SUBMITTED BY ARTSPRING
The energy of our season-opener, Wen Wei Dance, is more than matched in Jeffrey Renn’s one-man tribute to the great British-Canadian poet Robert Service.
Embodying not just Service, but friends, family, and yes, a bull, the first instalment of The Life and Yarns of Robert Service sees Renn instantly change between characters and dialects with seamless ease.
ArtSpring is offering another chance to see part one of Service’s glorious youthful tales following the limited capacity seating of the show’s inclusion last season. With part two premiering at the end of November we want to bring you right back into the world of the spectacularly popular poet, an immigrant from Scotland coming to Canada at the time of the Gold Rush.
Renn has carefully crafted this work from Service’s autobiography, The Ploughman of the Moon. Born in the north of England in 1874, and brought up in Scotland, Robert Service showed a keen interest in poetry as a child, writing his first verse on his sixth birthday. Inspired by Rudyard Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson, Service developed a desire for adventure along with writing, and in 1894 sailed to Canada to become a cowboy in the Yukon wilderness. Following the Gold Rush, Service worked on Vancouver Island, gathering material and experiences that would feed his creative imagination for years.
The wildly inventive Renn performs all the roles through poem, song and story, leaving previous audiences enthralled by his powerhouse performance.
ArtSpring Presents At Your Service – The Life and Yarns of Robert Service part 1 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14, 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m.
People should note that proof of at least one vaccination is required for everyone aged 12+ attending this event. Patrons aged 19+ are also required to show a piece of valid government photo ID. Masks must be worn at all times while at ArtSpring.