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Pumphouse Theatres
Categories: Arts & Entertainment Cinema Event Planning & Services Venues & Event Spaces Cinema, Venues & Event Spaces [Edit]
2140 Pumphouse Ave SWCalgary, AB T3C 3P5
(403) 263-0079
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
5 reviews for Pumphouse Theatres
5 reviews in English
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Review from Angelo T.
10/9/2011
It's a strange and somewhat challenging drive to the Pumphouse theatre, you'll have to take a road named Pumphouse road and swerve through the DT-side industrial landscape to find the theatre building.
The eclectic trip makes it appropriate for whatever show or play you came to see. A few years back I checked out Apostle of Hustle's acoustic performance for CBC and recently check out a play based on a novel by Miriam Teows.
I definitely suggest checking out a small-scale play. The small space pushes the audience up much closer to the players and stage making it a much more engaging and intimate experience. All of a sudden stage size, intricate sets, and relevant props weren't important, forcing the actors to really play out the story. -
Review from dinah g.
Calgary, AB
3/5/2010
I haven't been to the Pumphouse for a performance; I would rather like to discuss the theatre as a rental facility. The Pumphouse has two options for spaces to rent and the most exceptional thing about this is their rental prices. To rent a theatre facility here in Calgary for under $600 is unheard of, plus you have to pay for the tech staff, rehearsal time and the security.
At the Pumphouse rental theatre space runs around $300, this is a non profit price. For this reason the Pumphouse is already booked for the the 2010 year. Pumphouse is a venue for around 30 independent theatre companies in Calgary.
The most impressive part of their service to the community is the Calgary Foundation Centennial Stage that they offer, this is a portable stage that is provided free of charge to Calgary's cultural community. It is available to theatre companies that work with Pumphouse as well as the ethno-cultural and community organizations in Calgary. Basically is around 48 risers that they have that are 8 by 4 feet long, you can elevate them whichever way you want by using different levelled legs. Organizations can use these as a stage or as bleachers and can borrow 10 risers at a time at absolutely no charge. Unheard off.
Because of services such as these that Pumphouse provides, Calgarians can be sure to see a community event realised with a next to nothing budget. -
Review from Lindsay K.
Halifax, NS
10/17/2009 2 photos
I admit that I'm a huge sucker for ghost stories and haunted houses, so when I heard that the Pumphouse Theatre was reportedly haunted I had to immediately check it out.
I purchased a couple of tickets for my sister and myself to a little production one night. The tickets weren't expensive at all - $25 for a couple hours of entertainment is definitely worth it.
Even though I didn't get to experience any sort of paranormal activity I was thoroughly pleased with the whole evening. The play was interesting and appealing; the seating is limited, so therefore very intimate; and there was always the added excitement of having a run-in with a ghost.
I'll probably head back to the Pumphouse Theatre the next time I'm in the mood for a play... or when I'm hoping for a good scare. -
Review from Sapna G.
Calgary, AB
11/15/2009
Last night I went to check out the latest play at the Pumphouse Theatre. I hadn't been here for about 15 years, and I was pretty excited considering I used to take day camps here and this is where I first learned to juggle. I know, right?!?!?
You can imagine how heavy my heart was when I realized that my memories of the place it was were just that: memories. No longer present.
I mean, the place is exactly the same visually, which is great, but let me tell you why I wont be going back:
- The seats in the theatre couldn't be more uncomfortable. It's in fact 'bum hell' for anyone watching a play because sitting for 2-3 hours on the rocks they call chairs isn't pleasant for anyone.
-There is NO leg room. I was stiff 30 minutes into the play and I wanted to leave SO badly.
- At exactly this same time last year, I saw the exact same play in Toronto. It was performed by a recreational theatre group, and let me tell you, this group of students and young people was amazing. Unfortunately, the crew at Pumphouse overacted for the full duration of the play, and the play was WAY too long. Mediocre acting just isn't fun to watch for hours on end.
I know this is harsh, but it's my job to be honest. And being completely honest, I must say that the best part of the evening for me was when the lights went back on, and I got to leave.
I didn't enjoy the acting, I didn't enjoy the theatre, I didn't enjoy the seats and I didn't enjoy the experience. Never again. -
Review from Eugene H.
Calgary, AB
12/4/2010
The Pumphouse Theatre
The Blue Room - Round Robin Copulation.
After an absence of twenty years in Calgary, I finally visited the Pumphouse Theatre this week, to see the Sage Theatre production of The Blue Room, in the Joyce Doolittle Theatre.
Little has changed. There are two theatres in the Pumphouse. The Doolittle is the smallest of the two, seating around 80 people. It's intimate, cosy, and ideal for plays that require stage intimacy and close connection with the audience. This particular theatre brought back sweet memories of a forgotten past in apartheid South Africa in the mid seventies. The Space Theatre in Cape Town, which spawned some of the finest acting talent in Southern Africa. A community activist theatre, providing a defiant non-racial theatre venue, to a racially divided society and fragmented country. I remember the tiny entry lobby, the cramped facilities, and the uncomfortable seating...very similar to the Doolittle. Never complaining in those days about the cramped conditions, why should I do so now?
The Pumphouse provides valuable facilities to the various arts groups in Calgary and needs to be fully supported.
The Blue Room is a play by David Hare, adapted from a Schnitzler drama written around 1900. The original play was too sexually explicit to be performed at the time and was intended to be read by friends. The format of the play is unusual, in that it is daisy chain, or rather Round Robin arrangement, of sexual encounters, between ten characters, played by two actors. A copulates with B, B copulates with C, etc, in all sorts of places and in all sorts of positions, but never for very long, until the circle closes.
This is not an easy play to direct, nor is it an easy play for the actors to exhibit their sexual and erotic experiences in their performances. The difficult aspect in this play is the line between gratuitous nudity and titillating sex, and indecent pornographic exposure.
Having seen two productions of this play in London and in Cape Town, I was curious to see how the Calgary production one was going to be directed and how well the chemistry and coital copulations between the two actors would be handled.
Personally I don't believe that this is a great play. On a number of levels, the play is thought provoking and entertaining, but never profound. The play is fundamentally about dialoque. Words, give all the meaning and significance to the characters and the performances. Not their actions. And that`s where I feel that the play fails. None of the productions I`ve have seen, have managed to boldly cross the boundary of words. So we have superb and accomplished acting performances, using the right voice, the right gestures, the right words. They slip comfortably into their characters, their personalities and their accents, all in record time, like their copulations. But something is always missing! The irony, the mood, the sexual tension, the ephemeral sparks, the overheated flames are simply not there. The play simply fails to live up to its risqué reputation, as the actors simply cannot, or will not, cross the very boundaries that are needed to make this a riveting performance.
The Calgary Herald and Sun gave this performance rave reviews. I am less enthusiastic about raving about the performances. I believe that the two actors, Vanessa Holmes and Chad Nobert who played all the characters, are accomplished and excellent actors with huge potential, who could have pulled it off. But they held back under Reay`s direction, which appears to have been a little too taut and subtle. Maybe the Director should have left it to the two actors to find that fine balance of sexual tension and mood, instead of the pathetically mechanical, cynical, boring outcomes.
While recognising the distraction of nudity on stage, the decision to play the roles as `sexy` and scantily clad, (whatever that means) simply made little sense to me. I found the single male nude scene most distracting and somewhat gratuitous in the circumstances, when all the other non tittillating character copulation scenes could have accompanied the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Copulation and decadent sexual encounters are not sexy. It`s cold, brutish, it`s empty, its futile, and it cannot be portrayed as if it is, or was, sexy! It`s neither glamorous or pleasurable. The actors should have recognised this, if they had any real life experience!
The set was beautifully designed and all credit to Gunvordahl. The music was fabulous and all credit to McGuigan.
A young 30 something blonde, leaving the theatre in front of me, muttered to her friend....`what a big yawn! And then commenced to read her emails on her mobile. I did not share her view about it being boring. But I was disappointed too (once again?) ...as sex and meaningful relationships are always an illusion!
