Linda Quibell
All photos by Tim Matheson

Directed by John Wright Translated by George McWhirter Set and Costume Design by Marti Wright Lighting Design by John Webber Projections by Tim Matheson Musical Direction by Wendy Stuart Movement Direction by Wendy Gorling & Heidi Specht Stage Managed by Noa Anatot Production Management by Mélissa Powell Cast: Starring Linda Quibell as Hecuba with Anna Cummer, Lesley Ewen, Carmen Grant, Mia Ingimundson, Nicola Lipman, Laara Sadiq

"...a masterful study of a classical tragedy"
—Steven Schelling, WestEnder

"Hecuba [is] brilliant and savagely played by Linda Quibell"
— Michael Harris, The Globe and Mail

"...the pleasure in this production lies in its gaunt, powerful presentation."
— Jo Ledingham, The Courier

Anna Cummer, Mia K. Ingimundson, Laara Sadiq, Nicola Lipman

"Wright, by casting the play entirely with women, underlines the notion that we are all culpable."
— Michael Harris, The Globe and Mail

Anna Cummer, Mia K. Ingimunson, Nicola Lipman, Laara Sadiq

"The most terrifying aspect of Blackbird Theatre's Euripidean tragedy is how a 2,500-year-old play... can comment so forcefully on today's world. ...director John Wright seems to be sitting beside you, whispering, 'Notice anything familiar?'"
— Michael Harris, The Globe and Mail

Marti Wright's set is powerfully simple: stage-side steps and a huge wall."
— Colin Thomas, The Georgia Straight

"Balkan singing... delivers a potent balance of formality and passion."
— Colin Thomas, The Georgia Straight

"Deftly and inventively directed by John Wright..."
— Jo Ledingham, The Courier

"Anna Cummer... tears out our hearts with her characters' courage."
— Jo Ledingham, The Courier

"Euripides would approve of the typically brilliant musical moments concocted by muic director Wendy Bross Stuart, who has these grieving widows ululating in wails to take your breath away."
— Peter Birnie, The Vancouver Sun

"...some novel and inspired turns. The costuming is both subtle and brilliant..."
— Colin Thomas, The Georgia Straight

"Blackbird... has hit stunning highs in the past..."
—Steven Schelling, The WestEnder

Laara Sadiq

Jennifer Lines
photo by Tim Matheson

Directed by Johnna Wright Translated by John Van Burek Set & Costume Design by Karyn McCallum Lighting Design by Jergus Oprsal Sound Design by Alexander Brendan Ferguson Movement Coach: Karyn Konoval Stage Managed by Robin Bancroft-Wilson Assistant Stage Manager: David Warburton Cast: Daniel Arnold, Luisa Jojic, Jennifer Lines, Andrew McNee, Andrew Stillin, Lee Taylor, Simon Webb

"The Triumph of Love is - yep - a triumph"
— Jerry Wasserman, vancouverplays.com

"another triumph for Blackbird Theatre"
— Jo Ledingham, The Vancouver Courier

"Blackbird Theatre has another winner on its hands with this thoroughly intelligent yet easily digestible lark. And director Johnna Wright, who has reimagined the action in a 1930s garden, knows that Marivaux's work is more than a romantic comedy."
— Michael Harris, the Globe and Mail

Jennifer Lines, Andrew McNee, Luisa Jojic

"I'll be urging all my friends to catch The Triumph of Love. If, like them, you are impoverished and rarely go to the theatre, then rest assured: This one is worth it."
— Michael Harris, the Globe and Mail

Andrew McNee

Marie Stillin, Jennifer Lines

"Who knew [Marie] Stillin (Elisa's Skin) could be so funny? She simpers and shivers with such repressed sexuality that we don't know whether to laugh or cry."
— Jo Ledingham, The Vancouver Courier

Andrew McNee, Lee Taylor

"Wright sets this 18th century classic in the 1930s and wraps it in the music of Cole Porter - a light and lovely touch that gives very funny Andrew McNee (as Hermocrate's valet) the opportunity to leap from flowery garden wall to garden wall (… la Gene Kelly) to the strains of 'It's Delovely'."
— Jo Ledingham, The Vancouver Courier

"Blackbird Theatre has something to crow about-again. Silly, romantic and charming, The Triumph of Love puts another feather in the cap of this company dedicated to performing the classics."
— Jo Ledingham, The Vancouver Courier

"The Triumph of Love is now very much a modern comedy with a Cole Porter soundtrack, but it's still de-loveliest offering out there this week."
— Peter Birnie, the Vancouver Sun

Craig Erickson
All photos by Tim Matheson

Directed by John Wright Adapted by Errol Durbach Set Design by Marti Wright Costume Design by Barbara Clayden Lighting Design by John Webber Stage Managed by Mélissa Powell Assistant Stage Managers: Marijka Brusse, Kirsti Mikoda Cast: Donald Adams, Spencer Atkinson, Nicole Braber, Craig Erickson, Rosy Frier-Dryden, Maura Halloran, Kimberly Harvey, Adam Henderson, Heidi Specht, Lenard Stanga, Simon Webb, Kevin Williamson

"Simply intelligent, and highly entertaining, theatre."
— Peter Birnie, The Vancouver Sun

Heidi Specht, Craig Erickson

Maura Halloran, Spencer Atkinson, Heidi Specht, Craig Erickson, Lenard Stanga, Donald Adams,
Kevin Williamson

Rosy Frier-Dryden, Craig Erickson

Donald Adams

"This is brainy and zany stuff, a psychedelically cerebral black-comedy-musical to get us all back into a thinking mood"
— Charles Demers, The WestEnder

"exuberantly witty"
— Colin Thomas, Georgia Straight

"This Peer Gynt... leaps and bounds with rhymes as airborne and fantastical as Peer's ride on the Buck of Gendin."
— Jo Ledingham, The Vancouver Courier

Craig Erickson, Rosy Frier-Dryden

Donald Adams, Spencer Atkinson

Michael Ryan, Anthony F. Ingram and William Samples
All photos by Tim Matheson

Directed by Henry Woolf & John Wright Set and Costume design by Marti Wright Lighting Design by Del Surjik Stage Managed by Diana Domm Associate Costume Designer: Jean Driscoll-Bell Assistant Stage Managers: Marijka Brusse & Kirsti Mikoda Dramaturge: Errol Durbach Cast: Duncan Fraser, Anthony F. Ingram, Samantha Madely, Michael Ryan, William Samples, Lee van Paassen

"Wow! Blackbird Theatre was created specifically to keep the classics of the stage front and centre and, boy, does it succeed."
— Peter Birnie, The Vancouver Sun

Anthony F. Ingram and Duncan Fraser

"Fraser['s]... wise and understated performance becomes a sounding board for van Paassen's broad comedy"
— Michael Harris, The Globe and Mail

Duncan Fraser

Samantha Madely
(Anthony F. Ingram in background)

"Michael Ryan's McCann is a smouldering fuse of Irish anger"
— Peter Birnie, Vancouver Sun

"Samples is fabulous a the voluble, creepy Goldberg"
— Jerry Wasserman, Vancouver Province

William Samples and Michael Ryan

Directed by John Wright Set and Costume design by Marti Wright Lighting Design by Del Surjik Projections Design by Tim Matheson Stage Managed by Mélissa Powell Associate Costume Designer: Kara Ardan Dramaturge: Errol Durbach Cast: Gabrielle Rose, Gwynyth Walsh, Matthew Bissett, Duncan Fraser, Fabrice Grover, Ian Harmon, Peter Hall, Johann Helf, Adam Henderson, Evan Lendrum, Tom McBeath, Lee Taylor, Lee van Paassen, Kevin Williamson

 

"Gwynyth Walsh's commanding Elizabeth is brilliant"
— Vancouver Sun

Gwynyth Walsh as Elizabeth

Gabrielle Rose as Mary, Lee Taylor as Shrewsbury, Gwynyth Walsh as Elizabeth,
Tom McBeath as Leicester

Gabrielle Rose as Mary

"Grand, classical theatre"
— Vancouver Courier

Nicola Cavendish
Jennifer Clement
Joy Coghill
Kevin Michael Cripps
(accompanist)
Antony Holland
Barbara March
Tom McBeath
Camille Mitchell
Mavor Moore
Gabrielle Rose
Alan Scarfe
Tom Scholte
Katey Wright

"Red Peppers" by Noel Coward
The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
The Way of the World by William Congreve
Orestes by Euripides
Medea by Euripides
Maria Stuart by Friederich Schiller
The Mystery Play (adaptation by Tony Harrison)
The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen
The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Last to Go by Harold Pinter
The Black and White by Harold Pinter
Happy End by Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill