Photo Jay Kopinski.

This production should be titled “Canadian Smugglers on the St. Lawrence in 1926.” It’s an extremely loose adaption of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance” by Ashlie Corcoran and Andrew Kushnir. Since the season brochure doesn’t mention that it’s an adaptation, if you’re expecting the original, prepare for a shock.

For example, there’s an extended original rhyming prologue, the girls enter in 1920s beach clothes and end up doing the Charleston with the smugglers to the tune of “Sweet Georgia Brown and instead of policemen, it’s the US Coast Guard in US Navy uniforms. Ukuleles abound and the Finale version of the lovely “Poor Wandering One” morphs into “Makin’ Whoopee.” There’s lots more, but you get the idea.

That said, there are some terrific voices in this cast. However, the unnecessary over-micing of both the cast and the excellent musicians tends to distort the sound. Some of the tempos on the group vocals are so fast that the lyrics are unintelligible, especially the women. On the other hand, the group vocal on the “Hail Poetry” section is wonderful.

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Photo: Cory Thibert.

A brief note: I happened to see HOOTENANNY! during a performance during which their tech broke down, leaving them with huge gaps in the plot due to missing video sequences that help to advance the plot. And so I will just say a couple words, as I think Kate Smith and Will Somers’ brave work onstage, despite these difficulties, merits some attention!

Meet Hoot and Annie–two Australian children’s entertainers—on their world tour! They will play you some of their most beloved tunes, including one that reminds children to “do your chores or you’ll get a spank,” and another about a hopping possum that meets a not-so-friendly fox. This show is a parody of children’s entertainers that calls to mind the irreverent humour of Will Farrell. Hoot and Annie are contractually obligated to tell you that they are best friends, even since Hoot’s most recent stint at rehab.

Kate Smith & Will Somers have a natural penchant for humour that helped them to pull together a really funny performance. They referenced their own broken video sequences, and tried to make up for the gaps in the plot through some crafty improv. This was a solid performance, and I have no doubt that, once the tech issues are resolved, it will be even better.

Performed and conceived by Kate Smith & Will Somers / Smith & Somers

Performed by Keith Brown.

I don’t usually go to magic shows because, frankly, they hurt my brain. Keith Brown’s show, Exchange, does just that. It is a conundrum. A complete question mark. In other words: A great magic show.

Brown is charming and sincere in his performance, while he delivers a set of tricks that defy logic. From impressive feats of memory, to prestidigitation (that I still can’t figure out), and unbelievable guess-work, Exchange is a great performance. What’s more, Brown’s framework is all about creating a bridge between he and the audience, which leads to a very entertaining evening. He has the audience’s rapt attention as he delivers a series of unbelievable tricks that will keep you up late searching the internet for answers.

During the Ottawa Fringe, the climax of Brown’s performance is a feat that supposedly landed him in the hospital, and he has photos to prove it. Whether you are a skeptic or a believer, Brown has the format of his show down to an art and delivers a performance that will stick to your brain like glue, whether you like it or not.

Photo, Monique Elliot

Two friends, have gone to a wedding, they wake up the next day and discover a corpse in their apartment. Two legs sticking out from the wings could be the beginning of a sit-com version of Antonioni’s Blow Up which might have lead to a more non-traditional investigation of the presence of the corpse. However, still in TV mode, the writers have chosen Murder She Wrote as their mystery solving model which transforms the corpse into a bit of a sterotype , especially at the end.  Instead there are hysterics, jumpy nervous flippant tv-style dialogue, a perfectly good sit-com style relationship between the two friends who insert Jessica Fletcher into the mix as part of their playing at being sleuths. 

The show is rather well layered as far as the characters and their situation are concerned, Good directing by Dave Dawson whose work is always very competent and fitting performances by the two young women concerned who really seem to be having a great time on stage.  This is a perfect example of the way TV is having a deep deep influence on the  style and narratives of a certain kind of popular theatre these days. Its not a bad thing. It is just very revealing and no doubt inevitable.

Two Girls, One Corpse at Academic Hall. .

Two Girls One Corpse

Created and performed by Marissa Caldwell and Michelle Blanchard

Directed by Dave Dawson

Production of Lazy Sunday Theatre

By Johnny Wideman (Theatre of the Beat, Stouffville, Ontario). Performers are Johnny Wideman as the prisoner, writer and director. Benjamin Wert is his astonished interlocutor who pops up through the floor to rescue him, except that  Wideman does not want to  be rescued. This begins an amusing fantasy where a longtime prisoner, on death row, has obviously become  out of touch with the outside reality, while turning into an obsessive compulsive creature in relation to his  prison routines and cannot imagine another kind of life away from this cell, even though it  means he will soon be executed.

What can the new arrival who just bursts through the floor, do to convince this Johnny to leave? A frustrating piece of writing because although Johnny is strong and amusimg and Benjamin tries to clarify everything for him, Johnny cannot be penetrated by any kind of logic as to his situation. He is about to die and he does not seem to care. The point of this is not particularly clear. Is it the dehumanizing force of long term prison? is it a dialogue between two realities trying to grasp the superiority of one or the  other whereas nothing really changes? after about 30 minutes I felt i would have liked to hear more intervention by the new intruder. Johnny’s banter became tiring and kept turning in on itself. Playful preciosity, talking to hear himself toss words about, spouting a logic that did not exist. Even the ending when he suddently breaks into tears made no sense at all since he kept insisting he wants to die.

This Prison or He Came Through the Floor  was not  particularly satisfying although there will soon be a full fledged performance of this show with the dialogue worked out to  a more satisftying stage. 

Venue Studio Léonard Beaulne.

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