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This article was published 20/10/2022 (1246 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Darcy Oake at the Burt

Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.
Burton Cummings Theatre, 364 Smith St.
Tickets $85 including fees at Ticketmaster

Prepare to suspend your disbelief this weekend.

Winnipeg-born illusionist Darcy Oake kicks off a Canadian tour with a double-header in his hometown on Friday and Saturday at the Burton Cummings Theatre.

Son of broadcaster Scott Oake, the younger Oake grew up competing in magic contests and gained international attention as a finalist on the reality show Britain’s Got Talent in 2014. He’s gone on to star in his own television special and has performed in some of the most illustrious venues in the world and even for the late Queen Elizabeth. His illusions range from classic sleight-of-hand and card tricks to daring onstage escapes.

Oake last performed at the Burt in 2017 for a series of benefit shows in support of the Bruce Oake Foundation, an addiction treatment organization named for his late brother.

The magician is scheduled to traverse the Prairies this month before setting off for performances in eastern Europe. Visit ticketmaster.ca to reserve tickets for his local shows.

— Eva Wasney

 

Between the Pages: An Evening with the Giller Prize Finalists

Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Winnipeg Art Gallery, 300 Memorial Blvd.
Tickets $20 at wfp.to/betweenthepages

The five finalists for the year’s biggest prize in Canadian fiction will convene in Winnipeg for one night only to read from and talk about their books, explore their writing process and reflect on the impact of making the Giller Prize short list.

Hosted by author Jael Richardson, the Between the Pages author tour lands in Winnipeg on Tuesday at 8 p.m. for what is sure to be an engaging and insightful conversation at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Of the five-city tour, only Winnipeg and Toronto managed to snag all five authors for the chat: Kim Fu for her short-story collection Lesser-Known Monsters of the 21st Century; Rawi Hage for his short-story collection Stray Dogs; Tsering Yangzom Lama for her novel We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies; Suzette Mayr for her novel The Sleeping Car Porter; and Noor Naga for her novel If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English.

This jury for the 2022 Giller Prize, which will be the 29th time the award will be handed out, included former Winnipeggers Casey Plett and Waubgeshig Rice, as well as Kaie Kellough, Katie Kitamura and Scott Spencer. Of the finalists, only Rawi Hage has been shortlisted for the award in the past; this year’s short list marks the first time all finalists have been writers of colour. Last year’s prize was won by Omar El Akkad for his novel What Strange Paradise.

The $100,000 prize will be awarded on Monday, Nov. 7, at a ceremony in Toronto to be hosted by Rupi Kaur and Sarah Gadon.

— Ben Sigurdson

 

Symphony of Illusions

Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.
Centennial Concert Hall
Tickets: $39-$89 at wso.ca

Illusionist, escape artist and mentalist Michael Grandinetti will have a few tricks up his sleeve when he performs alongside the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.

The American magician, who has appeared on the NBC television series The World’s Most Dangerous Magic II and the CW series Masters of Illusion, also has experience performing with orchestras.

That’s no illusion: Grandinetti has transformed a conductor’s tuxedo, made roses bloom on stage and levitated above orchestras while performing with many symphonies, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Oscar-winning composer Marvin Hamlish.

The orchestra doesn’t just provide the tension-filled musical accompaniment, either. Expect it to join in on Grandinetti’s mind-reading powers, playing music that audience members were only thinking of.

— Alan Small

 

The Winnipeg Improv Festival

Today to Sunday
Gas Station Arts Centre
Tickets: $15 plus fees at winnipegimprov.com

In the spirit of the Winnipeg Improv Festival, which kicks off this week at the Gas Station Arts Centre, I am making this up as I go along. That’s right: all of the words you are reading right now are being typed with absolutely no planning and no use of the delete key; it’s a lot harder this way.

From Thursday through Saturday, improv performers from Winnipeg, Canada, and the U.K. will get on stage with the same advantage/disadvantage I am experiencing right now. Opening the festival on Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. is the local troupe Club Soda, followed by an international ensemble of improvisers from the U.K. Who doesn’t love a cross-cultural comedy exchange?

On Friday night, a “live cartoon” will be shown at the Gas Station. Live cartoon? What’s that? According to the festival website, it’s an improvised, real-time animation project that was presented for the first time in 2018, blending technology and live improv. “The second half of the show will feature the international ensemble performing regular old boring improv on stage with no computers… but it’ll be so good,” the website promises.

The Saturday programming features a new show using VR computers and a sci-fi themed improv show called Project 2, featuring performers all the way from London. (Not London, Ont.) A late-night performance runs at 10:30 after the computers get put away.

On Sunday, there are improv workshops. Based on this write-up, a certain Free Press reporter could use all the help he can get.

— Ben Waldman

 

Flight Paths: Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers’ emerging artists initiative

Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Rachel Browne Theatre
Tickets: $15 at eventbrite.ca

Watch 12 emerging dance artists take flight Friday night when Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers’ 2022/23 season begins in earnest night with Flight Paths, a trio of works choreographed by WCD artistic director Jolene Bailie and presented as part of the WCD and School of Contemporary Dancers’ Emerging Artists Initiative.

Flight Paths will finally see the world premiere of Proximity — or “the dance that was never done,” as it was known, owing to pandemic lockdowns. Featuring nine dancers, it’s the largest group work yet for the Emerging Artists Initiative, and will explore the ways in which proximity — to ourselves, to each other, to the world — impact connection.

The 50-minute show will also feature the return of two audience favourites:, 2013’s Lost, a comedic trio about losing and finding oneself via a lost sock, and 2019’s The Space In Between, a duet about individual journeys within the context of a relationship.

Can’t make Friday’s show? A matinee performance will be held today at 1:30 p.m.

— Jen Zoratti

 

Wiggling into Winnipeg

Thursday, 6:30 p.m.
Centennial Concert Hall
Tickets: $45 at thewiggles.com

Australia’s the Wiggles were founded in 1991 by Anthony Field; 30 years later, the group can lay claim to being the world’s most popular children’s entertainment act, having sold more than 30 millions albums and DVDs, and eight million books, with more than one billion streams on YouTube.

Anthony — the Blue Wiggle and the sole remaining original member — will be joined by the core group of Lachy (Purple), Simon (Red) and Tsehay (Yellow, and the newest addition to the group) on the Big Show Tour, which comes to the concert hall today, bringing a lineup of favourite songs and new tunes (in March, the band released ReWiggled, a double album that features Australian acts covering Wiggles songs on one disc and the Wiggles covering such acts as the White Stripes, Tame Impala, Rihanna and AC/DC on the other).

They will have their Wiggly friends Captain Feathersword, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus and Shirley Shawn the Unicorn in tow, along with four new Wiggles: Evie, Lucia, John and Caterina.

— Jill Wilson