Fresh Out of John Cleese

John Cleese rushed through some of his material so that’s why some bits were not as good.

cleese3James Shaw: John Cleese is a living legend but don’t worry, he’ll be dead soon. He assured audiences that.

Ed Sum: And when tickets to his Victoria shows sold out fast, I have to wonder when his Last Time to See Me Before I Die tour will get resurrected.

There’s plenty of good years left for Cleese to create more fabulous work. He is a very colourful comedian. But for whomever that person was who wrote up the marketing for this show, they left one huge plot hole which left some audiences asking questions about later.

There was no Q&A that was supposed to happen after the show. I can’t fault Cleese for wanting to leave early, especially when he’s now in his 70’s, but something was amiss.

JS: He is a legend in this business not only as a great comic actor but also as a great writer. Some of the funniest material was written at least partly by Cleese. Many of my personal favourites include the British TV series At Last the 1948 Show, Doctor at Large, The Two Ronnies, Fawlty Towers and the feature film A Fish Called Wanda. At this stage of his career, John Cleese has enough credits to his name to host a two-hour retrospective of his life. And what a treat it is to sit through. Although at least some of this material you will find similar if you were in the audience of his 2011 Alimony tour, those on this side of the pond will be mostly unfamiliar with it.

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[Victoria, BC] Rocky Horror Show Builds Creativity in a Benefit Performance

hile toast and water will not be allowed at the theatre, audience members can expect lots of other surprises to help make their Rocky Horror Show experience that much more thrilling.

Poster-Web-662x1024Janet, Dr. Scott, Brad and Rocky will soon grace the stage of the McPherson Theatre in Victoria, BC, Canada with Kaleidoscope Theatre’s production of the Rocky Horror Show. They hold a benefit every year that unites the community and professional actors together, and the proceeds from the show helps the theatre school build programs for young minds to engage in and socially develop.

This 17th annual event will have three performances: one on Halloween night (8pm) and two the next day (7pm and 10pm). The party will be lively, exciting and loud—it will also be a different interpretation of what creator Richard O’Brian presented.

“The show is sometimes playing homage to the original and we’re not copying other productions,” said Pat Rundell, marketing director and one of the stars (he plays Brad Majors), “It will be brand new vision with new characters and costumes, a totally re-imagined Rocky.”

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