Time flies when you’re having fun, and 2011 flew by so fast that one day it was the beginning of January and the next it was the end of December. One hundred and five shows were reviewed in this space—that’s almost one every three days—and there were still more shows I couldn’t fit in. Some weeks there were as many as three openings. What to see? What to review? What bounty!

As a result of funding cuts to the arts, some theatre companies were forced to pare down but never at the expense of quality. There were remounts, co-productions, smaller casts, shorter runs and very creative site-specific work including a city parkade, on the beach at Spanish Banks, in a hotel room, along the riverfront in Steveston and storefronts in Gastown. And there were more musicals—usually a safe haven in hard times.

Some companies simply got smaller; but Bard on the Beach took a chance on getting bigger—and it paid off. All three of the Arts Club’s venues thrived. And Ronnie Burkett’s Penny Plain broke attendance records at the Cultch.

Small often has big payoffs. And chances are with the proliferation of smaller, intimate venues all over town, there’s a theatre within walking distance of where you live. Have you checked out Main Street Studio, Studio 16 or Havana?

The PuSh Festival kickstarted 2011 in January and all my expectations were shredded by Wojciech Niemczyk and Tomasz Nosinski’s gritty performance in In The Solitude of Cotton Fields, a brilliant commentary on dependency—dealer/addict, gay lovers and all manner of illicit couplings in the night when “men and beasts join in a barbaric relationship.” It wasn’t a show you loved or hated; it was a show you could tolerate or not tolerate. I was rivetted, “PuShed” and blown away.

Also part of the PuSh Festival was 100% Vancouver at SFU Woodward’s. Who knew statistics could be this much fun? One hundred “ordinary” people—approximately one per cent of Vancouver’s population—from a toddler to a grandmother moved about the stage in response to a variety of questions. Directed by Amiel Gladstone with music by Ron Samworth and his three-piece band, it made visual and fun what would otherwise simply be numbers on a page.

Another PuSh offering, Circa came from Australia to the Freddy Wood Theatre. Gorgeous bodies—three men, two women—flung themselves at each other and wrapped themselves around each other in an explosive, erotic, almost brutal dance: she/he loves me, she/he loves me not. It was provocative, loaded with a “take it or leave” attitude that left me saying, “I’ll take it. I’ll take it.”

The festival ended and the regular season took hold. Right off the top came Studio 58’s Comedy of Errors, an Alice In Wonderland-ish, Tim Burton-esque production directed by Scott Bellis and designed by Pam Johnson. It was all very Victorian grotesque with whiteface performers, yanked-out hairdos, rosebud mouths, scrunched up skirts with lacy or torn stockings, wool socks and ankle-high boots. Utterly fresh, eye-catching and inventive.

Death of a Salesman and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ran back to back at The Playhouse and the Arts Club Mainstage in February. Tom McBeath’s portrayal of Willie Loman should have put him in the running for the Jessie for Best Performance of an Actor in a Lead Role—but didn’t—and Meg Roe, as Honey in Who’s Afraid, seriously challenged Jennifer Clement (in The Trespassers) for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. Both shows were outstanding and reasserted the staying power and relevancy of 20th century classics.

Hard Times Hit Parade, presented by Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret, was a real charmer over at the Russian Hall. It really captured the craziness and desperation of the dance marathons of the 1920s and ’30s. The audience sat in bleachers, ate popcorn and watched the fringe fly, little potty hats bob and pearl rope necklaces bounce. The joint really jumped to the music of Maria in the Shower.

The Reputation of Lady Mary was a “salon” piece—small and intimate—but was carried aloft by two witty performers: Gwynyth Walsh and Anthony F. Ingram. Playwright Charles Siegel put the play together with the letters to and from Lady Mary Montagu, Horace Walpole and other 18th century notables. What could have been dry and simple letter reading was a little dramatic jewel with Lady Mary and Walpole playing cat and mouse with each other. Walsh and Ingram’s sparring was very literary and utterly delectable.

Calgary puppeteer Ronnie Burkett, a national treasure, delighted Cultch audiences again this season with his spellbinding Penny Plain, an end-of-the-world story told with 30 puppets. His beautifully crafted puppets—including a well-spoken, gentlemanly hound called Geoffrey—came alive to tell the tale. Setting the story in Miss Plain’s boarding house allowed Burkett to include some strange characters, all refugees from the dog-eat-dog chaos raging outside. Do not miss Burkett when he comes to town again. Puppets for grownups? Believe it.

In After Jerusalem, a new play by Aaron Buskowsky, actors Deborah Williams and Andrew McNee charmed the pants off us when Carol, a never-married teacher from Regina, meets Vladimir, a security guard at a sacred site in Jerusalem where Carol is spending Christmas. Treated realistically, After Jerusalem could have been just another love story but in Bushkowsky and director Rachel Peake’s hands, it was theatrical and funny and a reminder of just how good—and relatively safe—life is in Canada. Williams and McNee were so perfect and perfectly matched, it’s hard to imagine anyone else as Carol and Vlad.

A few of my favourite things: Itai Erdal’s relaxed candour in How To Disappear Completely, the story of his mother’s passing; the beautiful horses and horse whisperer in Cavalia; Drew Facey’s fantastic set design, and the terrific ensemble performance of Studio 58 students in Andy Thompson’s adaptation of 1984; Jennifer Clement’s sassy “baring it all for art” in The Trespassers; Nicola Lipman as yet another scratchy old lady in Joan McLeod’s Another Home Invasion; Irene Karas as tarty Pina La Putana in Mambo Italiano; the speed and ingenuity of Rick Miller in his one-man show, MacHomer; Andy Toth’s bravery, generosity—and damned fine job—of stepping in for Jay Brazeau in Hairspray; Kyle Rideout’s splendid directorial debut in The Great Divorce; Bridge Mix’s innovative use of a city parkade; Bob Fraser’s dazzling, creepy Richard III at Bard of the Beach; Ryan Beil’s “how to vanquish a rival” monologue in Bard’s As You Like It; Next to Normal for bringing the plight of those with bipolar disorder to the stage; Light in the Piazza for Katey Wright’s sensitive, nuanced performance; Anthony F. Ingram’s rivetting performance in Studio 58’s The Crucible; Tosca Café for its playfulness; The Penelopiad for Meg Roe’s calm, still, reflective portrayal of Greek mythology’s Penelope, wife of skirt-chasing Odysseus, amazingly performed by Colleen Wheeler; Greg Armstrong-Morris’s blockbuster performance in La Cage Aux Folles; and Ron Reed’s masterful one-man performance of Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

In Tiny Tim’s words, “God bless us every one”—the playwrights, directors, dramaturgs, actors, designers, technicians, box office staff, ushers and you, the theatre-goers, who make it all possible.

joled@telus.net