Life of Pi's magnificent puppet menagerie ready for adventure at RMTC

The orangutan, the hyena and the Bengal tiger took millions of years of evolution to reach their modern forms. Their zoological counterparts that take the stage in Life of Pi came to life after about 3,500 hours of 3D printing.

Earlier this year, Calgary studio Puppet Stuff Canada began recreating the anthropomorphic characters that populate Yann Martel’s Booker Prize-winning novel and Lolita Chakrabarti’s Olivier Award-winning theatrical adaptation, which opens at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre tonight.

But the four-person team had strict instructions: its menagerie couldn’t replicate the originals used in England or during its Broadway run. From tooth to claw, each creature had to be designed, printed and assembled from scratch.

“When these Broadway shows become available for other theatres to produce, there’s two ways the rights holder will go about it. The rights holder for Little Shop of Horrors, for instance, will say this is how we built the Audrey II. Go ahead — do it. Go build the plant. In this case, the rights holder said, ‘We don’t want you to copy what we did for the first show. We want you to put your own spin on it,’” Puppet Stuff co-founder Brendan James Boyd says.

Family feuds get resurrected in lively Prairie Theatre Exchange comedy

Portage Place is under construction, but Prairie Theatre Exchange is open for business.

Above the silenced food court, on the third floor of the downtown shopping mall, the regional theatre company is readying for its season-opening run of Liars at a Funeral, a zippy comedy from Toronto playwright Sophia Fabiilli about a memorial service that turns out to be an elaborate sham. Mavis (Mariam Bernstein) isn’t actually dead: she just figures the news might be the one thing powerful enough to unify the warring factions of her estranged family.

Not only is the matriarch alive and well, but any rumours of PTE’s hibernation during Portage Place’s $650-million redevelopment are exaggerated and unfactual.

Ann Hodges, the company’s artistic director, says that the box office is “much more in line” with pre-COVID figures, while season subscriptions, which cratered in 2020, are experiencing a significant rebound.

Concerts aim to raise funds for suffering Ukrainians

Those who want to help those suffering from war can do so this weekend at the Friends of the Mennonite Centre in Ukraine fundraising concerts.

Winnipeggers encouraged to share civic thoughts through interactive poetry project

Jennifer Still wants you to help write the story of our city — what is, what was and what could be.

Winnipeg’s poet laureate for 2025/26 has just launched The Story of Winnipeg, a citywide poetry project in collaboration with the Winnipeg Arts Council and the Winnipeg Public Library.

Each library branch will provide participants with folded, fill-in-the-blank books that Still crafted out of City of Winnipeg maps and archival materials. People can keep their books as keepsakes, or they can send their poems back to Still via the paper mailbox stationed at each library branch in the city.

The collected poems will be shared as part of a public installation in 2026.

Manitoban's new book 'Gather Together' has a cornucopia of ideas for entertaining

Robyn Chubey’s creative ideas for decorating homes and gardens in every season, and her garden-to-table recipes to delight family and guests, are about to reach a new audience.

Review: On Joe’s journey, it’s people who give a street character

The wrecking ball is a meteor that predicts a sidewalk-level extinction event in marionette artist Ronnie Burkett’s Wonderful Joe, an urban journey that begins with an eviction notice delivered to a denizen who remembers when the cornerstones were laid and the first bricks were thrown.

Art of healing: St. Boniface program lets hospital patients choose a painting for their room

Amid the beating of monitors, the tangle of IV tubes, the threadbare gowns and uncomfortable institutional beds, it’s rare for patients to find moments of peace in a hospital setting.

Can-do spirit drives Filipino-flavoured, Spam-powered venture

Matt Masangkay and Megan Esguerra are the founders of Subi, a three-month-old food venture specializing in Spam musubi, a Hawaiian favourite that combines sushi rice and dried nori seaweed with, as its name implies, the oft-maligned, canned luncheon meat.

Abstract wood artist Victor Klassen listens to what his medium has to say

Where one person might see a tree stump, Victor Klassen sees a sculpture.

“The wood and I got to talking, and I mostly just took the rot out,” the artist says of Family, an abstract wood sculpture made out of Manitoba maple.

And indeed, there it is — a six-person family, or perhaps six generations of a family.

Klassen, 80, is mostly based in Mexico these days, but he was raised in a Mennonite community in rural Manitoba. His current exhibition, Seeing, on view until Oct. 25 at MHC Gallery at the Canadian Mennonite University, marks the first time his work has ever been shown in his home province.

Local ‘yearn-core’ band Living Hour gears up for first album release since 2022

Time is a slippery concept. Waiting feels like an eternity. History repeats itself. The present becomes the past in the blink of an eye.

Living Hour’s fourth album, Internal Drone Infinity, tackles the flat circle of time with a fuzzy, aching sound the Winnipeg band has dubbed “yearn-core.”

“It’s a way of existing where you’re constantly dissatisfied,” vocalist and songwriter Sam Sarty says of the self-styled genre. “But it’s also kind of romantic; you’re looking at things thinking, ‘I just want to remember this forever.’”

The Free Press caught up with four-fifths of the band — Sarty, Gilad Carroll, Adam Soloway and Isaac Tate — prior to the release of Internal Drone Infinity, out Oct. 17. Bandmate Brett Ticzon was on the road performing with JayWood (who also has new music out; see sidebar).

Maxime’s restaurant, set to close soon, ‘cannot keep up with the demand’

A St. Vital restaurant that recently announced it will close next month after 41 years says it can’t keep up with the demand for reservations.

Maxime’s Restaurant and Lounge will not be taking new bookings until further notice.

“We must determine, day by day, how we will continue our operations to best serve our guests and remaining employees,” the restaurant said in a Facebook post Thursday.

The restaurant posted on Oct. 2 that the owners have decided to retire and have sold the land and building at 1131 St. Mary’s Rd. The Bekios family said last week it is planning to close the restaurant in the third week of November.

Director Colin Hanks’ doc a sweet tribute to beloved Canadian comedian John Candy

“He was a grand man,” Dan Aykroyd says of his colleague and friend John Candy.

Now streaming on Prime Video, this new look at the life and work of the late Canadian comedian is more of a joyful celebration than a hard-hitting documentary.

But why not? John Candy: I Like Me may get a little repetitive and obvious in its overlong runtime, but mostly it’s a sweet, affectionate and appealing tribute that perfectly matches its subject.

“I wish I had bad things to say about him,” Bill Murray jokes in the opening interview, which makes it clear right off the hop that this film, from director Colin Hanks and producer Ryan Reynolds, is not going to be some scandal-mongering, tell-all exposé.

Raised on food as love, local cook primed for MasterChef

The reality cooking competition is back after a three-year hiatus and a Winnipegger is one of 15 contestants vying for the $100,000 grand prize and the distinction of being dubbed one of the best home cooks in the country.

Side shows: These culinary supporting roles earn the Thanksgiving spotlight

Three side-dish recipes, each with a fun twist. Enjoy Diane Nelson’s recipe for Zippy Carrots, Debbie Hurrell’s Cranberry Salad and Debbie Nolan’s Pork Sausage Stuffing.

What to watch: Choice TV about good, evil and the in-between

In art, the tension between black and white, wrong and right can draw a very satisfying narrative frame. But the real interesting bits are found in characters and stories that resist the binary. Here are some viewing suggestions that explore some of the stops on that spectrum.