Stephen Beggs
Paul Blakemore
Diane Ilariascarpa
Maria Baranova
January in Vancouver is a month of grey and damp and rain—not much to get excited about. But since 2005 one of the bright spots has been the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. What makes PuSh different from the myriad of other arts festivals is that you can sink your teeth into each show, and expect to come out feeling a little weird and exhilarated. 2017 was the year of Backstage in Biscuit Land (how many times can a performer with Tourette Syndrome say the word ‘biscuit’ in an hour?), Bridget Moser’s shiny pink track suit and rarely-performed music by the man of the moustache, Frank Zappa. This year the first PuSh shows starts on January 16th; the festival ramps up to include over sixty shows before the final day on February 4th.
There are nods to immersive theatre, such as Reassembled, Slightly Askew, created by Northern Irish artist Shannon Yee, in which the audience members experience the recreation of Yee’s brain injury. If you are lucky enough to make it into this exclusive show, expect to lie in a hospital bed wearing headphones in order to enter Yee’s medically induced coma. If you need to keep your distance and stay in control, then stay away! If you like that idea but could use someone a little less medical, then consider taking in Blind Cinema, in which children describe a soundless film to the audience who are all blindfolded. Sounds relaxing, sort of.
The first performance to make my list is entitled Radio Rewrite (after the instrumental piece and recent recording by Steve Reich) and it will feature the Turning Point Ensemble. The big draw is an homage to the music of Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood who, as well as being a rock star, has composed acclaimed music for films like There Will Be Blood. This show will include reworkings and reimagingings of Radiohead songs by Reich, one of my all time favourite composers. PuSh programs the most interesting new music events (who else performs Reich on a regular basis?) and it is always a pleasure to hear what they will offer next.
I am so excited to see the film History History History—featuring a Soviet-sponsored sports comedy, political unrest, and live onstage commentary by Deborah Pearson. I can’t wait.
PuSh always includes free performances in order to be accessible to all. I suggest Lookout, by UK artist Andy Field. At a spot with a wide vista of the city, attendees will hear children describe imaginings of our civic and geographical prospects, then meet them in person to hear more predictions. We are all wondering what the Vancouver of the future might be.
I don’t tend to connect with the large movement pieces, although I totally respect the way they manage to combine dance with over media in ever-innovative ways. I hear good things about Silvia Calderoni’s performance MDLSX, with the Italian theatre company Motus. Fiction and autobiography fuse in the type of genre-bending piece PuSh is famous for—dance, text, video, music, gender rebellion and critical feminist theory. Expect it to be smart, beautiful and unusual.
PuSh also brings the artist out from behind the curtain with conversations, panels and master classes through the Push Assembly series and pre- and post-performance talks. And finally, with a place close to my heart is Club Push, in which the all the same kinds of shows happen on a smaller scale in more intimate venues. It’s an incubation for radical new ideas, shows that are truly strange or achingly intimate. I hear good things about Dickie Beau: Unplugged. Have fun.