Alvina Ruprecht

Café Müller and The Rite of Spring. The Wuppertal Tanztheater returns to its origins

By Alvina Ruprecht | September 30, 2017

The Rite of Spring, Wuppertal Tanztheater at the NAC
Photo Alexandra Campeau

The ghost of Pina Bausch was no doubt fluttering with excitement around the NAC last night as the contemporary formation of her company brought us all back to the very origins of the idea of Tanzteater , dance that incorporates words, foregrounds a heightened form of theatricality and much much more. All that came through very strongly last night in the Opera of the NAC before a packed house, waiting religiously to see the company from Wuppertal perform works that most people have not seen before in Ottawa. …

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Yerma from the Young Vic. intense, powerful, an impeccable adaptation of Lorca to the London stage.

By Alvina Ruprecht | September 22, 2017

Yerma at the Young Vic
photo Johan Persson

Yerma in London, as the subtitle states, is a contemporary adaptation of Federico García Lorca’s Yerma, a work by one of the great 20th Century Spanish playwrights. It was written in 1934, two years before the tragic assassination of the writer by Franco’s forces. Director Simon Stone’s reworking of the play sets it in an Expressionist design environment where the young couple, (she and John as they are mentioned in the cast) are enclosed in a glass case that creates a mirror effect for the audience. …

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Onegin : This tribute to 21st century sensibility moves musical theatre far beyond the box!

By Alvina Ruprecht | September 16, 2017

First of all do not read Pushkin’s work before seeing this. Although the show is apparently set in Russia, it includes the main characters in the novel, it moves from Saint Petersburg to Moscow and back and there are references to Byron which one finds in Pushkin’s text. However, a knowledge of this early 19^th century romantic novel which has become one of the great works of Russian literature will only confuse you. Just arrive at the NAC with no great expectations, think of what we are told that this is not an opera, relax, forget the ballet, and you will probably enjoy this very much because it is clearly geared for a 21^st century sensibility where existing operatic, theatrical , pop music and musical theatre conventions have all been thrown to the wind. …

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Zones théâtrales: Les beignes, une comédie grotesque, pétillante et captivante!

By Alvina Ruprecht | September 14, 2017

Les Beignes: toute la compagnie
Théâtre populaire d’Acadie

Le festival Zones théâtrales, évènement biennal qui met en vedette les spectacles issus des communautés francophones des régions, est de nouveau parmi nous. Désormais sous la direction artistique de Gilles Poulin-Denis, le festival comporte sept spectacles, six lectures publiques ainsi que des Zones « chantiers » soit des laboratoires de recherche où le public est invité à assister aux répétitions et à découvrir les technologies les plus récentes intégrées à la création scénique. …

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Awoken: excellent performance but the material falters…

By Alvina Ruprecht | September 14, 2017

Nicholas Dave Amott in Awoken. Photo: Lorraine Payette — Nicholas Dave Amott in *Awoken*
Photo: Lorraine Payette

Awoken created and performed by Nicholas Dave Amott

A monologue which becomes a sleepless delirium, bringing together sounds of familiar voices, a nightmarish confusion between illusion and reality, and a clear sense of a character performing himself in front of an audience, opened last night at the Gladstone Theatre for a 5 day run.

This very talented young man with a beautiful voice, enormous stage presence and an excellent sense of theatre, plays out his delusional world of the insomniac as it shifts back and forth from his contacts with the doctor, his conversations with his mother, his need to express himself through music, and his flights of confused fantasy into the world of popular culture where batman, ironman and many more appear and disappear. He is suffering from an incurable form of sleeplessness and there is nothing anyone can do for him. He uses points of light created by lamps not only to transform his face into multiple theatrical masks but also to bring the audience into his semi-hypnotical state of dizziness and exhaustion as he winds down to the inevitable ending. …

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Burn: a good natured horror mystery that keeps us glued to the stage!

By Alvina Ruprecht | August 26, 2017

Photo: by Venetia Lawless. Zoe Georgaras

An evening that begins in Geoff Gruson’s cozy sitting room design with enormous wooden bookcases, a warm fireplace, posters and paintings coming to life under David Magladry’s soft lighting that heats up the room in its friendly glow. A writer’s paradise. Three friends, David, (Michael Thompson), Sam (Tahera Mufti) and Robert (Chris Torti) are gathered in Roberts sitting room discussing the life and death of Paul, a successful writer friend, author of horror fiction who recently passed away. Robert also laments the death of his own wife Tara Waters, a talented writer whose memorabilia is spread out over the walls and around the house and whom, according to Robert, is not really dead! What kind of presence does he sense in the room?

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Beneath: perfectly plausible horror! An excellent new work by Doug Phillips

By Alvina Ruprecht | August 18, 2017

This world premiere of a one act play by Doug Phillips is a work of futuristic hyper-naturalism that grabs us by the jugular because it seems perfectly logical and almost too plausible.

The remnants of a poor family sit around the table discussing family matters that almost seem banal. In the first few minutes, Phillips sets out his clues. The family is steeped in misery, water is lacking and there are fires in the area which has become a sort of agricultural waste – land managed by sharecroppers. Something weird is happening in the barn behind the house, as the scraping sounds ignite our curiosity. Then, there is some terrible secret hanging over them all. We meet the family members at that point and it doesn’t take us long to see that sister Ellen is suffering the loss of a loved one, that young Kelsie is waiting for her new date, that Charlie her father is also Ellen’s brother and he is the tortured head of this “natural” family. The atmosphere suggests Eugene O’Neil’s grungy realism especially since the characters could possibly be the actors themselves and we wonder where this is going. …

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Only Drunks and Children tell the truth: a tough-minded play fuelled by the author’s background in stand-up comedy!

By Alvina Ruprecht | August 15, 2017

Photo: Stephen Wild. Taran Kootenhayoo and Joelle Peters.

Drew Hayden Taylor is a prolific playwright, also well known for his stand-up comic routines which bring out his corrosive and provocative humor as well as ideas that stimulate much thought. Published in 1998 and winner of the 1996 Dora Mavor Moore Small Theatre award for Outstanding New Play, Only Drunks and Children tell the truth was first produced in Toronto (1996) by Native Earth Performing Arts. This new production in Gananoque gives us a chance to see the work of an author who has not yet had enough exposure on the mainstream theatre circuit in spite of his many plays that have already been published. …

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Molière dans le parc » : Le Fâcheux théâtre impose son style et amuse le public de tous âges. !

By Alvina Ruprecht | July 30, 2017

Sylvain Sabatié et toute son équipe de professionnels bien connus dans la région nous plongent dans un des moments les plus marquants de l’histoire théâtrale française : la rencontre entre Molière et les comédiens italiens avant même que Scaramouche et la commedia dell’ arte trouvent leur place à la cour de France. Les Italiens avaient déjà laissé des traces importantes sur le jeu de Molière en Europe, lorsqu’ils jouaient sur la place publique. Ce modèle du jeu grotesque et vulgaire, l’essence même du théâtre populaire, du théâtre de la foire et tout ce qu’il y avait de plus divertissant et attirant des spectacles de la rue …

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The Amorous Servant: A new contemporary vision of masked theatre comes to light!

By Alvina Ruprecht | July 25, 2017

The Amorous Servant by Carlo Goldoni , directed by Attila Clemann, translated by John Van Burek. A production of the Odyssey Theatre.

The Odyssey Theatre is back in the park again this summer, braving the rain and the bad weather . Luckily it was beautiful the night we saw it, the mosquitoes were gone, the new cushions were comfortable and all was perfect.

A simple but functional set designed by John D oucet set the space for the dashing about the house that keeps the eight actors moving in this 18^th Century comedy by Carlo Goldoni , rarely performed, created in French in 1993 at the Comédie française and only recently translated into English by John Van Burek, better known in Canada for his translations of Quebec playwright Michel Tremblay! …

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