Entertainment

On Friday, Dance Days descend on Victoria for the second year in a row. The 10-day festival, which kicks off with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens doing two performances at the Royal Theatre Friday and Saturday nights, offers a host of opportunities for folks to try out a new dance style, sit in on an open rehearsal or even do yoga in the new Atrium building.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a cryptogram as “a communication in cipher or code.” For actor Jenny Young, it’s an apt way to describe the David Mamet play of the same name that she’s been rehearsing.

When a theatre company takes on a challenging, lauded play like The Laramie Project — particularly a volunteer-based community outfit like Langham Court — it can be a risky endeavour. And not just because of the show’s content, which deals with the brutal beating and murder of a gay college student in Laramie, Wyoming; there is also a concern that a smaller company with budgetary limitations may not have the resources to do the script justice.

Nicola Gunn hopes people will leave their expectations at the door. The Australian theatre artist has been lauded for her Fringe performances over the past decade, but nearly four years after her last Victoria appearance — 2007’s The Lost Property Office — Gunn is returning with a show quite unlike any other she’s performed before. At the Sans Hotel is a darker and more personal story.

When it came time for a new photography project, Mike Andrew McLean found inspiration in an unusual spot — his students.