Theatre: Review - Marion Bridge @ Havana

Rebecca Husain, Jeanie Cloutier and Terri Anne Taylor,
 cast of Daniel MacIvor's poignant Marion Bridge.

Theatre of Infinity’s Marion Bridge is a play by Daniel MacIvor about the complex relationship of a family brought together through loss. We watch three sisters who couldn’t be more different from each other, not only cope with a dying mother, but also start to deal with who they have become themselves. Each search to sort out the loneliness that has come to rule her day-to-day life as well as not-so-forgotten family expectations. Whether through alcohol, religion or soap operas, each sister has found their own way of coping with their broken past and escaping the prisons they feel their lives have become.  
Headstrong failed actress Agnes, played by Terri Anne Taylor, is the black sheep who grudgingly returns home to Cape Breton from the Big Smoke. She holds a deep seated resentment towards her mother for making her put her child up for adoption when she was a teen.
Seeing this homecoming as a chance for a life do-over, Agnes manages to shake the family tree at its roots in the process.  

Taylor's best scene is an intimate card game with her despondent younger sister Louise (played by Rebecca Husain), which felt incredibly authentic and gave her character more wisdom and maturity than MacIvor's script would have led us to believe she possessed to that point.

The self-admittedly strange and boy-like Louise is sincerely and aptly played by Husain, who sustains a precarious balance between humor and tragedy with her character, and like her fellow cast mates, is riveting in her monologue.

Finally, Jeanie Cloutier commands her role as Theresa, or "Sister Theresa", as Agnes calls her. Theresa is actually waiting to enter a convent, asking God to deliver her from her beast of burden life.  The spinsterly elder sister seems to fit the name on the home-front, too, becoming her parent's custodian while trying to hold together a family poised on the brink of disintegration.   

The dying mother is never seen yet is ever-present. Because of her disease, she communicates by way of cryptic post-it notes, and as the story unfolds, it becomes evident she still manages to hold a great deal of sway over her daughters and their fortunes.  

While the play doesn't break new ground, this version comes at a fitting time for many people experiencing the same process of watching their parents age and die and taking notice of the growth and even rebirth it can bring.

Under veteran actress Susan Hogan's direction, the show moves steadily and makes good use of its talented cast.

As an odd aside, there are a set of keys which, though never talked about, somehow become like a character in the play itself. This is a play with umpteen entrances and exits by all actors through the set's front door and every time they did, the keys were removed or replaced. I had to wonder and marvel at the coordination of this continual persistent detail, having been backstage enough times to be fully aware of the chaos which can ensue because of a misplaced prop. It can be a real focus-breaker for actors.

This production does its best to make good use of Havana's shallow stage, its limited Technical capabilities and an obviously minuscule budget. But what the play lacks in production values, it makes up for in heart and spirit - quintessential small theatre.

Marion Bridge runs until February 19 at Havana Theatre @  1212 Commercial Drive.

Tickets can be purchased online at http://bizbooks.net/biz-marquee/marion-bridge-tickets

Food: The Reef

Reviewed by Jak King

I guess Commercial Drive just wasn’t ready for an American-Pie retro Quebec diner featuring poutine. We watched a man build Frenchie’s last year through months of hard effort. And we watched as day after day and week after week Frenchie’s was never busy. Some days it was hard to see a single bum in a seat. Not surprising it closed, I guess.

But Frenchie’s sad loss has proven to be a boon for the Drive because the space has been taken over and refurbished as The Reef, a Caribbean joint, with other branches on Main Street and in Victoria. We had dinner there last night and it was great! Simply but appropriately decorated and furnished, the atmosphere was good, the service attentive, and business brisk.

Read the full review here>>>

Review: Prado Cafe

Thanks to Darren Patrick over at www.timinganddelivery.com for letting me share this little review:

There’s something to be said, I think, about waking up on the right side of the bed.

Well, there’s no bed involved in this experience and there’s no real ‘waking up’ going on, per se. Instead, it was how the day started (because of one employee at Prado Café on Commercial Drive) that my day fired on all cylinders from that point on.

It was a sunny Sunday morning in Vancouver and I had a meeting on ‘The Drive’ with a business that has been following timinganddelivery.com for a few months and was interested in partnering. I should tell you that I enjoy taking these meetings from time-to-time if my schedule permits. What I haven’t yet told you, though, is that this particular meeting was early and, me being me, was in dire need of my Americano misto ‘fix’.

In fact, I recently discovered that Prado Café sources coffee from the 49th Parllalel! How cool is that? Props to chinese broccoli for the photo, by the way.

Prado Café, if you haven’t been, is what I like to call a minimalist coffee experience. Picture a warehouse/lofty/industrial/bricks-n-sticks layout (although, I didn’t see any bricks) with just enough furniture to make George Orwell wake up and take notice. Then, throw in a scattering of tables and some pretty hip clientele (you know what I mean…imacs, books, bongo drums, and the like…artistic types!). I have really gotten into the whole Commercial Drive ‘vibe’ lately and Prado Café is just another extension of this.

Read the full article here: http://www.timinganddelivery.com/prado-cafe-on-commerical-drive/

Food Review:Virtue vs. Ambiance, it's a bean-off

Virtue vs. Ambiance, it's a bean-off

Found this great little blog with some fun pics and great reviews.

It's called Full Bodied: Two Hot Fat Chicks on Wine and Other Good Things In Life.
Very fun stuff!!
Read their review of the Calabria and Prado.

This was me this Sunday, sitting in the window of Café Calabria on Commercial Drive, Frankie Murdocco's perfectly prepared cappu in front of me. All was right with the world: the sun was shining, a significant portion of the weekend was still available to be enjoyed, and my honey and I were about to take a walk around Trout Lake and then head over to the home of friends for tea and Wii.

Ah, the weekend. I remember it like it was two days ago.

Café Calabria is my absolute favourite coffee spot. It's friendly, busy and noisy but somehow never loud. It's a family business, run by elderly Frank and his handsome sons. Young Frankie pulls the most flavourful espresso (at least to my taste), while his father tends to pull it a bit scuro. Younger brother Vince is usually wrangling the terrific fresh panini (Franks's Special is my fave).
Read the full review here:

http://full-bodied.blogspot.com/2008/02/virtue-vs-ambiance-its-bean-off.html