Seven things to do in Metro Vancouver, Oct. 11-17: TheatreSports Festival, Lucy Guerin's Split, and more
Credit to Author: Shawn Conner| Date: Tue, 08 Oct 2019 18:00:39 +0000
Whether you’re looking for date ideas, free things to do or just something fun to do in downtown Vancouver, you can’t go wrong with our list of events happening around Metro Vancouver between Oct. 11 and 17.
Headlining this week’s picks is the 2019 International TheatreSports Festival.
For more ideas, click HERE for our coverage of Vancouver’s arts scene, or HERE to search our entertainment listings database.
Here are seven things to do in Metro Vancouver this week:
When: Oct. 14-20
Where: Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau St.), Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright St.), The Nest (1398 Cartwright St.)
Tickets: vtsl.com
Every two years the International TheatreSports Institute convenes a conference for improvisers from all over the world, This year, Vancouver TheatreSports is hosting the 2019 International TheatreSports Institute Conference and Festival. Along with delegate-only workshops, the event includes more than 50 public performances including The Toys Strike Back, a family show that creates situations out of toys that kids bring with them to the theatre; El Jaguar Fiesta Tour of Vancouver, in which the audience rides a bus with luchador El Jaguar (New Zealand performer Derek Flores, pictured); and Lugares, where audience members’ descriptions of a special setting, like their childhood home, inspires the comedy.
When: Oct. 16-19
Where: Firehall Arts Centre, 280 E. Cordova St.
Tickets: at firehallartscentre.ca and 604-689-0926
Lesley Telford’s Spooky Action is inspired by quantum physics — in particular, a phenomenon called particle entanglement, wherein something that affects one particle also affects another (or something like that). Translated into modern dance, particle entanglement becomes a narrative on how we influence and affect each other in both conscious and unconscious ways. The piece, which premiered at the Dance Centre in 2017, features Telford’s choreography, five dancers, and poet/performer Barbara Adler.
When: Oct. 17, 8 p.m.
Where: Chief Sepass Theatre, 9096 Trattle St., Fort Langley
Tickets: starting at $45 at ticketmaster.ca
Cape Breton folk-rock musician Jimmy Rankin is on tour for his latest album, Moving East. Produced by East Coast singer/songwriter Joel Plaskett, the homecoming record was inspired by Rankin’s decision to move from Nashville back to Nova Scotia. With his solo records alone, Rankin has won five Juno Awards and 27 East Coast Music Awards (ECMAs), and seven Canadian Country Music Awards, among others. (Rankin is also part of the award-winning Rankin Family.) The record includes appearances by East Coast musicians J.P. Cormier, Ashley MacIsaac, and Hilda Chiasson.
When: Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer St.
Tickets: from $37.50 at ticketmaster.ca
From simulating childbirth with electrodes to swimming with sharks, The Try Guys will try anything. The four Guys set off on their mission in 2014, and last year launched an independent YouTube channel that now has over 5.8 million subscribers. The Try Guys have headlined mainstage performances that have gained their own viral acclaim. According to a broadwayworld.com review of a San Diego show in the summer, “this is an incredibly well-crafted and expertly paced show, as well put together as any of their adored internet videos. There is no moment or beat that is not placed where it needs to be for maximum impact, or to give the audience a moment to catch their breath (both actual and emotional) before moving on to the next section.” This is The Try Guys’ first North American tour.
When: Oct. 16 at 8 p.m.
Where: Rickshaw Theatre, 254 E. Hastings St.
Tickets: $25 at ticketweb.ca and Red Cat Main St., Red Cat Hastings and Zulu
Deemed by NPR’s Here & Now as “the breakout band of 2019,” Black Pumas is a collaboration between 27-year-old newcomer Eric Burton and Grammy-winning guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada. The Austin-based duo released its debut album this year; its mix of East Coast hip-hop and classic funk and soul has prompted comparisons to “Wu-Tang Clan meeting James Brown.” In a review of the band’s live set at South by Southwest in Austin earlier this year, Rolling Stone praised vocalist Burton’s “tireless, charismatic energy.” Due to popular demand, the Vancouver show has been moved from the WISE Hall to the Rickshaw.
When: Oct. 16 & 17
Where: Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St.
Tickets: From $25, 604-684-2787 or ticketstonight.ca
In a dance performance about facing increased pressure and reduced resources, two female dancers, one clothed and one not (performers Lilian Steiner and Melanie Lane pictured), are framed by an ever-diminishing dimensions of space and time. The work has received numerous awards, and has toured across Europe, North America and Asia. The UK’s Guardian stated that “much of the success of Split is due to the simplicity of its structure, but despite that simplicity, it never feels still.” Australian choreographer Lucy Guerin is known for productions that involve voice, video, sound, text and design as well as dance. Earlier this year, her company’s Attractor was a highlight of the 2019 PuSh Festival.
When: Oct. 12
Where: Astoria, 769 E. Hastings
Tickets: $12 at the door
Now based on Gabriola Island, Dead Soft is a former Vancouver trio who are just now releasing their debut album. Big Blue is said to be “about their experience of being driven out of a financially and psychologically unsustainable existence in Vancouver … and moving to an isolated community on a tiny forest covered island off the coast of the Pacific Northwest in search of a better life.” The band’s grunge-tinged power pop has parlayed them onto bills with bands like The Breeders and Broken Social Scene. Their Oct. 12 show is a release party for the new record, with local bands BB and Kitty Prozac and Calgary’s Paradise also on the bill.
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