The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 38

far An unforgettable lesson IK Itliili 'MM! a I'M 'Hi. PETER BIRNIE SUN THEATRE CRITIC ANATOMY LESSON At Studio 16, 1545 West 7th to Oct. 30. Tickets call 878-1728. There's, no better evidence of the deep creative wellspring to flow from collaboration than Pink Ink Theatre's new production of Anatomy Lesson.

All kinds of clever stagecraft is wrapped around actress Lee Van Paassen in that rarest of theatrical environments, one that takes an already intriguing 90-minute monologue and transforms it into something mythic On opening night in the sleek new space at Studio 16, and despite a gaggle of teenage girls who really couldn't, like, keep quiet, Van Paassen had the rest of us spellbound with her portrayal of a Quebecois doctor whose marriage and health are unravelling. Martha is married to Pierre, a cold-hearted politician, and with the steely demeanour of Bebe Neuwirth's TV character Lilith, Martha lays out for both us and her husband the rocky course her life has taken. Van Paassen first appears from behind a thin screen to briefly address us at a lectern. She'll return there now and again to sip from a glass of water, but most of Martha's story unfolds as the elegantly attired woman paces the stage with an increasingly uncontainable rage. The contempt with which she utters the words "pinstriped shirt" offers neat condemnation of both Pierre's obsessive materialism and her own inability to cut the plush cord tying her to this upper-crust wife-beater, even as her own battle with breast cancer leads Martha to the brink of sanity.

Director (and Pink Ink artistic director) Del Surjik relies heavily on diaphanous screens and the images projected on them in a brilliant series of slides by Tim Math-esoa Not only do these flow effortlessly along with Van Paassen's series of speeches, highlighting her home's fussy wallpaper or representing the frogs Martha dissected as a child, but the projection of a giant word like "Pierre" in bright white light leads on its disappearance to the scientific phenomenon of briefly having that word burned into An Evem'Mi of French Champagnes, Wines Food Tasting to Benefit Participating Restaurants: Cafe de Paris, Coco, Dubnille Culinary School, Five Sails, Le Cavroche, O'Oouls, Pastis, Provence Mediterranean Grill. The Sutton Place Hotel, uforia Restaurant. OVEB HO WineSJ October 27, 1999 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. "T- VfS at Vancouver's Sutton Place Hotel.

Tickets $60 each. For tickets call 266-7800. SPELLBINDING: Lee Van Paassen in Anatomy Lesson. the retina in a black to match the soul of this scoundrel. The script by Larry Tremblay, whose The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi became the tour-de-force swansong of Quebec actor Jean-Louis Millette, builds beautifully in this translation by Sheila Fischman to a climax that has Martha at the end of her tether in a Montreal movie theatre.

Cue the use of a flickering light backstage to suggest a film projector, as one more neat trick is incorporated by Surjik and his crew. Neatest of all, however, is the shifting of those screens so they surround Martha, facing her own mortality in a hospital room. Anatomy Lesson is impeccable and unforgettable, and not to be missed. SCAROLSHIP'i CRUISES 1 Morning music gets obstreperous Carol Ships run December 3rd to December 23rd. Carol Ship Cruise With Buffet Dinner p.m.

p.m. $48.00 pp Saturdays 7:00 p.m. -11 :00 p.m. $52.00 pp Sun Thurs 7:00 p.m. p.m.

$42.00 pp Meno Roast Turkey, Sliced Hostess Ham with Honey Dijon Mustard Glaze, Chefs Stuffing, Giblet Gravy. Cranberry Chutney, Swiss Scalloped Potatoes, Baked Yams with Marshmallow Topping, Garden Fresh Vegetables, Caesar Salad with Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese, Thai Noodle Salad, Mixed Greens Salad with Choice of Dressings, English Sherry Trifle, Chefs Pumpkin Cheesecake, Chocolate Mousse, Assorted Dessert Pastries, Fresh Dinner Rolls with Butter, Fresh Brewed Coffee lea. Carol Ship Cruise With Light Menu Mondays 7:00 p.m. p.m. $28.00 pp Tuesdays 7:00 p.m.

1 0:00 p.m. $28.00 pp With no food $20.00 pp Menu IncL: Croissant Slufled with Turkey, Cranberries Stuffing, Salad, Nanaimo Bar, Fresh Brewed Tea Coffee Prices do not include GST Gratuities. Group rates available. pianistic Latino-Bachian complexity. It was very beautiful, and so was Toronto composer Christos Hatzis's Fertility Rites, which electronically samples Inuit throat-singing (a game women play when the men are away) and extrapolates the vocal harmonics on marimba.

The three-movement piece is harmonically ravishing and lyrical and I would happily have heard it again immediately. Four popular duets by Ernesto Lecuona and Heitor Villa-Lobos brought the program down gently and the encore involved no instruments at all only two pairs of hands in Steve Reich's Clapping Musk, which introduces a simple eight note into a rapid flamenco metre to throw things wildly out of phase. The audience greeted the performers dazzling control with a great deal of clap LLOYD DYKK SUN MUSIC CRITIC MUSIC IN THE MORNING Percussionists Beverley Johnston and Salvador Ferreras Program repeated today and Friday at 10:30 a.m. Vancouver Academy of Music. Literally starting the day off with a bang, Music in the Morning continues through Friday with a program of percussion music featuring Toronto-based Beverley Johnston and Vancouver's Sal Ferreras.

It might be a good idea not to have too much coffee before the 1030 a.m. curtain. The resident piano, unused for once, took a breather and the stage was nearly filled with what looked like the preparation for a rock concert: xylophones, marimbas, speakers and drums of all size and description. As ever, June Goldsmith of M. in the M.

likes to mix it up. As she put it, "One week it might be Tchaikovsky and the next it'll be something like this." Except for one woman a few rows ahead who plugged her ears now and then, the nearly full house lapped up an exotic, sometimes obstreperous program they could hardly have heard before. Mallets flew in a blur as the two virtuosos sometimes paired one another or soloed in material that was written for them, composed by them or arranged by them, and ranged from "world music" to modern classical. Among the most irresistible was Ferreras's own Passeo in Chiapas, written for Nettie Wild's documentary film, A Place Called Chiapas. Exploring sonorities native to that part of Mexico, this music for marimba begins sombrely and builds up to almost All cruises board between 6:00 pm 7:00 pm ft! the Barbary Coast Manna, (one block west of Canada Place).

Tickets Purchased Before Nov. 01. '99 SAVE THE GST Call 681-2915 TO MAKE A RESERVATION Internet Address: http:www.vancouvercruises.com ping of their own. October 21-28 Vancouver Sun 1999.