By Liz Nicholls,
The grand finale of L’UniThéâtre’s all-Canadian season is a premiere: a new rom-com by an Edmonton theatre artist, set in a small Franco-Albertan village.
Sophie Gareau-Brennan’s bouanderie/boulangerie — doesn’t laundry/bakery sound so much better in French? — is named for the two side-by-side businesses in a francophone village where a quartet of characters find themselves in an intricate geometry of friendship and love, separation, reunion and discovery. It’s set in motion when Louise returns to her roots in the little community, takes over her grandmother’s laundromat, and reunites with her childhood bestie Maxime.
Steve Jodoin’s production — in French with English surtitles — runs through May 31 at L’UniThéâtre’s home stage at La Cité francophone (8627-91 St.). Tickets: lunitheatre.ca.
At the Citadel, a premiere too, commissioned specially for the theatre’s Young Companies in performance and production. Project Andromeda, four years in the making, is by Mac Brock, playwright/ director/ producer (and Common Ground Arts’ indefatigably creative managing producer). In the new play Andy’s mother has disappeared, without explanation. And the story follows her quest for answers in a vast, mysterious cosmos. Brett Dahl directs a cast of 13 young actors, who’ve been rehearsing since last September, supported by Young Company Production mentees, in three performances, Friday through Sunday in the Citadel’s Rice Theatre. Tickets: citadeltheatre.com.
CONTINUING (but just still Sunday):
Cyrano de Bergerac, Citadel Theatre. Photo by Nanc Price.
•On the Citadel mainstage, Jessy Ardern’s marvellous verse adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac runs through Sunday, on jet streams of exuberant poetry and theatrical pizzaz. It’s directed with flair by Amanda Goldberg and it stars Scott Shpeley as the man with the dazzling dexterity in swordplay and rhyme, and oh yes, that epic nose. had a chance to talk to playwright Ardern for a preview here. And the review is here. I loved it.
Karen Johnson Diamond and Cathy Derkach in Autumn, Shadow Theatre. Photo by Marc J Chalifoux
•At Shadow Theatre, Autumn by the Brit playwright Peter Quilter, runs on the Varscona stage through Sunday. Lana Michelle Hughes’ production stars Cathy Derkach and Karen Johnson Diamond in valiant performances as estranged sisters who come together to plan a shotgun wedding (and trade one-liners). The review is here. Tickets: shadowtheatre.org.
