Latest production at PTE has plenty of emotional baggage

Matt Baram has nothing against Naomi Snieckus’s dead grandma, but when he suggests tossing her crochet hook in the giveaway pile, Snieckus is nearly ready to file for divorce from her partner in comedy and in life.

What’s up: Lights On the Exchange, Cabin Fever, Game-itoba, Chickadee, Lindsay Wong

Led by bassist Fred Warner, Chickadee was originally a more straightforward jazz fusion ensemble by the name of Freddy and the Fire Nation. But inspired by his origins as a fiddle musician, Warner decided to take things in a different direction a couple of years ago.

In PTE’s ‘Big Stuff,’ couple unpacks meaning from things left behind

How did Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus come up with Big Stuff, the longtime improvisers’ first joint foray into scripted theatre?

Decluttering doesn’t have to be overwhelming

Your to-be-read pile is teetering over the edge of the bedside table, there’s a container labelled oats in the pantry housing an assortment of pasta and the basement floor is covered in toys that haven’t been played with in years.

If you planned to whittle down your to-do list just before the new year but have yet to mark even one task off, don’t despair.

Enter Mandy Berndsen, 47, saviour of the overwhelmed, the overtired and the overstimulated.

The owner of Calm the Chaos Assistant is a declutter and organizer extraordinaire who promises to help get your home, and perhaps even your life, back on track.

Winterruption festival has become a frozen tentpole event for music fans

While Manitoba boasts one of the richest, most eclectic summer festival ecosystems in the country, Winterruption — co-produced by Real Love Winnipeg and the West End Cultural Centre — has become a frozen tentpole event for music fans in Winnipeg.

New Music Festival explores theme of technology amid global rise of AI

This year’s New Music Festival runs Jan. 21-29 and includes six events.

Fast-moving staging of classic whodunit 'Murder on the Orient Express' a thrilling ride

Climb aboard this joyride into the heart of darkness that has puzzled and perplexed generations of fans for nearly 100 years since first bolting out of the station.

Adaptation of Gabrielle Roy’s nostalgic tale subtle and sweet

When summer returns to Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, so does Gabrielle Roy (Marie-Ève Fontaine), who finds everything exactly as she left it.

When Roy — the trailblazing Franco-Manitoban author — pushes through the door to her seasonal writing retreat, the drop-leaf writing table is blanketed by a dust cover and the curtains are drawn, waiting to be reanimated by the keen observations of a cyclical guest.

But in Cet été qui chantait, the idea that the world stops moving as soon as we make our exit is revealed as a misinterpretation: the raven still caws, the cow still grazes, the weeds still grow and the frog still croaks its orotund melodies.

Indeed, in Théâtre Cercle Molière’s and Flammèche Théâtre’s collaborative ode to spatial memory, the sound of the natural world is as pronounced as it is propulsive.

Palestine through a local lens

A new multimedia art exhibition at the Canadian Mennonite University campus includes contributions from more than 100 members of the Palestinian community and allies, with a special focus on local voices.

The Land Remembers, Palestine: Courage, Resilience, Resistance, which runs until Feb. 28, features textiles, family photos, paintings, a documentary by filmmaker Nilufer Rahman, posters and other mediums.

“We are a university art gallery. We welcome dialogue. We want people to engage with the contemporary lived experience of the Palestinian community, not just historical material culture,” says Sarah Hodges-Kolisnyk, director of the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery.

The exhibition features six unique “zones” on two floors. On the first floor is a striking breadth of cultural artifacts, including traditional Palestinian embroidery, dresses and pottery.

What’s up: Sherlock Holmes, Ten Perspectives, Blue Sunday, chess club, Fried Chicken Fest

An Evening of Sherlock HolmesDalnavert Museum and Visitor’s Centre, 61 Carlton St.Friday, Jan. 16 and Friday, Jan. 23, 6:30 p.m.Tickets $50 plus fees available onlineFans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous fictional sleuth have two chances this month to enjoy a reading of the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Speckled Band in a period-appropriate venue — Dalnavert Museum and Visitor’s Centre.

An Evening of Sherlock Holmes takes place on two consecutive Fridays — tomorrow and Jan. 23 — with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. and the reading beginning in the parlour at 7. Tickets are $50 plus fees and include a Holmes-inspired signature cocktail or mocktail during intermission. For more information and to get tickets, it’s elementary, my dear Watson — click here.

— Ben Sigurdson

Ten Perspectives210 Gallery, 210 Princess St.Opening reception Saturday, 2-4 p.m.Exhibition runs until Feb. 21Until earlier this week, this exhibition of rural and northern Manitoban artists was called Nine Perspectives. With the addition of Beausejour’s Denise Roy, the lucky number is 10. Roy, Glenda Cairns Poirier, Joy Billings, Laura Bryson, Lee Beaton, Marin Curtis, Mary Louise Chown, Mike Davids, Noelle Drimmie and Sandy Proulx developed the works on view through guided webinars, group critique sessions and mentorship with former Cre8ery gallerist Jordan Miller.

Gabrielle Roy adaptation ‘Cet été qui chantait’ returns to its theatrical home

When Cet été qui chantait — a sonically immersive, hour-long puppet show — premièred at Théâtre Cercle Molière in 2023, it was so well-received it went on the road. Now, three years after it premiered, it returns to the St. Boniface stage.

Children’s Hospital to spruce up ward with local art

Local artists are being invited to create child-friendly nature-themed original artworks for the walls of CK5, the childhood cancer, blood disorders and transplants ward at the Health Sciences Centre Children’s Hospital.

Stage adaptation of Agatha Christie classic takes killer off-the-rails approach

To concoct the locomotive set design for Murder on the Orient Express, Brian Perchaluk harkened back to his days working on the railroad.

Before punching his ticket to the National Theatre School in the 1980s, the Roblin-raised Perchaluk collected summer paycheques as a member of CN Rail’s extra gangs.

“One summer, me and another guy tightened all the bolts between Winnipeg and Emerson,” says Perchaluk, who has designed over 40 sets for the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre.

No offence to the southern Manitoba flatlands, but Orient Express required Perchaluk to imagine a train rolling between vastly more opulent terminals — Istanbul, Turkey and Calais, France.

Rich colours, nature-inspired hues key decorating trends for 2026

Forget featureless white walls and cold, pale floors, a warm, rich colour palette is one of the key decorating trends this year — and it won’t break the budget to update your house if repainting isn’t on the cards.

Despite Pantone’s announcement of a “soft, serene and versatile” shade of white as 2026’s colour, interior designers and decorators are eschewing Cloud Dancer, informally christened “the landlord’s special,” for richer, jewel- and nature-inspired hues such as soft ochre, deep green and earthy brown.

Moving away from the sleek, clinical practicality of flat minimalism, this year’s trends reflect the uncertain political, social and economic climate, firmly re-establishing the home as a place of safety, comfort and refuge.

“Spaces that are overly minimal can feel empty and dated,” says Michelle Chisick, interior designer at Interior Illusions on Princess Street.