Cutting-edge rEvolver Festival unveils lineup for event May 22 to June 2
Centred at The Cultch, contemporary-performance celebration spans bioacoustic opera and African-dance-infused theatre
DRAG-BURLESQUE EXPLORATIONS of David Bowie’s music, a bioacoustic opera about the life cycle of a frog, and an African-dance-infused story of a boy growing up in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide: these are just some of the performances just unveiled for the cutting-edge rEvolver Festival, running May 22 to June 2 at The Cultch.
Tickets and festival passes are now available for Upintheair Theatre’s 12th edition of the event, featuring 11 main-stage shows and several touring productions, as well as three special presentations, three works in progress, and two staged readings.
Programmed by Upintheair Theatre resident curators Sarah Roa and Sindy Angel with artistic director David Mott, the main-stage and touring productions span diverse voices in Canada’s contemporary performance scene. As ever, the roster features genre-busting fare that boldly mashes up cabaret, comedy, dance, multimedia, opera, theatre, and more.
The touring shows include Calgary’s @interWEBBED, by HEYwire Theatre’s Lauren Brady; Halifax’s Plays for the End of the World, by Scaredy Cat Theatre’s Cole Hayley and Chelsea Dab Hilke; Victoria’s tony wrestles a stranger, by Tony Adams; and Kamloops’s Station2Station, by Rowdy Spectacles Collective’s Glenn Hilke.
On the mainstage, shows include The African Dream, by Afrobeats Van’s Isaac Gasangwa; The Ballad of Georges Boivin, by Bouche Theatre Collective and The Creatus Project, in association with Western Gold Theatre; Cloaks by Olympia Tomasta; A Life Sentence by Why Now Theatre Collective’s Jarred Stephen Meek; Multi-Vs, by Affair of Honor’s Nathania Bernabe and Jackie T. Hanlin; ParaNorma PI, by BadPuss Productions’ Hilary Fillier; Silent Howl by Sarah Hin Ching U; Soft tongues: a bioacoustic opera by Jami Reimer; The Routine by Mycelium Theatre’s Joylyn Secunda and David Secunda; and What the F-Word is Going On? by Garvin Chan.
Look for special presentations such as Neworld Theatre’s Earth Case Scenario, with Alen Dominguez and Chelsea Haberlin; Please Wait While We Connect You with The Troika Collective’s Aliya Griffin, Caroline Sniatynski, and Manuela Sosa; and The Izo Afro-Dance Workshop by Afrobeats Van’s Gasangwa.
Three works-in-progress will give a peek into the creation process, with three works in progress and two UpDrafts Staged Readings.
For passes and tickets, hit The Cultch box office here.
Janet Smith is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.
Related Articles
Subtitled Heroic Tales of Scott, Crean & Shackleton, the solo show by Aidan Dooley has won some major awards
Fairlith Harvey drew on her experiences as a funeral attendant in creating the experiential work
Festival co-curated with The Cultch’s Heather Redfern features the workshop premiere of Payette’s musical On Native Land, plus a new choral composition
Innovative show created by Rodney DeCroo, Samantha Pawliuk, and David Bloom melds music, theatre, and poetry inside a giant fish
Adaptation of Strauss’s beloved operetta opens Vancouver Opera’s 65th season with cheeky adapted dialogue and musical delights
Cabaret-style festival co-curated by Corey Payette and Heather Redfern features an electrifying fusion of theatre, music, drag, circus, and more
Vancouver Cantonese Opera production at the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival honours the late Wah-Kwan Gwan
The 65th-season opener features a witty new script by Mark Crawford and a Sweet Charity-worthy array of colourful retro costumes
Michael Wex’s uproarious show combines 1930s cabaret songs, original comedy sketches, Yiddish adaptations of international hits, and vaudeville classics
Magical stage adaptation of graphic novel features over 20 miniature sets performed, filmed, and projected in real time to a live score
Soprano Caitlin Wood, tenor Caulin Moore among the standouts in a production that shows the power of songs in musicals from Evita to Sunset Boulevard
Touchstone Theatre production is part thriller, part comedy, part revenge play, and part nightmarish fairy tale
At long last, the multidisciplinary piece by playwright Brendan McLeod and the Fugitives has its Vancouver premiere
Bernard Cuffling directs and stars in this Metro Theatre adaptation of a West End classic, complete with a fog-shrouded set and ever-building tension
CTORA Theatre’s production is marked by strong on-stage talent and delightful visuals
First new show in Vancouver since pandemic features a parade of surreal white animals and a giant, magical cube
Just in time for Halloween, chaotic show incorporates some of the actor and comedian’s most iconic moments from films like Ghostbusters and Caddyshack
Bernard Cuffling stars in and directs what the Guardian has called “one of British theatre’s biggest—and scariest—hits”
Luggage real and metaphorical clutters the stage as exes haunt a young woman navigating a new relationship
Aerialist Ethan Lottman melds his sporty and creative sides in the circus company’s new extravaganza
Arts Club Theatre Company production follows married couple Alice and Henry who embark on a naughty hotel retreat to rekindle their lacklustre sex life
Nowadays Theatre production tells the story of a woman whose values are confronted when her son falls in love
Globally beloved production tells the haunting tale of an ageing solicitor who engages a young actor to bring a terrifying story to life
Director Mark Carter loves the story’s over-the-top characters
Kat Sandler’s contemporary reimagining of the infamous Slavic folk tale of Baba Yaga centres the small-town disappearance of a young man
Playwright Cristina Tudor takes a deep dive into her culture’s folklore
In Sarah Segal-Lazar’s play directed by Jessie Liang, main character Jill is plagued by her failed relationships as she tries to start a new one
Nowadays Theatre production in association with Blackout Art Society and Presentation House Theatre tells the story of Iranian immigrant Homa in English and Farsi
In his one-man show, the theatre artist of Cree and Lakota heritage addresses empty land acknowledgements with unapologetic conviction
The 36th annual program also includes The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] (Again) and The Dark Lady