Cheryl Minns
Arts Editor

Marts
@theotherpress.ca

 

Bz: on the Beach celebrates its
26th season this summer with
classic and re-imagined renditions
of William Shakespeare’s The
Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour's
Lost, and King Lear. This season
also includes the world stage
premiere of C. C. Humphreys’
adapted novel Shakespeare's Rebel.
In The Comedy of Errors,
director Scott Bellis revamps the
comedic play with a Steampunk
theme that transports viewers
to a science fiction world set ina
futuristic Victorian era. The stage
is filled with a large, industrial
set with spinning gears, cogs,
pipes, walkways, and a versatile

Have an idea for a story? Let us know!

Contact: Cheryl Minns, Art Editor
Marts@theotherpress.ca

: door that can be removed from

: the set and wheeled around the

: stage. The actors take to the stage
: in their stylized period costumes

: and gadgets, while mechanical

: sounds and chamber music

: play. Although the visuals are

: different, the play stays true to the
: Bard’s original text, creating an

: intriguing mash-up of Elizabethan
: and Victorian eras.

The Comedy of Errors follows

: Antipholus (Ben Elliott) and his

: servant Dromio (Luisa Jojic) of

: Syracuse as they arrive in Ephesus
: in search of their long lost twin

: brothers, Antipholus (Jay Hindle)
: and Dromio (Dawn Petten)

: of Ephesus. The townspeople

: mistake them for their twins

: anda series of incidents lead to

: damaged relationships, trouble

: with the law, and a whole lot of

: confusion.

To help the audience tell

: the twins apart, the characters’

: similar costumes feature subtle

: differences. For the Antipholus

: twins, the difference appears in

: their Sweeney Todd-esque black

: wigs that feature a large white

: streak in the front, with one twin’s
: streak on the left and the other on
: the right. For the Dromio twins,

: each has a knee patch that appears :
: on the opposite leg than the other.

Elliott embraces the physical

: and vocal comedy of the show

: ina standout performance as

: Antipholus of Syracuse. Some

: of his line deliveries are so

: uproariously funny that his cast

: mates can be seen stifling a laugh
: or two while onstage with him.

Hindle plays Antipholus of

Ephesus in a dramatic fashion,
: which brings a traditional
: Shakespearean feel to the show.

This issue:

(¥ Comic Corner: Fan fiction gets emotional

Y Astory of life and death
¥ Immortal villainy

And more!

teampunk

: His standout moment comes

: during Antipholus of Ephesus’

: exaggerated rant near the end

: where he tells his friends about
: his escape from prison after he

: was arrested for a mix-up over a
: gold chain that his twin brother
: accepted.

Petten and Jojic, cast in the

gender-bending Dromio roles,

have great comedic timing and

play well off Elliott and Hindle.
: After Antipholus of Syracuse

: takes on Antipholus of Ephesus’
: identity, the Dromios converse

: with each other through

: Antipholus of Ephesus’ closed

: front door as Antipholus of

: Ephesus tries to get into his home. :
: Dromio of Syracuse argues that

: Antipholus of Ephesus is already
: inside because Antipholus of

: Syracuse is pretending to be

: him, which Dromio of Ephesus

Orit Ci seae cles

e Beach attempts Shakespearean science fiction
Luisa Jojic, Andrew Cownden, and Ben Elliott in "The Comedy of Errors’ at Bard on the Beach Photo by David Blue

: protests. The door is rolled out

: from the set to the centre of the

: stage to allow the actors to both

: be seen during their argument

: through the door. While Petten

: and Jojic’s comedy is entertaining,
: itis the Dromios’ heartfelt words

: that close the play that make their
: performances unforgettable—they
: decide they don’t care which one

: is oldest, they only care that they

: have each other.

The Comedy of Errors will

: run until September 26 at the

: BMO Mainstage in Vanier Park in
: Vancouver. On Talkback Tuesdays,
: the show concludes with a

: question and answer session with

the cast. For more information,

: visit BardOnTheBeach.org.

Tickets range from $29 (for

youth 22 and under) to $55. You
: can purchase your tickets online,
: or by calling 604-739-0559.

 

Crowded Bookshelf: Are you afraid of the Dark?

» The ‘Darwath’ trilogy review

Duncan Fingarson
Contributor

Bu Hambly’s Darwath
trilogy surprised me. I picked
the books up secondhand, drawn
mostly by Donato Giancolo’s
wonderful cover art, which had

a wizard in it. | wasn’t expecting
much, but what I got was a very
human story about a pair of
Californians sucked into a world
that is not their own.

Darwath is a parallel world
existing in a different universe
from Earth. It is accessible
through magic, or for the early
chapters of the first book,
through dreams. The world of
Darwath itself is introduced
slowly, at first through the dreams
of Gil Patterson, who keeps
finding herself roaming the
streets of Darwath cities at night,

: and later through explanations by
: Ingold, the wizard who caught my
: attention on the cover. Initially

: Ingold just wants Gil to help him

: provide a hiding place for the

: king’s son because the people

: of Darwath are stuck fighting a

: losing battle against the Dark.

: The Dark is a swarm of monsters

: that resemble the result of tossing
: a handful of vampires and the

: collected works of H. P. Lovecraft

: into a blender.

Things don’t go quite as

: planned, however. First, Ingold

: encounters Rudy Solis, the

: second of our heroes, stranded

: by car trouble in the same spot

: Gil had agreed to hide the king’s

: gon. Second, one of the Dark has

: followed Ingold through to Earth,
: where a battle ensues, In the

: aftermath, Ingold is forced to take
: all of them back to Darwath. Here

: begins the story proper. Here also
: begins the author playing with my
> expectations.

Gil and Rudy are both well-

: rounded and complex characters,
: and neither of them end up

: doing what I expect. Wizard-

: and-warrior is a pretty standard

: fantasy setup, especially when

: you've got two people pulled into
: a world where they have to fight

: or die. I thought it somewhat

: natural that Gil the academic

: would learn magic, and Rudy

: the biker would be better ina

: physical fight. However, Gil turns
: out to kick butt. She’s strong

: and stubborn, occasionally cold,

: and good at thinking fast and

: learning quickly, taking up a

: sword and rapidly becoming an

: adept combatant. Rudy, on the

: other hand, is thoughtful and

: artistic, and also happens to

: possess the innate spark required

to learn magic. They’re both

: great characters with interesting
: character arcs and believable

: development, backed up by a host :
: of well-developed supporting :
: characters, and just enough

: internal conflict to go with the
? external threat of the Dark.

Here as well, the books

: surprise me. I expected the Dark
: to take up a lot of metaphorical

: screen time, but an almost

: equal amount is given over

: to the internal schisms of the

: group. The threat of the Dark is

: always there in the background

: somewhere, informing decisions
: and looming ominously, but a lot
: of time has been devoted to the

: power struggles of a couple key

: players amongst the human side

: of things, and the cracks that start :
: to appear in their unity caused

: by the strain of fighting a losing
: war. There are some truly horrible
: people amongst the group, and I
: often found myself hating them

far more than the Dark.
Of course, not everything

: about the books works. They were
: written in the 1980s, and there are
: a few small ways they seem dated
: by that fact. The final ending has

: a tinge of deus ex machina to it,

: and one of the romance pairing

: choices seems a bit strange to me.
: That said, the handful of flaws

: isn’t enough to take me out of

: the books, which I quite enjoyed

: reading.

If youre a fan of stories

: about hope in the face of long

> odds, youre interested in

: books featuring strong female

: characters, or you just really like

wizards, | recommend giving this

: series a look.