June 2011 - Page 4 of 4 - Capital Critics' Circle / Le cercle des critiques de la capitale

Fringe Ottawa 2011: When Harry Met Harry, A Funny and Poignant One-Man Show

By Patrick Langston | June 17, 2011

If ever there were polar opposites, it’s Harry and Rodney. Harry, the focus of Allan Girod’s very funny and surprisingly poignant one-man show, is an uptight, obsessive introvert whose chief joy in life is keeping the papers on his desk in military-like alignment. Rodney is the oily animator of interpersonal skills workshops, those appalling events meant to get you in touch with your inner whatever and to build team spirit. Needless to say, when Harry is sent to Rodney’s workshop after a series of customer complaints about his communication style, the results are not pretty. Australia’s Girod is a brilliant physical performer, using his supple six-foot-nine frame and facial expressions to telegraph not just the emotions but the entire world view of these two guys. One minute he’s Harry, all gangly limbs and constrained gait; the next he’s Rodney, every gesture a testament to self-confidence and entitlement. To see Girod breathe life into these two characters, each commanding in his own way, is sheer delight.

Ottawa Fringe 2011: Wet Dream Catcher.

By Maja Stefanovska | June 17, 2011

We all have moments of shame. We have elements of ourselves we keep hidden, whether it be our fantasies or our opinions. It is the job of Miss Nancy (portrayed by RC Weslowski) to collect all of these musings and thought wash them of their shame. This is achieved through the wet dream catcher, a giant eye that can see though each of our defenses and bring out our inner-most thoughts, no matter how embarassing. The story follows the main (and only) character through his initaition into the job. The low-tech show is audience-interactive and seeks to bring out peals of laughter.

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Fringe 2011: In Dying Hard, Mikaela Dyke, a riveting actor, gives first-hand accounts of miners and their families

By Patrick Langston | June 17, 2011

We all whine about how demanding our jobs are, what tyrants we have for bosses. Dying Hard could cure us of that forever. Mikaela Dyke, a riveting actor, has adapted for the stage six of Elliott Leyton’s first-hand accounts of miners and their families in 1975, whose lives were both supported and destroyed by Newfoundland’s fluorspar mines. Men went underground to earn a living only to wind up with silicosis or cancer or bodies crippled from accidents. Their wives, already caring for children, ended up looking after their husbands as well and stretching inadequate compensation cheques beyond the breaking point. Some of these people stayed positive, others turned bitter. None escaped the legacy of mining. Dyke’s characterizations are vivid and telling, and her use of verbatim theatre technique, in which interviewees’ exact words are used for the script, is thrilling. Only one — old Pat Sullivan — needs work: his accent is so thick that much of what he says is incomprehensible. While the show has some humour, and the fortitude of these people is inspiring, Rebecca Flynn has the final word: “We have a thick graveyard, a fat graveyard.”

Fringe festival tickets and information: 613-232-6162, ottawafringe.com.

Fringe 2011: Dying Hard

By Alvina Ruprecht | June 17, 2011

Dying Hard

Compiled by Elliot Leyton

Adapted for the stage by Mikaela Dyke

Directed by Dahlia Katz

Featuring Mikaela Dyke

A Vagrant Theatre production

Verbatim theatre is something akin to a current of Theatre of testimony that has developed in Latin America when victims of torture describe their experiences, first hand. These forms of "theatre" are actually historical documents of a very precious sort. One hears about Verbatim theatre in other countries where it can often be related to the Shoah or to the Truth and Reconciliation process of recounting real and traumatic events that affected an individual or a whole society.

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The Story of Two Con Men(The Dirty Rotten Scoundrals) Milking Rich Divorcees on The French Riviera Crackles….

By Iris Winston | June 5, 2011

Relying heavily on equal parts of chutzpah and polish, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is funny, irreverent, ironic, occasionally coarse and frequently politically incorrect. It mocks stereotypes, borrows style and content from other musicals as required, periodically breaks through the fourth wall and, most of all, laughs at itself.

In other words, this cheeky, lighthearted entertainment — adapted from the 1988 movie starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin — is a great deal of fun.

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Fringe 2011: The Interview at the OLT

By Alvina Ruprecht | June 2, 2011

There is something immensely satisfying about this meticulous three hander where every character is clearly defined and they each feed off the other to produce a smooth running stage dynamic.

Mr. Anderson (Dan Baran) finds himself in an “interview” room in a police station, sitting between the impatient, no nonsense , let’s get this thing wrapped up style of detective played by Michael Kennedy, and the more thoughtful, brooding, perceptive detective Smith played by Ken Godmere.

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