The 2006-2007 season boasts one of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre’s biggest lineup with a 12-show programme of theatre, dance and music — including the Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes for the Vancouver premiere of Burkett’s newest play. One of Canada’s foremost theatre artists, Burkett creates some of the world’s most elaborate and provocative puppetry. Bawdy, wry, witty and sentimental — Burkett’s work plumbs the highs and lows of the human experience. Ronnie Burkett returns to the VECC with his internationally acclaimed adult puppetry in a play that is simple, tender, funny and unapologetic. 10 Days on Earth asks: If you were alone, but didn’t know it, would you feel lonely? This show is not suitable for children and those under 12 will not be admitted. 10 Days on Earth runs December 7-17, 2006, tickets are $40 for VECC subscribers and $50 for the general public. Our season begins in September with Blackbird Theatre’s Vancouver premiere of a brilliant new translation and adaptation of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, by Errol Durbach. This beloved classic is a comic and dramatic feast for the mind and heart, a great folk epic with a large cast of characters and a fantastic voyage around and through to the centre of man’s being. Having enchanted audiences for more than a century, Peer Gynt remains timely and raises questions about modern life. It runs from September 6-16, 2006. In October, VECC presents the Portrait of an Unidentified Man, starring playwright Pierre Brault. This theatrical feat, produced by Sleeping Dog Theatre and the National Arts Centre, tells the story of Elmyr de Hory, the most notorious and prolific art forger of the 20th century, and the extraordinary fraud that would span four decades and two continents, turning the international art market on its ear. Portrait of an Unidentified Man is a must-see production for all. It runs from October 10-14, 2006. For two nights only, Lemn Sissay’s critically acclaimed one-man show Something Dark will be presented at VECC (October 19 and 21). Written and performed by Sissay, Something Dark tells his astonishing life story. Having spent the first 17 years of his life in state care, and then his entire adult life searching for his family, Sissay unearths an incredible tale of betrayal and beauty. With a poet's ear for language and metaphor, Sissay speaks with lyrical beauty. He will also be appearing at the Vancouver International Writers Festival on Granville Island (October 17-22). November 4-11 brings Tim Carlson’s new play Diplomacy, produced by Western Theatre Conspiracy. Diplomacy is an intense tale of cunning intrigue and personal politics, following the story of a historian who concludes he was wrong to desert the US army forty years ago: He should have fought in Vietnam. His diplomat daughter tries to decode his secret. His best friend, a journalist, angles for an explosive scoop. Diplomacy aptly connects the legacy of Vietnam with the War on Terror, making this play provocative and very timely. Western Theatre Conspiracy has an eye on the world, creating original plays on international themes. To kick off the New Year, VECC hales from the classics to present Euripides’ Hecuba by Blackbird Theatre. More than two millennia have passed since Hecuba was first performed in the open air on a Greek hillside. What has changed since? Not war. Not vengeance. Not love. And not the ability of this great play to move you. It runs from January 10-20, 2007. The Big Chill meets Omar Sharif getting high with Simone de Beauvoir in neworldtheatre’s Adrift on the Nile. Winner of the Alcan Performing Arts Award, this production is the story of a group of privileged Cairo intellectuals who gather nightly to smoke kif (hashish) on a Nile River houseboat. On the cusp of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, their hallucinatory escape from the turbulence of post-revolutionary Egypt is shattered when a young journalist joins the group and attempts to rouse them from their disillusioned torpor. Adrift on the Nile features an all star cast and an original score and live performance by Montreal-based Sam Shalabi. It is Co-commissioned by the Magnetic North Theatre Festival in association with neworldtheatre and developed in partnership with the Playwrights Theatre Centre. Adrift on the Nile runs February 2-10, 2007.
In March, VECC brings the return of Kidd Pivot, Crystal Pite’s dance company, with a remount of Uncollected Work: Two Works. Performed to live original music by Owen Belton and texts by Annie Dillard, Two Works synthesis of dance and theatre is an evocative expedition through the confounding and compelling terrain of the creative process. This work, featuring Pite and original dancer Cori Caulfield is stylistically defined by literary genres. It unfolds in two parts. “Farther Out” encompasses the philosophical poetics and high camp of science fiction: the danger and thrill of limitless possibility, the beckoning of uncharted territory. Against this potent backdrop, Pite questions the nature of inspiration. “Field: Fiction” is darkly historic, portraying one of the great battles in a writer’s work: to edit and destroy. Two Works runs March 13-17, 2007. The excitement continues into April with an award-winning new one-man show entitled Bigger than Jesus. This WYRD and Necessary Angel production features the trademark humour and intelligence of actor/playwright Rick Miller and the clever staging of Daniel Brooks. Who was Jesus? Was he the Son of God or just another prophet? Bigger than Jesus begins with a 33-year-old man coming face to face with the Roman Catholicism ingrained in his youth. Christians and non-Christians alike will find plenty of philosophical points to chew over. It runs March 28 – April 7, 2007. From April 18-29, 2007 VECC transforms the theatre into eight distinct venues to present with Vancouver New Music a site-specific multi-media journey through unconventional spaces. Theatre Cryptic’s Each… and Every Inch reveals the life of Canadian-born poet and novelist Elizabeth Smart, author of By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. Living up to her award-winning reputation, writer Cathie Boyd delivers ambient sound installations, theatrical vignettes and a live cello duet to create a true journey through the senses. Each… and Every Inch continues the VECC tradition of innovative installation theatre which began last season with British Installation Theatre Week. Performances start at 10-minute intervals from 6:30 – 8:30 pm with viewing time from 70 minutes to 2 hours. Next up is the Vancouver debut of Smash Up, a series of short mixed-media works by the beloved Animals of Distinction. Smash Up is a new project from The Holy Body Tattoo co-founder Dana Gingras, conceived as a collision between dance, animation and sound. It expresses the disquieting forces of desire, isolation, emotional and physical dislocation. Smash Up integrates James Paterson and Amit Pitaru’s immersive animated environments with music by Roger Tellier-Craig (godspeed you! black emperor; Fly Pan Am). It runs from May 8-12, 2007. Our final presentation of the season is Marivaux’s The Triumph of Love by Blackbird Theatre. Part commedia dell’arte, part feminist fairy tale, The Triumph of Love is sharp as a tack and charming as a love bouquet. (But mind the thorns!) In this tale of misdirection, misconception and misalliance, an accidental princess woos as a man as she precipitates the ravelling and unravelling of not one, but three amours. The Triumph of Love runs May 18-26, 2007. Subscription Package:
Now there are more ways to enjoy the Vancouver East Cultural Centre: The more you see, the more you save. Here’s how our new ticket options compare: Price Per Show
9 Wednesdays $15
10 shows $20
5 shows $21
3 shows $22
Adult advance price $27
Adult at-door price $29
St/Sr advance price $23
St/Sr at-door price $25 Subscription brochures are available now, call 251-1363, visit http://www.thecultch.com/ or e-mail info@vecc.bc.ca for more information. The Vancouver East Cultural Centre is located at 1895 Venables Street (at Victoria Drive). For more information, visit http://www.thecultch.com/. Advance tickets for all shows at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre are available through the Ticketmaster network at 280-3311 or http://www.ticketmaster.ca/ (subscription packages not available through Ticketmaster website.)
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