, and they
were wonderfully friendly.  They shared that they were enjoying
the visit to Vancouver after travelling across Canada, but were really
looking forward to going home soon, as this is the last stop of the
Canadian tour, before remounting for Australia and New Zealand in
2007.  They each spoke enthusiastically about being on this
tri-national, three play tour, and watching the other
performances.  We talked about the issue of including Pacific
Islanders into Asian Heritage Month (as is done in the United States)
and the fact that Pacific Islanders have their own identity and
culture.  I shared my experience of learning Pacific Island
culture in my visits to Hawaii, where my Aunt lived, and how I remember
her teaching me one day to make a Hawaiian style frangipani / plumaria
flower lei.

My companion had said that she smelled something fragrant at the start
of the play when the actors took the stage.  Yes… the actors
revealed.  They are wearing frangipani fragrance in their hair.  We
talked about the frangipani / plumeria flower, and how it is also known
as the “lei flower” in Hawaii.  Definitely a play that hits on all
the senses including the mind and the nose…  very rare and
fragrant indeed.

Honouring Theatre: Annie Mae's Movement

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Honouring Theatre: Annie Mae's Movement


Annie Mae's Movement
Firehall Theatre, Vancouver BC
October 12 – October 22, 2006

All three plays for the Honouring Theatre project are great.  They
are aboriginal theatre plays from Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

On Wednesday night I attended the opening night for Windmill Baby
(Australia).  Thursday night, I returned for Annie Mae's Movement
(Canada), and Friday Night for Frangipani
Perfume (New
Zealand).  Each play is different in setting, style, and story – yet each allows
the audience member to step into the culture and share the experience
of being aboriginal in New Zealand, Canada and Australia.


Annie Mae's Movement is a powerful two person play with strong acting
from Michelle St. John,
who plays Annie Mae, the MikMaq woman who
travelled to Wounded Knee to become involved with the American Indian
Movement (AIM).  There is a reference to AIM leaders Leonard
Pelletier, and Dennis Banks whom Annie Mae becomes involved with, but
the play is really Annie's journey through empowerment, hope,
resistance and her eventual death.

Based on the true story of Annie Mae Pictou Aquash, Yvette Nolan has
written and directed a true piece of Canadian history.  While this
abidged version of the original production is much revised, it still
vividly portrays the personal story and conflicts of what it may have
been like for Annie Mae to be a woman in a man's movement, a Canadian
in the United States, and person of colour in a White dominated world,
while still actively believing that she had the power to create a
better world for herself, her daughters and her people.

A creative set makes good use of screens with landscape designs that
evoke both the forest, and a camp setting.  They also serve as
backdrops for shadow theatre when one of the actors dresses up as a
wolf to signify the mythical “Loup Garou” wolf creature.  It is a
simple but effective example of the “magic” of theatre to take a simple
idea and transform it into a powerful revelation.

Grahame Merke plays multiple male characters who each interact with
Annie Mae.  He handles the transitions nicely giving each
character a distinctly different personality and manner to make it
believable that each character is different.

One of my favorite scenes is the opening where Annie Mae is speaking to
the audience and uses a bright red cloth as a stage prop to signify
that she is holding a baby, then with a few quick deft moves, she demonstrates that her hands are tied up.  It's a
wonderful display of St. John's acting skills and of the theatre
direction to both communicate with the audience while performing
physical tasks, and give the audience a visual hook.

Annie Mae's Movement is definitely something to recommend to friends, as well as the New
Zealand Maori play “Frangipani
Perfume.” 


Honouring Theatre – A tri-national tour of 3 plays from Canada, Australia & New Zealand: What Colour is Love?

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Honouring Theatre – A tri-national tour of 3 plays from Canada, Australia & New Zealand:

What Colour is Love?

Windmill Baby – written and directed by David Milroy

Firehall Arts Centre

part of a repertory theatre tour

Oct 11-Oct 22

What colour is Love?  Is it Black?  Is it White?

This question is asked to the audience at a pivotal moment in the play
Windmill Baby.    Set in Australia, an aboriginal woman returns to the
now abandoned former cattle station of her young adult life.  Fifty 
years have passed as she shares her tale with the audience in a mixture
of oral story-telling, and dream-time revelations.

Pauline Whyman,
as Maymay, is a captivating performer in this one-woman play,
accompanied only on stage by guitarist Adam Fitzgerard and a simple but
amazing set.  As Maymay recognizes each object such as a bed, a
clothesline or a can – she interacts with it, bringing it to life with
a story.  Each story segues into the next, paced nicely both by
script
and by acting.  Nuances and expressions are sometimes subtle or
enhancingly dramatic.  Whyman is careful to balance her
story-telling
while also interacting with the audience.  My favorite scene is
when
she tells the story about the dog, using a surprising stage prop.

As the play unfolds, we learn that she used to live at a cattle station
which had a large windmill.  She had a husband named Melvin who minded
the livestock, and a crippled man named Wunman tended the garden.  They
worked for a white man and his dainty wife who is “like a candle that
melts in the heat”.  Racism is a fact of life in Maymay's
storytelling.  She never complains or editorializes on it.  It's just
what happens when the characters of her story interact.  Life was
different 50 years ago. This is a memory play, which makes makes the
stories so much more poignant, when we discover why Maymay must return
to the deserted Kimberley cattle station for “unfinished business.”  A
cell phone rings, and we are jarred back to the 21st Century, awakened
from our reverie.

The themes are universal: love, life and loss.  Beautifully written and directed by David Milroy, the play could have
been set in an Alabama cotton plantation with African-American slaves,
or a BC ranch with Chinese servants.  But it is culturally interesting
to hear the cadence of an Australian accent with strange words and
phrases.

Windmill Baby is the first of three plays presented at Firehall Arts Centre,
as part of an aboriginal collective from three continents.  Vancouver
is the final stop on a Canadian tour that started in Peterborough ON,
then travelled to Toronto and Regina each for a week, before closing
with a two week run here. 

Annie Mae's Movement (Canada), written and directed by Yvette Nolan
opens on Thursday, October 12.  Frangipani Perfume (New Zealand)
written by Makerita Urale, and directed by Rachel House, opens on
Friday, October 13.  Each play goes into repertory, rotating for
evening and afternoon performances until October 22nd.

By witnessing 3 different aboriginal plays from 3 different countries,
we learn that while we are different, we have many similarites. 
Cultural differences are merely cultural, and human imposed
structures.  But love, tragedy, spirituality, passion, humour and
social activism all transcend geographical boundaries.

Below is a description of each play and the schedule.  Check it out.
Here are some links:
Arthur: It’s No Spin: Windmill Baby Shows Spirit
www.publicenergy.ca/archive_details/honouring_theatre/windmill.htm

Windmill Baby – Honouring Theatre – September 19 to 24 …
www.publicenergy.ca/archive_details/honouring_theatre/windmill.htm

Presents
NATIVE EARTH PERFORMING ARTS
HONOURING THEATRE
A Celebration of the Human Spirit – 3 indigenous Plays from 3
Countries
 

Honouring Theatre, an ambitious global initiative showcasing a
triple bill of powerful and authentic indigenous theatre from Canada, New
Zealand and Australia, will be playing at the Firehall Arts Centre
from October 11 � 22, 2006.  
 
The theatrical stage provides the avenue for these Aboriginal nations
to reveal both their similarities and diversities.  The first of the
plays is David Milroy's Award-winning play Windmill Baby
from Australia.  It is a gentle tale that centres on Maymay, an
Aboriginal woman, who returns to the now derelict station of her youth
because she has some “unfinished business.”  It encapsulates
universal themes of love, life and loss. 
 
Annie Mae's Movement by Canadian playwright, Yvette Nolan
follows. Loosely based on the life of a Mi'qmak woman, Annie Mae Pictou
Aquash, it explores a woman in a man's movement, a Canadian in American
and an Aboriginal in a white dominant culture.
 
The final play from New Zealand is Frangipani
Perfume,  a powerful and sensual black comedy about escape
and dreams of thousands of Pacific people who work as unskilled
labourers.  Playwright Makerita Urale flicks out satirical slaps at
Margaret Mead while bowing down to the greatness of Einstein and
mesmerizing tropical fragrances.
 
All three plays are a celebration of the human spirit sharing their
humour, passion, belief, spirituality, social activism, tragedy and
love.  The plays reiterate that no matter where people are from we
all share the same universal themes. Honouring Theatre has been touring
Canada and will head overseas in 2007.  
 
Play Schedule:
Windmill
Baby                        
Annie Mae's
Movement                      
Frangipani Perfume
Weds. Oct. 11  
8pm                 
Thurs. Oct. 12  
8pm                             
Fri. Oct. 13    8pm
Thurs. Oct. 12 
1pm                  
Fri. Oct. 13      
1pm                             
Sat. Oct. 14   2pm
Sat. Oct. 14     
8pm                 
Wed. Oct. 18    8
pm                            
Tue. Oct. 17  8pm
Sun. Oct. 15    
2pm                 
Thur. Oct. 19   
1pm                              
Wed. Oct.18  1pm
Thur. Oct. 19   
8pm                  
Sat. Oct. 21     
8pm                             
Fri. Oct. 20    8pm
Fri. Oct. 20      
1pm                 
Sun. Oct. 22    
2pm                             
Sat. Oct. 21   2pm
 
Tickets $24/$20 in advance or buy a three pack for
all three plays for $55.
Available at the Firehall Box Office 604-689-0926 or online
www.firehallartscentre.ca

Fun Day at Word on the Street

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It was a fun day, at Word On the Street


I always check out Word on the Street Book and Magazine fair, held annually at Library Square on the third Sunday of September.

I arrived to find Ian Hannomansing of CBC TV's Canada Now, introducing the national librarian of Canada – Mr. Roch Carrier, author of the classic children's book (and NFB animated short), “The Hockey Sweater.” 

My girlfriend Deb spent some time volunteering at the Kogawa House display, organized by The Land Conservancy of BC.  It was only a year ago, that Joy Kogawa's childhood home was threatened with demolition, the same weekend that WOTS occured last year, and we presented Joy with a Community Builder Award, from the Asian Canadian Writers's Workshop at the Ricepaper magazine 10th Anniversary Dinner.  What a difference a year makes.

We couldn't stay long because we had to pop off to a dragon boat practice, but returned immediately after practice.

We arrived back at the mainstage with a few dragon boat paddlers in tow, just in time to watch the IMPROvisors on the mainstage in the south plaza of Library Square.  What a surprise to see Diana Bang performing!  I first met Diana while she was performing with her “other” sketch comedy group – Assaulted Fish (a salted fish – get it?)

I dropped by the tent for Ricepaper magazine and Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop at the Magazine Mews.  It was great to see friends Don Montgomery and the Ricepaper gang.  A big surprise to see my cousin/author Janice Wong signing copies of her book CHOW: From China to Canada – memories of food and family. So sorry I missed seeing Evelyn Lau who had been at the tent from 1-2pm.

Up the street at the Harbour Publishing tent, I got a nice hug from my friend Marisa Alps.  I first met her when I interviewed her for a 1995 article I wrote about Asian Canadian writing and the Go For Broke Revue (the precursor to explorAsian's Asian Heritage Month Festival in Vancouver).  I bought several “hurt” copies of The BC Almanac Book of Greatest British Columbians. It's a great book, and I can remember showing Joy Kogawa her listing under the chapter Top 10 Authors.

Then just a few feet away from me at the Tradewind Books tent, I spot my friend Elizabeth Sheffrin – usually known as a textile artist.  She created the wonderful Middle East Peace Quilt.  It turns out that Elizabeth is now a book illustrator for Abby's Birds, written by Ellen Schwartz. The book isn't out in stores yet – but Tradewind did have copies at the tent.

And Trevor Lai always has his booth set up, where he draws pictures of Ralphy the Rhino.  Trevor has self-published a series of children's books following Ralphy's adventures.  Trevor is an amazingly talented artist, who can whip up large sketches and tell a story as kids listen and follow intently.

Just before I left, I bumped into Ron Mah, who was carrying petition for the Chinese Head Tax Redress.  It's important that a true redress honours each head tax certificate -not just the surviving head tax payers and spouses who are still alive.

And I even saw an accordion performed today.  Poet Rowan Lipkovits did a reading at the Poetry Tent, accompanied with a small accordion.  At the end of the day, we bumped into each other and shared some accordion talk.  He e-mailed me later… with an idea to perform together for Co-Op Radio… something about an accordion program.  Sounds interesting!

Wow!  What a day!

Romanza: Three Canadian Tenors at the Silk Purse

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Romanza: Three Canadian Tenors at the Silk Purse

A beautiful day in West Vancouver… how to celebrate it?  Last Thursday, August 24th, it was dinner at the Beach House restaurant beside West Vancouver's Dundarave Pier and an intimate vocal concert at Ambleside's Silk Purse performing venue.

My girlfriend's father was in town to see friend Phil Grant perform.  It just so happened that he was performing with my friend, Karen Lee-Morlang – who was the piano accompanist for Philip Grant, Ken Lavigne and Frederik
Robert, have been identified as “three talented, young, classically
trained tenors who have separately been delighting audiences across
North America and Europe.”  Sometimes called the “Maple Leaf Tenors, Thursday evening's performance was billed “Romanza.”  It was an evening of Italian light opera and popular songs such as Finiculi Finicula, La Donna e Mobile, and closed with a  show-stopping O Solo Mio, during which the tenors mimicked the sun
breaking through the clouds then fading away – which happened during an
actual performance they did in Italy..

These three young and handsome tenors are wonderful showmen, both kidding and flirting with the audience.  And pianist Karen Lee-Morlang holds her own with them, in beauty, musicianship and with witty stage banner. Their humor and warmth shined through, as they interspersed stories about their singing experiences.  And they are “friendly” – Phil Grant waved at my girlfriend, as he recognized her from when he had stayed at her parents home on Kalamalka Lake for the very first Okanagan Vocal Arts Festival.  And pianist Karen waved to me as they walked out to their performance “stage,”  and later questioned through hand motions, if we could hear the performance allright.

The Silk Purse is a very tiny performance venue.  It's really a converted cottage beach house just West of the Ambleside Pier.  The performance was sold out, so Deb and I sat on the porch, watching and listened through the open doors and window, while waves lapped on the seashore, sea planes and boats  travelled in the distance, and sea gulls cries all created an ambient soundscape to the beautiful music happening in this warm little cottage.  As I strolled along the pebble beach, standing on a log, if seemed almost surreal.  A wonderful little jewel of a “Vancouver experience” outside of mainstream entertainment

Accompanying us to dinner and performance was Edette Gagne, who had recently conducted the “Mikado” for OVAF, and is herself a gifted singer and conductor.

Night of the Sultans at the River Rock Casino

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Night of the Sultans

 

Night of the Sultans
At the River Rock Casino until June 11
By Deb Martin – special for GungHaggisFatChoy.com

I must admit that half the reason I went to see this show was to see
the new theatre at the casino. I wanted to see how people with real
money build a performance facility. I was impressed with the design.
The house holds 1022 people, but felt much cozier, and I doubt there is
a bad seat in it. I am always happier when I am close enough to see the
expressions on the performers faces and the details in the costumes.
Part of the seating can also be dropped to create a larger floor area
for cabaret style dinner theatre.

It was apparent from the first number that this was not opening night
for this troupe of dancers. The performance was tight, polished and
very well rehearsed. It just got better after that. In a conversation
with some of the dancers after the show we were able to determine that
the group of about 60 performers had been on the road traveling the
world with the show for two years. All but 10 were Turkish, and a lack
of Turkish on my part put an end to further questions. The other 10
were Russian.

These dancers are eye-candy for both genders, and very skilled in all
genres of dance, from folk to modern to ballet. The level of fitness
required to perform this show is astounding. You can excuse the hokey
story of Pandora and Prometheus that ties the numbers together – it’s
merely marketing to draw an audience. I doubt a show called
“Turkish-Arabic Folk Dancing” would sell. The story also creates
opportunities for solo dancers to be showcased. The real spectacle is
the phenomenal group dances with colorful and creative costumes. The
show-stopper is a number with just the men in a line at the front of
the stage.

The running time was just over an hour, and I gather the show can be
expanded in time and the number of dancers adjusted to suit the stage.
I can compare it to the shows I saw while holidaying in Mexico at a
resort that has evening entertainment. My friend also says it compares
to cruise ship entertainment with a minimum of sets and projections
used as backdrops and scenery. We will overlook the canned music that
was just this side of acceptable for sound quality. This was the one
disappointment of the new theatre.

See
Night of the Sultans official website

Night of the Sultans – review by Alex Varty, Georgia Straight


Show brings a little Vegas to the Euphrates interview by Alex Varty, Georgia Straight

www.greatcanadiancasinos.com/riverrock/

Joy of Canadian Words: April 25th fundraiser for Kogawa House – Actors read Canadian Literary works to Astound!

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imageimageimage


Joy of Canadian Words: April 25th fundraiser for Kogawa House – Actors read Canadian Literary works to Astound!

7:30pm

April 25th, 2006

Christ Church Cathedral
Georgia and Burrard

image
A beaming Joy Kogawa stands between
the evening's co-hosts Todd Wong (Save Kogawa House committee) and Bill
Turner (The Land Conservancy), following a magical evening of reading
performances – photo Deb Martin

The
audience listened attentively to literary interpretations of how Coyote
played a role in the Japanese internment and confiscation of property,
as written through the comical lens of Thomas King.  The short
story “Coyote and the Enemy Aliens” was read by Chief Rhonda Larrabee
of the Qayqayt First Nations.  It is painted a funny but ugly
truth about how Canadians of Japanese descent were deprived of basic
citizenship rights, and had their property confiscated for no reason
other than possessing Japanese ancestry, even if they were 3rd
generation Canadian.  The trickster figure of Coyote is used to
create a metaphor for mischief, as the BC and Canadian government found
reasons based on racism, to move the Japanese out of Canada, and keep
them from reclaiming their wrongfully confiscated property, homes and
fishing boats.

This
event was to raise money and awareness about the house that author Joy
Kogawa grew up in.  When she was 6 years old, her family was
forced from the only home she had ever known and forced to live in what
she described as shacks for the next 30 years.  The family was
interned in Slocan, than sent to work beet farms in Alberta, “to work
for nothing and prove their loyalty to Canada,” as Coyote said in the
Thomas King story.

Actors
and cultural celebrities were invited to read some of
Canada's most important literary works. Obasan and some of the works
read such as Anne of Green Gables are listed on the recent Literary
Review of Canada's 100 Most Important Canadian Books Ever
Written.  Authors such as Thomas King and Leonard Cohen were also
presented, to create a short but incredibly rich and diverse samplng of
Canadian literary riches.

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Bill Turner, co-host for the evening, executive director of The Land Conservancy – photo Deb Martin

Bill Turner,
executive director of The Land Conservancy of BC, opened up the evening
explaining how the Land Conservancy became involved  in 
leading the fundraising to turn Kogawa's child hood home into a
literary and historic land mark for Vancouver.  “It is much more
than a house,” stated Turner citing the importance and role of Kogawa
House in the literary works of Obasan and Naomi's Road, “It is a symbol
of what we can create for society, to ensure that such racism never
happens again.”
 

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Sheryl Mackay, reads from Anne of Green Gables – photo Deb Martin

Sheryl Mackay, host of CBC Radio's weekend program “North By Northwest”
read from Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery.  McKay is
a native Prince Edward Islander, and told of many people who go to
visit “Anne of Green Gables House” telling themselves “This is where
she slept.”  McKay secretly commented to the audience “She isn't
real – she's just a work of fiction.”  McKay also pointed out that
Kogawa House is real, and that Joy Kogawa actually slept in the
bedrooms of Kogawa House, and it would be wonderful to save the house
for generations to visit.

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Joy Coghill read from Emily Carr's “Klee Wyck” – photo Deb Martin

Joy Coghill, esteemed and legendary actor
read from Emily Carr’s “Klee Wyck,” a collection of sketches about
Carr's experience with First Nations peoples.  The book had won
the Governor General's prize for non-fiction
Joy
Coghill was amazing to watch.  The timing and
delivery was breathtaking as she read from Emily Carr's
“Klee-wyck.”  As I watched, I knew that we had really hit the
jackpot when we decided to ask actors to choose a book to read.


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Doris Chilcott read poems by Alden Nowlan – photo Deb Martin

3rd up was actor Doris Chilcott, again amazing to watch as the actor's
craft of presentation and speaking unfolded.  Doris read three Alden
Nowlan poems, a gifted writer who served many writers in residence
programs across the country.

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Leora Cashe lifts the musical mood with Leonard Cohen's “Dance Me to the End of Love” with Jay Krebs on piano – photo Deb Martin



Next up to hit a home run, was gospel jazz singer Leora Cashe.  How
could she not hit a home run while singing Leonard Cohen's song “Dance
Me to the End of Love.”  Definitely a winner.

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Rhonda Larrabee, Chief of Qayqayt First Nations, reads “Coyote and the Enemy Aliens” by Thomas King – photo Deb Martin




Chief Rhonda
Larrabee hit another home run, with the insightful and wickedly ironic
and humourous Thomas King story titled “Coyote and the Enemy Aliens”? 
Imagine the trickster figure of Coyote behind the internment of
Japanese Canadians and the confiscation of their property.  It all
sounds like a bad dream, and King makes it so!

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Bill Dow reads Aron Buchkowsky's “The Promised Land” – photo Deb Martin




I introduced
actor Bill Dow, as having recently performed in the play The Diary of
Anne Frank, relating how the House of Anne Frank is a major tourist
attraction in Amsterdam, and how Kogawa House could be that for
Vancouver. Tourist and people making pilgramages could say to each
other “This is the house that Joy was taken away from.”



Bill gave a dramatic reading of Aron Buchkowsky's “The
Promised Land.”


I pointed out that Buchowsky, Leora Cashe and Joy Kogawa all had
fathers who were ministers.  Rhonda Larrabee's great grandfather had
been a minister.

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Maiko Yamamoto, Manami Hara, Bill Dow and Hiro Kanagawa read Dorothy Livesay's “Call My People Home” – photo Deb Martin.





Bill next invited to the stage actors, Hiro
Kanagawa, Maiko Yamamoto and Manami Hara to read Dorothy Livesay's
radio documentary poem “Call My People Home.” Written in 1949, it is
one of the first written pieces to criticize the internment of Japanese
Canadians.  It was a magical group reading, as the voices took
turns speaking alone or in unison, each giving voice to different
aspects of the internment and the dispersal of Japanese Canadians, away
from their homes on the BC West coast.


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Marion Quednau spoke about the cultural importance for saving Kogawa House – photo Deb Martin

Marion Quednau of the Writer's Union of Canada,
gave a spirited explanation about why Kogawa House is an important
landmark for all Canadians, by telling the story of how she convinced
the city council of Mission to support Kogawa House, by explaining the
historical Japanese connections in the Fraser Valley.

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Joy Kogawa was thrilled with both the audience and the evening's performances – photo Deb Martin

I was
privileged to introduce Joy Kogawa, and held up the program asking
everybody to look at the cover picture of Richmond school children with
a smiling white haired lady raising her arms in happiness.  “That's Joy
Kogawa…” and I shared some of Joy's accomplishments.




Joy stood at the podium, and stated simply, “This is wonderful…. how
could you ask for anything more.” She thanked members of The Land
Conservancy and the Save Kogawa House committee for helping bring a
dream closer to reality.  “I believe in miracles, and these people are
miracles,” she shared,



Joy then read from the prologue of
Obasan, then a section describing the house.  She then read from a
section she had never read from before.  It was about the process of
how the Canadian government had voted to keep the Japanese Canadians
interned up to 1947, and decided to continually exclude them from
resettling on the Pacific Coast.  It was all decidely heart-breaking
and apalling to learn that this was the Canadian government's doing.



Bill Turner came back and explained how the audience could help support the vision of Kogawa House. 




It was a wonderful evening.  An evening where there were friendly
smiles on everybody's faces.  Strangers greeted strangers.  And books
were bought and signed.  A six year old girl named Ashashi proudly
showed me the copy of Obasan that Joy had signed for her.




Then on the evening CTV news… we saw Bill Turner interviewed at our
event, as he made his plea for Canadians to support the Kogawa House
project.



Cheers, Todd




To donate for Save Kogawa House – check out www.conservancy.bc.ca

For more information – check www.kogawahouse.com

Peace Forum Concert featuing Shari Ulrich

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Peace Forum Concert featuing Shari Ulrich
 
Meena Wong, Deb Martin, Shari Ulrich,
Ellen Woodsworth, and Shari's daughter Julia – all enjoy some moments
together after the concert – photo Todd Wong

The World Peace Forum featured performer Shari Ulrich who brought with
her the Note Bene Choir, whom she is a member of.  The No Shit
Shirleys also performed, but we missed them because we were still at
the BC Book Prize soiree.  

Shari performed a fabulous concert accompanied by her 15 year old
daughter Julia on violin + friend on piano.  Next she brought up
the Note Bene Choir, and performed a few songs as a choir member. 
Then… it was time for more Shari Ulrich.  She told stories about
her songs, one of which was about her premature separation anxiety
about her daughter growing up and leaving home (which she hasn't
yet). 

Shari  grew up in San Francisco, and shared that after the student
deaths at Kent State due to protests against the Vietnam War and civil
unrest,  she decided she couldn't handle it and decided to come to
Canada.  In Canada she performed music with Rick Scott (another
ex-American)  and Joe Mok, as the musical trio Pied Pumkin. 
She also performed with Valdy and the Hometown Band.

Shari's final song was “Wherever You Go”, as the choir came back to
join her.  It is my favorite Shari Ulrich song – the one that when
I hear it, I always say “I really like this song.”