This evening I went along to HIVE3. Well I didn’t go along so much as I was there selling bar tickets as a volunteer. I wasn’t able to go to the dress rehearsal on Wednesday so this was my only chance to see the shows.

HIVE, a collection of twelve different performance art and theatre pieces, continues to be one of the highlights of the year for me. This year’s collection is fantastic, drawing a good sized crowd even while Vancouver experienced some sort of typhoon.

I only managed to see three pieces, all of which I enjoyed immensely. They were totally diverse in terms of subject matter and format, and I’m actually a little bummed I didn’t get to see the rest. Even if I wasn’t technically “working”, there’s no guarantee I would be able to see each show. In order to get in to each show, and to prevent overcrowding, you have to collect invitations or tickets to get in. These come in different forms for different shows – a teddy bear, a record, an apron, a private invitation. In the case of Electric Company’s AT HOME WITH DICK AND JANE, there was only one person admitted to the show at a time, and only a handful of shows all night. Audience members were randomly drawn from a hat.

If you are new to site-specific theatre or just don’t have the patience for that sort of thing, it can be pretty frustrating. But the ambiguity of it is half the fun, like the little scavenger hunt you must go on to see the pieces.

My favourite show of the night was November Theatre’s ANA, a one-woman monologue which moved me to tears. Go with someone you love. HIVE runs again March 17-20 at the Centre for Digital Media. There is a bar and each night ends with a live band playing. Check out Vancouvertix.com for advance tickets.

Spent a whirlwind five days in Edinburgh visiting my sister and some friends, tacking on a few side trips to the Isle of Arran and London. I am a slow, lazy, leisurely traveller, and even when I’m in a fantastic city that I love with so many things to do, I don’t get up very early in the morning. So my teeny little festival sampling was a scant five shows, and here are my mini-reviews!

Jason Byrne: The Byrne Supremacy ***** Aug 21
The first show I saw in the festival this year and definitely off to a great start – this guy was hilarious. Equal parts ridiculous, endearing, and simultaneously not offensive OR bland and “wholesome”. I imagine that is a hard line to straddle. Byrne just seems like a genuinely nice guy, and I’m of the opinion that a great comedian should be on the fringe of society somehow – Byrne seems to have suffered a lot as a child, and it’s given him a really good sense of humour. One of our party was pulled on stage for the “magic trick” which was AWESOME. If you get a chance to see this guy, do it.

Best of the Fest: ** Aug 22
Host: Adam Hills
Marcus Brigstocke
Sarah ?? (I can’t seem to find any information about this woman)
Reginald D Hunter
Alun Cochrane

I seriously doubt this particular sampling was the “best” of the fest. The woman, whose name I can’t even remember and who I can’t find any information about, was the best part of it. Marcus Brigstocke was especially disappointing, and himself, Hills and Cochrane all went on about how English people are miserable and London is a bleak place to live. Do I really need three comedians to tell me this in one night? Nobody was really top of their game this night. Good crowd though.

Manolibera ***1/2 Aug 23

This was an unexpected gem. Some friends and I went along after getting tickets at the half-price hut, and didn’t have the highest hopes as from the blurbs, this appeared to be the “best of a bad bunch”. But it turned out to be pretty cute and awesome. It uses manual animation, which I LOVE. Manual animation is when the artist uses an old-fashioned overhead projector and transparents with prepared drawings, and also does live drawing on the projector. There is an artist in Canada doing this (and who probably thinks he invented it) who I’ve seen twice in the last few years. He tells stories while putting up the animations. These guys are an Italian company and they mix the manual animations with live theatre; the actors do a sort of commedia dell’arte thing that is totally channeling Popeye and Olive Oyl, and their whole world is drawn by the cartoonist at the overhead projector. The first half was utterly charming and cute, but about halfway through I could’ve used more conflict or some kind of coherent narrative – things just kept trundling along, and then the show was over. A little bit underwhelming.

Lloyd Langford: Every Day I Have the Blues *** Aug 23
This guy’s pretty young as far as comedians go, so I’m giving him an extra half star than I’d otherwise – since most mid-20s guys I know who fancy themselves comedians are not as talented. There is something kind of innocent and endearing about Langford that makes you want to like him, even if his material isn’t the best comedy I’ve ever heard. He definitely has potential though and in a few years might be one to watch.

Tao: Samurai Magic Drumming ***** Aug 26

Ending my teeny festival stint with another 5-star show! This is a troupe of Japanese drummers, about seven dudes and three women, and they are all super talented. Their enthusiasm is infectious and they bring a lot of humour and playfulness to the music that is a joy to watch. It’s not all wall-to-wall drumming either, there is beautiful flute playing and strings. It doesn’t hurt that the dudes are super-built and hot as hell. I recommend this show wholeheartedly.

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