high risk theatre

We're happy as a bunch of Neanderthals at a wooly mammoth barbecue thanks to a timely plug by the Vancouver Courier for our local theatre festival featuring "risk-taking" shows.

They christened the festival neanderthal because it’s about the beginning of things.

“We’re interested in stories and for us there’s something about the image of cave men huddled in a cave or around a fire telling stories that just sparked our imaginations,” McGrane said.

This year’s five mainstage plays include a Beckett-like parable about a man building a chair, a musical about a bigamist, a Dadaist take on contemporary life, a true story about one woman’s pregnant brother and Main’s play.

The Walking Fish Showcase features three 20-minute plays commissioned by the Neanderthal Festival and written on themes of science, technology and transformation.

There’s a sci-fi thriller, a reimagining of rejected technology and a man trying to compensate for the loss of his manliness with a cannon arm.

Like last year, festival goers will be invited to dress as neanderthals and have their picture snapped in a photo booth.

New this year, social media enthusiasts are invited to tweet and live blog from the balcony or “the grunt deck.”