May 2014 - Page 3 of 3 - Capital Critics' Circle / Le cercle des critiques de la capitale

huff: A well-worth it emotional roller-coaster

By Maja Stefanovska | May 3, 2014

Playwright-actor Cliff Cardinal’s one man show, huff, has received rave reviews practically everywhere it has appeared. That’s a lot to live up to. Cardinal and director Karin Randoja’s opening night performance at the NAC started off a bit shaky, but ended with such a powerful bang that I’m sure many of us in the audience will be carrying the events of the play and its message for days, if not weeks, to come.

In this one man show, set on a First Nations reserve, Cardinal combines mythic storytelling and a dark, twisted sense of humour to portray over 20 characters surrounding three brothers as they cope with the harsh realities of their lives and the one year anniversary of their mother’s death. Backdropped against a tall, plastic drapery on which they project patterns and images corresponding to the mood, Cardinal and his team have created a world somewhere between harsh reality and gas-induced hallucination. The subject matter is very dark and the team certainly doesn’t shy away from showing the depths of its pain and destruction. There were a couple of scenes that had me writhing in my seat with discomfort and disgust. …

MY Brilliant Divorce: This infectiously lovable divorcee navigates an unforseen complication in her life with apparent ease.

By Kat Fournier | May 3, 2014

Reviewed by Kat Fournier.

Photo: Lois Seigel

Kate Hurman is brilliant in My Brilliant Divorce, a monologue by Irish writer Geraldine Aron which is now playing at the Gladstone Theatre. The lone character is Angela, an irreverent middle-aged woman suddenly contending with divorce. Playwright Aron’s award winning script was originally performed across Ireland in a successful run which garnered a nomination for an Olivier Award and has subsequently been performed worldwide. Angela, the infectiously lovable divorcee, has appeared on stages from Nairobi to Prague and beyond.

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My Brilliant Divorce: A Shining Achievement

By Jamie Portman | May 1, 2014

One-person shows are drearily frequent on the theatrical scene — and often they smack more of budget-controlling measures than anything else. But Geraldine Aron’s My Brilliant Divorce, now at the Gladstone, is an exception. That’s due, not only to the quality of the text but to Kate Hurman’s terrific performance as a woman picking up the pieces of her shattered life after the breakdown of her marriage.

Hurman makes the character of Angela our irresistible confidant in this play, inviting us to share moments of rage, resentment, sorrow, despair and humiliation, but also ensuring that we also experience the release of laughter when her naturally buoyant sense of humour reasserts itself.

To a point, our response to Angela’s unreeling of her miseries may seem suspect. Should we really be enjoying Hurman this much as she rants about her estranged spouse’s new girlfriend, a sexpot with the voluptuous lips of Angelina Jolie? Or, as she caustically recalls her encounters with a chauvinistic divorce attorney, or as she makes a disastrous middle-aged attempt to re-enter the dating circuit?

There’s a certain element of the spectator sport in our natures when it comes to gluing ourselves to the spectacle of a human train wreck — witness the addiction many of us have to the ongoing Rob Ford saga — and we can be cocooned against its full implications by knowing that it’s not happening to us.

But Geraldine Aron’s textured and affectionate script offers a bouquet of opportunities to an attentive actress. The play, discreetly directed by the reliable John P. Kelly, has a natural flow at the Gladstone. And, thanks to Hurman, who also takes on a variety of other roles, we’ll never make the error of regarding My Brilliant Divorce as no more than an extended stand-up routine.

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