Our view of history is often wrong, and sometimes it’s important to remember that in the most conservative of times, people were still having — and conspiring about — sex.

My guests today are Len Falkenstein (Director of Drama, UNB; aka “Grand Poobah of Theatre in Fredericton”) and two actors, Kate (“Mrs. Fidget”) and Bhavrya (“Mr. Fidget”), from the upcoming Theatre UNB staging of The Country Wife. They join me to talk about the surprising sexual comedy of the Restoration period, how everything is a double-entendre in this play, and about being aware of timing precisely for another character’s aside.

The Country Wife is Theatre UNB’s final production of the season. It opens April 3, and runs until April 6, on stage at Memorial Hall at UNB each night at 7:30pm.

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Take any historical or contemporary public figure and ask yourself not necessarily what they would say, but how would they move?

My guests today are Lesandra Dodson (Solo Chicken Productions) and Sydney Hallet (actor) who have been working with numerous students at STU to create a new physical production called The Despot. They join me to talk about the initial creation of this unique interpretation of public figures, and how it has evolved from a wild idea to something that fits on a stage.

The Despot runs just two nights, on April 5 and 6 at 7:30pm, staged at the Black Box Theatre at STU.

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A budget is really less of a statement of money, and more of a statement of ideas — and the desire to do specific things.

My guest today is Jared Durelle, local reporter, who helps us digest and interpret both the Provincial budget in the context of a minority government, and the Federal budget in the context of a majority government — in both cases, addressing a precarious political forecast.

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It is, perhaps, all too easy to take for granted what being a Canadian is; both a reminder and a celebration of that can help us grow as a country of communities, which in turn celebrates and integrates the strength and exciting opportunities of our incredible diversity.

My guest today is Fredericton MP Matt Decourcey, who took some time out of a very busy day of budget announcements in Ottawa to talk about the upcoming Citizenship Reaffirmation Ceremony, which is subtitled “Sharing Our Stories”. He discussed how this idea took hold last year, and his hopes for our chance to come together as one community across Canada, seeing our diversity as strength in the wake of divisive politics and rising anti-immigration sentiment and action across the world.

Sharing Our Stories: a Citizen Reaffirmation Ceremony welcomes everyone to the Richard J Currie Centre on UNB Campus on March 25 at 6pm.

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My guests today are Daniel Kane (CEO), Esther Sungodoyin (COO), and Harpreet Kohli (CDO) of Better Than Reality, one of five finalists in this year’s Breakthru competition from NBIF. They’re company is looking to develop interactive virtual reality training tools for large and dangerous industries, from nuclear power plants to industrial manufacturing. They came on to talk about their creation and show me a demo, and described how they quickly found common ground and combined diverse backgrounds and experiences to put together their pitch.

The NBIF Breakthru competition will be announcing its final winners at its awards dinner on March 21, but the CBC has a competition to select the Viewer’s Choice candidate for a special prize. Voting for this prize ends on March 20. View the videos of all the candidates for the prize on CBC’s Facebook page.

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