Vancouver arts entertainment

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.”

We came across another Neanderthal hanging out at a local cafe, enjoying a latte and his newspaper. He didn't like it when we got too close, though. First, he shook the paper at us. Later (off camera) he tried to run us through with his spear (Are those things legal in Vancouver?).

We got him to calm down after by inviting him out to our arts festival, where he could see some cool boundary-pushing theatre by talented local and national artists.

In case you were wondering, he was reading the arts and entertainment section. As we all know, Neanderthals have a soft spot for performing arts.