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Presented by the E. D. Feehan Drama Club, Alice an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's 1865 classic Alice in Wonderland proved to be a savvy & skilled production of humour and delight. Director Pat Lengert must be commended for his astute manoeuvring of complex scenes and set changes as well as a sharp eye for economy of action. All actors rallied around his cartoonish style bringing depth and enchantment without losing any of the irony embedded within the text. The childish and whimsical images of this production transform the fantasy-ridden wonderland of Alice from a carefree or nostalgic escape from reality into imaginative distortions twined with the reality of childhood confusion. It is not illogical nonsense rather more the frustrations of youth making sense of the crazy "real" world. The students performed with boundless enthusiasm & intuition catching the allegory of the material with experienced innocence and most importantly with a sense of curiosity. Simp...

Georges Vanier Elementary Fine Arts School presented The Big Five Zero a wonderfully crafted piece pulled from the hat of teacher/musician/artist/Impresario Jeff Cunanan & admirably directed by Alyssa Deacon this past week. Written for the 50th Anniversary celebrations we follow two clever students, Vic (Jodie Lysyshyn) and Gerry (Mikayla Reschny), as they discover the long rumoured hidden school basement with its treasures and spirits. Jodi and Mikayla carried the action with energetic performances well beyond their years, always fresh and cheeky. Their parents played with deadpan irony & tongue-in-cheek caricature by Renelle Hunter and Christopher Bantle, remember the good old days of good ol'Vanier. Along the way we meet Music Teacher Mrs. C (Sarah Twa), Secretary (Robyn Peiffer), Hippy Man (Joey Schatz), and the Ghosts of Students past (Jonathan Forest, Nicole Opsal & Jayne Barrett) revealing snippets of school history and lore. The ultimate challenge for the two...