Since moving here in the summer of 1999, Neptune Theatre has produced a wide array of performances some years better than others. This year in particular has delivered some really fine performances and we’re only into the second show of the season on the main stage! Last week I was invited to the opening night performance of Bingo!

Here’s the blurb:

On the eve of their thirtieth high school reunion five classmates come together in a Cape Breton hotel to celebrate the past.  Some are happy to be back home while others see it as an obligation. A few have never left. As tears and liquor flow, decades of dirty laundry is aired and life is re-examined.   Don’t miss this funny, thought-provoking story of friendship, growing up, and the nice guy finally getting the girl. This presentation is a remount of the sold out Mulgrave Road Theatre production by renowned writer, director, actor and Sydney native Daniel MacIvor.

Cokebaby and I had a blast at this performance. Really, I couldn’t find fault in any bit of it. The set was simple yet perfect. Who hasn’t been to a hotel room that looks exactly like that? Or a small town bar emblazoned with the Mooseheads logo on the wall?

Above all else, the casting was absolutely brilliant. Each actor embraced their role and were true to life in so many ways. From the jock who really hasn’t changed, the best friend who’s the brunt of his aggression, to the ones who moved away and the ones who stayed behind. I have to give major props to Heather Rankin who really stole the show with her performance though. She was charming, sweet, funny, and a memorable character.

Overall, Bingo! is a hilarious yet touching play that is very relatable no matter if you’re from a small town or big city. So far, so good in the 50th anniversary at the Neptune Theatre. We’re really looking forward to the rest of the season.

Bingo! runs until November 4.

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For the third year in a row I was invited to participate in the Downtown Halifax Business Commission’s Big Day Downtown. The idea behind the campaign is to give local bloggers $100 in spending money to do with as they please in Halifax then write about the experience.

A new twist this year paired bloggers together. Due to our time constraints, Danna and I opted to do a blog swap. You can find out about her Big Day Downtown at You Look Fiiine.

In previous years I spread the love around by visiting several locations. This year, I decided to spend it all in one spot. And what better place than The Press Gang? It’s a place that Cokebaby and I had never been despite it being a much loved local establishment. Since it’s a fine dining experience we just never really thought of an occasion to go. We chose a night when we were going to catch a show at Neptune Theatre (review of Bingo! coming shortly).

The interior is lovely. It’s an older building with many of the historic characteristics preserved. Bare stone walls and candlelight in recessed nooks, the place has an ambience meant for an intimate dinner. Fittingly, the only way I can describe the service is ghostly. The waitstaff just kind of appeared and spoke in hushed (almost whispered) voices. It made me very self-aware of my own volume even though I’m not a very loud talker.

To start we shared the Henry Platter: Beef Carpaccio on crisp baguette, green peppercorn aioli, and fresh Parmigiano Reggiano. Pork pate with red pepper caviar and rillettes topped with spiced pear chutney ($16). The carpaccio just melted in our mouths. If I was going to order it again I’d work my way from duck to beef because of the progression of flavours. For some reason we wound up doing the opposite.

My entree was the Brome Lake Duck Breast: Red currant and brandy basted duck breast, blue cheese bread pudding, parsnip puree ($36). Every little morsel was perfect. The duck was cooked perfectly and meshed well with the sides. I have to say I’m not ordinarily a fan of parsnip but that puree was heavenly. And the blue cheese bread pudding? Divine. On its own it may have been overpowering but the portion size and blend of other flavours on the plate made for a fabulous meal.

For dessert I had the Creme Brulee: White chocolate and raspberry ($10) and an espresso. A perfect end to a fantastic dinner. Since I’m technically only blogging about the $100 spent on my meal we’ll skip Cokebaby’s special though it probably bears mentioning that he was disappointed by the blandness of his fish and dessert given how amazing my meal was.

Overall, The Press Gang deserves all the high praise I’ve heard about the place. It may be a while before we return again but our next special occasion may very well find us there again.

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Recently I met with Christopher Mercer at Steve-O-Reno’s on Spring Garden Road in Halifax. I’ve been following him on Twitter (@mercerch) for a few years now but this was our first opportunity to chat at length in person.

Kimberly: My first question always is how do you take your coffee?

Christopher: I could say strong and rich but it’s actually milky and weak. One milk, one sugar.

Kimberly: You’re originally from Newfoundland. What part?

Christopher: I’m from a small town in central Newfoundland called Grand Falls-Windsor. It’s a small former forestry town. Paper mill closed up a while back. Small 18,000 people, it’s not on the coast, it’s not a fishing town. It’s a nice place to grow up, much like Halifax. Very green, lots of old tree growth, things like that. A beautiful little town.

Kimberly: What made you decide to move to Halifax and stay on the East Coast?

Christopher: I originally left Newfoundland to go to Ottawa and work for Nortel back in the day. And after a layoff there and doing a few other things in between I decided to go back to Newfoundland and attend university. I’d attended college prior so I decided to go and basically upgrade to a university education. So I went back to Memorial and spent five years in St. John’s working on two degrees. Then I got recruited away from university by a company in downtown Halifax called Keane, now known as MT&T Data. I was working there for a few years and then moved over to RIM. Unfortunately that just ended, but business is business.

Kimberly: What were you doing at RIM?

Christopher: I maintained a number of systems so my title would have been Systems Specialist. My job was to run the Enterprise Wiki Solution at RIM, a vast system of wiki data that various teams contribute to, but being an enterprise system it allows you to do fun things like restrict content to only certain individuals or certain groups of individuals. It had a lot of security features. It was a very popular product. One built by a company out of Australia. It was fun to work with. I know it’s used in a lot of different places. There might be an opportunity to jump straight into a similar type of role and carry my skill set over that way.

Kimberly: Can you walk me through a day in your life?

Christopher: Well, right now it’s kind of boring. The winter is really when I do interesting things. You know, like most people: get up, go to work, spend the day at work, there’s nothing unusual or exciting there. The fun part starts at the end of the day. I’ve a strong interest in aquatics. I’m a swimmer. I’m a lifeguard. I also instruct, as a coach, swimming. I teach lifeguarding to new lifeguards. After I finish my day at the office I usually head to the pool and spend an hour or so teaching younger kids at the Dartmouth Crusaders Swimming Club out of the Sportsplex. After that I may or may not be teaching a private lesson like Bronze Cross, Bronze Medallion lifesaving courses. Or I might hop in the water and swim myself with the Master team I swim with. That’s when the fun starts happening. I’m doing a variety of things and from week to week that may or may not change. It’s a lot of fun and I get to work with some interesting and cool kids. People worry about the next generation and I gotta tell them: don’t be so worried.

When you’re working with guys in their 50s and 40s, sometimes you lose perspective on what’s coming. That’s valuable knowledge regardless of what you do. It’s a lot of fun, plus I’m teaching people lifesaving skills which at the end of the day when you know they can walk away and should someone need help these kids know what to do.

Kimberly: Besides aquatics, what else do you do for fun?

Christopher: I do have a budding interest in photography. I can’t say I’m great at it, at all, but I do enjoy it. I enjoy the creative process of trying to capture a moment and try to frame a picture. It’s something that I’d like to cultivate and grow more. It’s definitely a hobby. I pick up my camera when I can and shoot what I can. Mostly the cats. Lots of pictures of the cats.

You do what you can, with what you have, in the time you have. If I’m not in the pool and not playing with the camera, a good movie or a good book is a great way to pass the time. A lot of my time is spent with other people and sometimes you need that downtime alone.

Kimberly: Tell me about your cats.

Christopher: I have two: Linux and Pixel. They’re two furry creatures that live in my house that don’t pay rent and eat all my food. They’re cute. They’re great companions. I call them my furry freeloading friends.

Kimberly: What do you enjoy most about living in Halifax?

Christopher: Unlike growing up in Newfoundland, there’s a lot of beaches here within short distance of the city. You’ve got Martinique, you’ve got Risser’s which some people would argue is a bit of a drive but I’m used to further distances, you’ve got Rainbow Haven, Birch Cove right in the city, Elbow Lake, I could go on and on. There’s always a spot to go for a splash in the water and cool off in the summer.

I have a little bit of a thing for architecture. I enjoy good architecture in a building, especially around Dal, SMU, and this area of the city. The public library across the street, the court building and what used to be called TUNS. These are gorgeous buildings that you find in an era when brick and glass boxes weren’t the popular structure. I like that and I like St. John’s for that same reason. All along Duckworth and Water, the same type of idea. But I spend most of my time in Dartmouth. I live on the other side of the harbor in that urban village that’s right next door to Halifax. It’s just got this character that you wouldn’t believe. Contrary to all the stereotypes it is a beautiful community over there. It’s got something going on. There’s a very quiet, subdued energy but an energy that this community is growing. They have that King’s Wharf development going on. They have another luxury condo/apartment that’s going downtown. Two If By Sea Cafe is a big hit over there. I think that Dartmouth is going to be the place where people are going to want to live going forward.

Kimberly: What’s one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?

Christopher: I think people would be surprised about me, especially given my opinionated nature, is I really am into community building. We’re all a member of various communities whether we want to admit it or not. We’re kind of all in this together. No man is an island. No one has done anything they’ve done, alone. They’ve always had support of friends, family, institutions, opportunities. I think I recognize that in our individualism as well as in our society. To that end I really am into community and making people realize you are part of a community and your actions and opinions have a wider effect sometimes. And that also has a positive spin: your actions and opinions have wider consequences in the positive. We bring about change right now by understanding I am a member of this community whether I realize it or not. I have an opinion an can invoke change around me. I think that’s a very powerful thing for people to realize that.

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Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd!

Those are the first lines of an unforgettable performance that Cokebaby and I attended during Neptune Theatre‘s Word of Mouth night last week. If you’ve never heard of the play or the movie, here’s the blurb from their site:

This celebrated musical masterpiece of murderous barber-ism and culinary crime tells the infamous tale of an unjustly exiled barber who returns to 19th century London seeking revenge against the lecherous judge who robbed him of his wife and child. His savage plan for revenge expands to include his unfortunate customers who, in the hands of his accomplice, are turned into delicious pies. Dark humour and an infectious score made this musical thriller a smash hit in London’s West End and Broadway.

I’ve mentioned before that we aren’t typically fans of musicals in general but so far the Neptune has impressed us with these types of performances. Sweeney Todd was really exceptional and a fabulous start to what looks like a fun and fresh new season. Fittingly so, since it’s the 50th anniversary of the theatre.

My fave scenes had to be when the Ensemble came out to sing. I got goosebumps every time! The music itself was, at times, chaotic almost to the point of distraction but that only added to the madness of what was happening on stage. The set was fantastic and somehow managed to make the stage look bigger than ever before. There was a true feeling of old London in both the costumes and the stage.

That said, there were a couple very minor staging snafus with the barber shop but we’ll chalk those up to it being only the second night of the show. Otherwise it was seamless. My one criticism is that I found Johanna’s singing part to be quite shrill. Piercingly so. Is that the point though? I don’t know. As I said, I’m not an expert on musicals. Overall, I found the roles to be perfectly cast and the singing voices suited to every character.

Be warned: This play is definitely not for the faint of heart. While there was no gore like in the movie, there was certainly a lot of blood and discussion of specialty “meat” pies enough to churn a weak stomach.

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd!

No, seriously. You should go. It’s playing at the Neptune Theatre until October 7.

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We’ve had a lovely summer here in Nova Scotia but it’s not over yet. This week, special guest Taylor Anderson writes about some of the great camping spots around the city of Halifax.

In the beautiful province of Nova Scotia, home to plenty of cultural treasures all year, there are equally enthralling camping opportunities. If you’re looking for a romantic getaway with your partner, fun camping with friends, quality family time, or scenery with a hike, there are options for everyone.

Here are a few spots where you can get outside and enjoy camping near Halifax for a stress-free weekend.

1. Romantic getaway: Anchorage House & Cottages
Anchorage House & Cottages offers a lightweight form of camping, since nothing puts a strain on a good relationship like having to find a rock-free patch of grass to put up your tent and figuring out who will cook! Instead, try renting a cottage in nearby Hubbards and enjoy the romantic backdrop, water views, all the amenities of home, and all kinds of activities. You can go swimming, enjoy a good lobster supper, try out kayaking or cycling, or take a boat tour together. It’s also easy to get to Halifax, Lunenberg, and Peggy’s Cove from this location, so you can explore anything this area of Nova Scotia has to offer.

2. A group of friends: Shubie Campground
Shubie Campground is a municipal campground in Dartmouth, so it’s a short drive if you have to pack everyone into the car to get there. It offers a full array of services so you don’t have to live with stinky people for days, and you can pay for coffee or internet if you’re desperate for some amenities. You can take showers for a small fee and there’s a laundry station there, too. Play tennis or volleyball with your buddies, or try freshwater fishing nearby. There’s even a canteen for stocking up on junk food before you stay up all night. Just save the private conversations for later – the campsites are often close together.

3. The whole family: Wide Open Wilderness
Wide Open Wilderness is a family-friendly campground, and it offers amenities for everyone. It welcomes kids and provides oversized lots, showers, toilets, laundry, a games room, swimming pool, and even bouncy castles for the kids! The parents can enjoy bird-watching while kids get ice cream or popcorn from the office and go to one of several playgrounds, play pinball, or swim. They hold frequent events and kids’ events on Saturday mornings.

4. Experienced campers: Bluff Wilderness Trail
For those looking to enjoy a hike on well-maintained trails, see diverse flora and fauna, and experienced in “leave no trace” camping, Bluff Wilderness Trail is a great advanced option. The Bluff Trail has no designated campsites, so they discourage camping by those who are accustomed to destructive camping methods such as clearing the forest, building cooking fires, and defecating near running water. If you’re used to camping without amenities, Bluff Wilderness Trail is a fantastic place for experienced campers to explore.

These are a few of the best spots for camping near the Halifax area. No matter why you want to get away, you can find a campground that will suit your preferences without having to drive too far. Don’t let the summer pass without enjoying some time outdoors in this scenic province.

Taylor Anderson contributed this guest post on behalf of American Express credit cards. Taylor is freelance writer and a member of a network of bloggers who write about travel and lifestyle.

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