A massive thanks to everyone who came and partook in THEATRE UNDER THE GUN on February 9th. Here are some awesome pics.
No Tweed Too Tight: Another Grant Canyon Mystery is headed to the Astor Theatre in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. It’s been almost five years since the last Canyon tour, and boy is he out of shape! If you know anyone around Liverpool Nova Scotia, then send them this way for some laughs.
Astor Theatre, March 16th – TICKETS
One of our very best is playing two performances at the Havana Theatre before heading on the road to Nova Scotia.
The Betrayed wife. The Scheming wife. The Peacemaker. The Ugly German. The Slutty one. The One in love with someone else.
Six Queens. Six Love stories. Six Deaths. One Actress!
“The idea is as brilliant as the execution is funny.” 5 stars -CBC
“An incredibly rich, dizzying experience that should not be missed.” -BENT
“Ingenious, Dazzling and Amazing!” 4 stars -Edmonton Journal
”Monster Theatre are Canada’s ablest fact-benders and history-skewerers. Gladstone’s script is a lesson in crowd-pleasing wit.” 4 ½ stars –SEE
AND THE COMPANIES ARE…
Mariam Barry, Omari Newton, Gavan Cheema, Celia Aloma, Missy D, Donald Sales, Chris Francisque
Dope Hearts Theatre is a brand new theatre collaboration for Black creatives. Born from a shared vision to see more Black voices on our stages, we are a group of melanin poppin’ artists who’ll be teaming up for the first time at Theatre Under The Gun. For this 48hr showdown our artists consist of Celia Aloma, Mariam Barry, Missy D, Chris Francisque, Omari Newton, Donald Sales, with Gavan Cheema as our director. This will be the first of many exciting works from Dope Hearts Theatre. So come ride with us in celebration of a new and electric voice to our theatre scene. Dope hearts. Dope theatre.
David Bloom, Masae Day, Matthew Kowalchuck and Panthea Vatandoost
Palimpsest is an ad hoc collective of theatre artists, many of whom still have not met each other. In the spirit of Theatre Under The Gun, they are coming together to create an interdisciplinary piece which will be as much of a surprise to them as to the audience.
Chris Ross, Tia Glenn-Cooke, Travis Bernhardt, Julia Lank, Patrick Dodd, Kai Rudell, Zach Wolfman
We CAN’T WAIT to see what work emerges from this ad hoc supergroup of actors, musicians, improvisers, magicians, and clowns! Their past work includes talking rabbits that judge the audience, shows that consist entirely of verbal descriptions of food, improvised church services for religions made up on the spot, live anime, drunk Shakespeare, and Vancouver’s most beloved mime horse.
Jackie Blackmore, Susanne Moniz de Sa, Yumi Ogawa, Laura Jaszcz, Catherine Falkner.
Tight Corset Theatre Company was formed in 1999 as a platform to foster and support women artists to write, workshop & produce original comedic theatre works. Veteran performers of the Vancouver & Victoria Fringe Festivals and Theatre Under The Gun, their award-winning past shows include Saucy Bits, The Good Time Girls, Dumb Blind Luck, Awkward & Ways to Woo Enrigué.
Claire Love Wilson, Ali Froggatt, Sarah Ferguson, Lili Beaudoin, Amy Shostack
Since its inception 4 years ago, Sour Dog Theatre has produced over 50 improv shows (including 4 original formats), 2 Canadian Fringe Festival runs, The Canmore International Improv Festival, and 4 scripted play productions. Our mandate is to create work that explores what connects and disconnects us as human beings. With a strong value for honest storytelling we are constantly on the search for universal truth within the human experience. We strive to create theatrical experiences that are playful, poignant and professional, whether it be improvisation or scripted work.
Keara Barnes, Matthew McDonald-Bain, Jamie King, Jalen Slip
‘Your Favourite People’ is a collective of award winning professional theatre artists who are excited to collaborate fast and furiously on this project.
Valerie Cotic, Cory Thibert, Jeff Leard, Al Lafrance, Devon More
Cause For Concern is Valerie Cotic (new best friend), Al Lafrance (Thunder Blunder), Devon More (Devon More Music), Jeff Leard (Active Salad), and Cory Thibert (May Can Theatre). We are an ad hoc group of artists with different artistic backgrounds from all across the country who met on the Canadian Fringe circuit and all eventually ended up being neighbours here in Vancouver.
WE NOW KNOW: The Complete History of Science is under construction!
Writers Peter Carlone and Ryan Gladstone have been hard at work, periodically, for almost 4 years. It turns out that converting complex scientific material into entertaining, clear, fun material for young audiences isn’t as easy as it might sound. But “sciencing to do they did!” and with the script finally complete, we are ready to launch into production development.
Thanks to generous support from both the BC Arts Council and the City of Vancouver, we’ve been able to conduct a series of workshops to test out the material.
WE NOW KNOW is jam packed, like protons in a nucleus, with projections. While co-writer Peter will be handling a lot of the animations, local artist Nima Gholami. He has begun the process of creating original art assets for the hundreds of individual projections. Here’s a short bio so you can get to know him!
Nima Gholamipour is an Iranian-Canadian artist, animator, comedian and film maker living and working in Vancouver British Columbia. He is currently working as a part time artist at a mobile game studio and can be seen regularly performing improv and sketch comedy at various underground comedy shows in the city. One of his favorite scientists is Stephen Hawking.
Theatre Under the Gun is a 48 Hour Play Creation Competition. 6 Vancouver Theatre Companies receive an inspiration package, and have only 48 hours to race against the clock and create an original piece of theatre! Hosted by Monster Theatre and co-presented by The Vancouver Fringe, Theatre Under the Gun is one of the most epic, exciting, surprising and electric theatre events of the season.
The energy is electric, the creativity spawned from the pressure of the time limit is dizzying, the evening is unforgettable. After 7 years of hibernation, it’s back in Vancouver, with a brand new batch of young, talented, ground-breaking artists.
THEATRE UNDER THE GUN
@ Performance Works Theatre
Saturday, Feb 9 @ 8pm
Tickets $25 available through Theatre Wire
Stay Tuned for Application Deadlines and forms!
Monster Theatre’s most revered production of all time
Returns to Vancouver for its 10 year Anniversary
Don’t miss it!!!
Plays at The Havana Theatre October 18, 19, 20 and 25, 26, 27, 2018
All Show @ 8pm
“This play is so damn clever, even if you don’t know any Shakespeare you’ll still understand it. If you have a love for language, physical comedy and intelligent wit, then The Shakespeare Showis for you.” ★★★★★-CBC Winnipeg
Who wrote the plays of William Shakespeare? Shakespeare himself? The Earl of Oxford?
A horse?Monster Theatre’s Ryan Gladstone (No Tweed Too Tight, Every Story Ever Told) and Tara Travis (Til Death: The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Who Killed Gertrude Crump?) are back to get to the bottom of the debate as they bring their 2008 hit, The Shakespeare Show, back to Vancouver. After years of co-producing Monster Theatre solo works, they are STOKED to get back on stage together with the show that started their wildly successful partnership.
“Brings the bawdy world of Shakespeare to life! The Shakespeare Show stands out in the festival for having something to say, and saying it with purpose and humour.” ★★★★★ -Winnipeg Free Press
Based on the greatest theatrical debate of all time, The Shakespeare Showinvestigates the theory that the plays of William Shakespeare were penned by Edward de Vere, the 17thEarl of Oxford. Just like one of his tragic heroes, Oxford sets his own tragedy in motion by using young Will Shakespeare, the boy who holds the horses outside the theatre, as a ‘front’ for his playwriting ventures. The result? Another “relentlessly clever, action-packed and intellectually satisfying”(Edmonton Journal) Monster Theatreadventure, complete with puppets, songs, swordfights and satire. Along the way we meet the Ghost of Christopher Marlowe, the Three Witches from Mac…ahem…The Scottish Play, Anne Hathaway, victims of the Bubonic Plague and Queen Elizabeth herself! In the end, Oxford is killed and charges Shakespeare to tell his story – hence, this… “The only play e’er writ by Will Shakespeare”.
“…without doubt the cleverest, most well researched and cunningly put together piece of witty Shakespeariana I’ve ever seen – just smokes past Wm. Shakespeare abridged!”–Neil Freeman, Applause First Folio Editions
Written by Monster Theatre’s Artistic Director Ryan Gladstone, The Shakespeare Show is largely in iambic pentameter and almost completely in rhyming couplets. Directed by Karen Hamm, this fast-paced physical comedy features Tara Travis and Ryan Gladstone playing over 40 roles between the two of them! First produced and workshopped on the Canadian Fringe Festival circuit in 2008, The Shakespeare Show won Pick of the Fringe in Vancouver and has gone on to play numerous regional theatres across North America. A beautiful score is supplied by violin virtuoso Drew Jurecka (Jeff Healey Band, Sarah Slean, Vinyl Café), and Fight Choreography is supplied by Kevin Kruchkywich (Theatre Calgary, Arts Club, Vancouver Playhouse, Citadel).
One of our biggest hits, JESUS CHRIST: The Lost Years is getting another life! Originally created by Katherine Sanders, Bruce Horak and Ryan Gladstone in 2006, we’re dusting off this masterpiece for Fringe 2018! Starring Carly Pokoradi and Alex Gullason (of The Canada Show fame), JC will be touring to the Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton Fringes.
This totally re-writted and re-conceived one-man show created and performed by Ryan Gladstone will be touring to the Winnipeg and Edmonton Fringes this summer!
