Plum Viewing
Welcome to the latest edition of Plum Viewing, my weekly roundup of arts and culture to view online. Happy viewing!
Well, dear readers, let me apologize in advance as this week’s Plum Viewing will be a shorter one. Here’s why: last weekend, I took a tumble down my staircase. This fun little adventure left me very bruised, with lots of lower back pain and sciatica. So, the moral of the story: avoid stairs!
I hope to be back in fighting form next week but for now here are a few things to distract us (or me at least!) this week. Happy viewing!
In 2018, the Shaw Festival hosted Stephen Fry to regale its audience with tales of Greek mythology from his wonderful book, MYTHOS. It was staged as a one-man show trilogy, split into GODS, HEROS and MEN. I suspect many readers might have been in the audience and how lucky were you, as I think we can all agree that Stephen Fry is without question a master storyteller. I could literally listen to him discuss absolutely any subject at all. It’s just joyful. I truly feel like a better person for hearing him. Sad yet true.
Well, this week, Stephen reconnected with the Shaw Festival artistic director Tim Carroll for a discussion on what else, the art of storytelling. The conversation is just over an hour and it is just the tonic we all need. You can find it here.
Tonight, Winnipeg’s Prairie Theatre is livestreaming HEIST, a multi-media storytelling show created by musician Aaron Collier. Here’s how it is described: “One-part live techno concert and one-part autobiographical confessional. The audience is invited to join Aaron to discover his deeply personal revelations of acknowledging the grief and pain within his family relationships, while celebrating the profound wonder and magic of real life all around us.”
This production is a partnership with Prairie Theatre Exchange, Pi Theatre and Theatre Outre, and will be broadcasted from The Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. How’s that for cross-country collaboration! It is live streaming for free tonight at 8 pm CT/9 pm ET and you can get your ticket here or contact the box office at 204–942–5483, which is open until 7:30 pm CT tonight.
The Colour Purple by Alice Walker is a beautiful book that went on to become a powerful movie and then an equally powerful musical. For anyone lucky enough to have seen Cynthia Erivo as Celie you know exactly what I mean. My god, her performance was incredible!
Well, our good friends in the UK recount this soaring musical in a concert version directed by Tinuke Craig and starring T’Shan Williams as Celie. It is streaming until March 7. Tickets are a suggested price of 20 GBP per household but you can also opt for the pay-what-you-can option. You can find more information here.
And, to send us into the weekend, here’s a flashback to something we are all missing — live music festivals. Thanks Chris for sending along this gem! Here is Ottawa’s own (and Plum Viewing favourite), Kathleen Edwards performing in 2019 at New Jersey’s XPN Festival. One day soon friends, we will be able to enjoy this again. It’s coming!!
See you next week my lovely readers, when I hope to be sitting without the aid of a rubber donut (I suspect I am oversharing now — LOL!)
And, and ask: While we’re enjoying these wonderful performances, let’s remember that for the arts organizations producing this incredible content, this is their livelihood; not a hobby. If we can, now is our time to continue to support our incredible arts community!
And, if you’d like to receive Plum Viewing weekly, send me a note at maggiefairs@gmail.com and I will add you to my mailing list.