Alvina Ruprecht

The Public Servant:

By Alvina Ruprecht | June 5, 2015

Photo: Courtesy GCTC

Originally an hour long play , the result of improvisation and some verbatim work, based on collected interviews, that was presented at the Undercurrent theatre festival several years ago,has been reworked, stretched into one hour and twenty-five minutes. The result is a play lacking in content, a play that repeats the same gimmicky jokes and feels like a short skit stretched to the snapping point of nonentity. The set is heavy handed although it does try to reproduce a government office with its moving sections that limit the movement in the wings.

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Needles and Opium by Robert Lepage: Magic and Malaise Meet in This Revival From 20 Years Past.

By Alvina Ruprecht | June 4, 2015

Photo. Courtesy of the NAC English Theatre.

The English language version of Needles and Opium, conceived and directed by Robert Lepage, starring Marc Labrèche and Wellesley Robertson III , was both enchanting and disappointing, as Lepage’s work can often be. This was the first time I have seen one of his performances in English and I think the switching of perspectives between three time frames, added a dimension that dated the content of the play, especially the ironic interplay between English and French as the Americans show they cannot understand French and how that creates trouble for Robert, (Marc Labrèche), the writer who is doing voice overs of a film about Paris for an American Producer. That language irony corresponded to the state of mind of English/French relations 20 years ago, but that no longer has any importance. The language question is no longer creating anger, immigrants of all origins are the focus of current theatre about identity in Quebec (note the work by Mani Soleymanlou that has often come to the NAC). And no one cares who speaks with what accent. That appears in the sequences where the Americans are imposing difficult procedures for voice overs, causing trouble when Robert is working in the film studio . There you see that his dialogue, his content, the corporeal rhythm of the actor sometimes escape Lepage’s gaze and we are reminded that his work is at times “thin” and sometimes lacks substance .

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Tartuffe: Evil incarnate unleashes a chilling message to the world.

By Alvina Ruprecht | June 1, 2015

Photo: Courtesy of the Schaubuhne Berlin.

One of the most hated creations of the Classical French stage is the impostor Tartuffe, the false confessor, the spiritual guide, presented to us by the image of a gesticulating fanatic in a long black swirling dress and huge white collar, evoking Mme Pernelle, a Jansenist priest and a roaring Goebbels-like creature haranguing the audience about the qualities of this saintly man but using the vocal tones and gestures of a creature leading a Hitler rally . Exploding on Olaf Altman’s set like a fiery fanatic in bristling punky hair, this creature sets up the past life of Tartuffe and prepares us for the seduction and Christian martyr scenario that follows. Tartuffe arrives, dragging himself into the world like a tortured soul, seeking the most horrible vengeance , spouting hate and destruction from all his orifices. The die is cast, and the worst is yet to come. In this version, all is played out in waves of highly charged physicality. Director Michael Thalheimer , by transforming the family confessor into a sincere fanatic who never tries to disguise his tendencies, has created a creature that is more cruel, more relentless and certainly more dangerous than he ever was in the traditional version of the play. True power is played out within rituals that highlight sexuality, as Jean Genet has always shown us and this German production emphasizes that fact. The urgency of this political message is very clear. Molière has finally entered into the 21^st Century, much to the delight of the younger members of the audience.

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Post Eden:

By Alvina Ruprecht | May 8, 2015

Photo: Walter Watier. Jordan Tannahill.

In this postmodern time of fluctuating categories and unstable definitions, it becomes exceedingly difficult to pass judgement on recent works of art because there are few fixed categories that allow us to define anything. Everything is defined by its own logic and this is what happens when one is faced with Post Eden by Jordan Tannahill who rejects theatre practice that has preceded his own research. The only way to react to this piece is to let ones emotions flow and say “that made me feel good”, it was “fun” , it was “entertaining” or else that was irritating I didn’t like it, even though I can’t really say why. Those kinds of remarks are self-indulgent and not useful if one is trying to understand what Tannahill is doing.

We might begin with an interview published by Patrick Langston in the Ottawa Citizen (April 14). The journalist quotes Tannahill who speaks about “taking risks” because when something is projected into a performance space that has not been carefully subjected to some form of theatrical mediation, the risk of mistakes, or confusion, or sloppiness even failure is clearly there. But all that contributes to Tannahill’s sense of theatrical “liveness” which he pushes to the ultimate degree. . Theatre is anything that happens with real people in front of an audience and by heavily mediating the actors, the production (through a specific script, direction, blocking, lighting, costumes, multi media elements, time and spatial limits, all those conventions of the stage ), theatre is no longer a situation of pure “liveness”, it becomes a construction, an entity that is false, artificial, not a place of risk-taking and Tannahill wants to take real risks.`

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Breaking the Code: A brilliant performance by Shaun Toohey highlights Hugh Whitemore’s intelligent drama.

By Alvina Ruprecht | May 6, 2015

Photo. Maria Vartanova. Shaun Toohey and Tanner Flinn.

After the great popularity of The Imitation Game and the extraordinary performance of Benedict Cumberbatch caught in dramatic close-ups on the screen, Hugh Whitemore’s play presents another perspective of Turing’s life which capitalizes on the special conventions of the stage and creates a play that does total justice to this mathematical genius. This work, rather than foregrounding the Enigma research, gives a more well-rounded portrait of Turing’s life and work, highlighting many explanations of his mathematical theories, his founding vision of the computer, of the future of digital technology as well as his work on deciphering the German code during WWII . The play also gives a much more in depth portrait of his personal life, his family relations and his sexuality which was to be his downfall in a stuffy, puritan British society that could not see the ridiculousness of its criminal laws regarding homosexuality still in force in the postwar era.

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Who Killed Spalding Gray: MacIvor in a labyrinth of shifting identities.

By Alvina Ruprecht | May 2, 2015

Photo, courtesy of the Edmonton Journal.

About one hour and twenty minutes elapse, just enough time to give the public a chance to see that Daniel MacIvor is a masterful story teller who holds the audience’s undivided attention, to the point where you can hear a pin drop. And it almost doesn’t even matter what MacIvor is saying because his natural demeanor and relaxed manner are so disarming, we fall quickly under his spell. This is verbatim theatre, but then it’s also MacIvor being MacIvor, using all his tried and true stage strategies such as his reading, to the audience, a negative review by Robert Cushman that hurt, or doing one of his unexpected interviews with the audience. In fact he invites a young man at the front to come on stage and answer a few questions. This is not a plant! It’s authentic. The young man happened to work in the ticket office and the actor asked him questions that in fact, gave us a resumé of the play. That prologue was clever and when the audience was ready, away went the actor with his own narrative.

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Century Song/Le chant du siècle: on reste sur sa faim devant ce dialogue fascinant entre la voix humaine, des percussions, un piano et des moyens visuels ultra-raffinés:

By Alvina Ruprecht | May 1, 2015

Soprano Neema Bickersteth. Photo John Lauener

Cette production multidisciplinaire, une création mondiale, a marqué l’ouverture du festival culturel annuel promu par le Centre national des Arts à Ottawa. Cette année, « la scène d’Ontario » est à l’honneur. Parmi les 90 événements prévus, dont la danse de toutes les origines, les « arts médiatiques » ainsi qu’une grande variété de musiques classiques, populaires et traditionnelles, il y aura des rencontres littéraires (anglophones et francophones) et une quinzaine de spectacles de théâtre.

Le chant du siècle nous ramène aux expériences scéniques et musicales de John Cage sauf que ce contenu est autre. L’unique artiste en scène, la soprano Neema Bickersteth, une figure sobre, jeune et filiforme, dont la belle voix d’opéra, puissante et dramatique est le socle dramatico-musical de la soirée. Sans paroles, le spectacle nous raconte par des images, l’histoire de la femme noire au Canada. Appuyée par des paysages filmés, des intérieurs qui se transforment à vue d’œil, tous les effets visuels indiquent la remontée dans le temps à travers les proscéniums qui encadrent l’espace de jeu. Dans ce contexte, la soprano adopte une gestualité inspirée de la danse moderne afin d’indiquer l’évolution des rapports entre cette femme et son milieu socio-culturel. Grâce à un sens de théâtre hérité des spectacles de John Cage, du jeu transgressif de Mauricio Kagel qui subvertit tous les instruments qui lui tombent sous la main, et un texte d’Alice Walker (À la recherche des jardins de nos mères), l’équipe du Volcano Theatre a réussi un événement d’une excellente qualité visuelle et musicale.

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Richard III de Brigitte Haentjens. : Une créature archaïque qui émerge des bas-fonds de l’humanité.

By Alvina Ruprecht | April 27, 2015

Photos du Théâtre du nouveau monde.

Brigitte Haentjens, l’actuelle directrice artistique du Théâtre français au Centre national des Arts à Ottawa, produit, depuis fort longtemps, une esthétique de la souffrance en puisant dans des consciences troublées. Depuis 1999, elle accompagne l’immigrant de Koltès (la Nuit juste avant les forêts) attaché à la voie ferrée hurlant son désespoir et sa solitude. Elle offre la scène à Malina, personnage d’Ingeborg Bachmann, hanté par le cauchemar d’un père, ancien Nazi, qui chercherait à exterminer sa fille dans la chambre à gaz. Elle suit la descente vers la mort de la poétesse Sylvia Plath (The Bell Jar), hantée par l’image d’un père qui alimente son impulsion suicidaire, sans oublier le calvaire d’Ian (Blasted de Sarah Kane) au moment de la guerre en Yougoslavie.

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The Double: from Dostoevsky to Adam Paolozza…!!

By Alvina Ruprecht | April 24, 2015

Photo from the Tarragon Theatre.

A great mastery of physical theatre sets Bad News Days Productions apart. Done as a play within a play in various times zones but originating in the present, it resembles a cabaret performance where three very talented young men perfectly trained in the art of mime, circus techniques, mimicry, tell the story of a Mr. Golyadkin, a simple office clerk who lives by himself, who has strange, troubled dreams , who is stressed by the behaviour of his office colleagues who appear to make fun of him; There is also the behaviour of his fiancé who breaks off their wedding. Is he really fleeing from himself? Is he so totally alone, abandoned by all humanity?. Perhaps, but Golyadkin continues on bravely. He eventually comes in contact with his pesky double –his shadow on the wall, or is it the other narrator playing the acoustic bass who appears to be feeding him his lines? This double taunts the older fellow, he disappears and reappears, he interferes with his office relations, and he shows up the older Golyadkin until the poor man can’t take it anymore. It all takes place under the stress of the terrible Kafka-like bureaucracy in Saint Petersburg in Russia. A medical doctor comes into the picture (no psychiatry at that

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The Hard Problem: Challenging, Amusing and Intelligent but not Stoppard at his best.

By Alvina Ruprecht | April 17, 2015

Photo by John Persson . Olivia Vinall as Hilary.

As patrons shuffled out of the Cineplex theatre in Ottawa Thursday evening, after th NTL showing of The Hard Problem, the new play by Tom Stoppard, his first play since 2006 (Rock’n Roll) and the first for the National Theatre since his Trilogy The Coast of Utopia in 2002, the general impression seemed to be exactly what was mentioned in the title of Michael Billington’s review , published in “the Guardian” January 29: “the work occasionally suffers from information overload”, something which would not be difficult to document, especially if one had the text on hand . Clearly without the text, most of the details of the arguments are difficult to retain.

As well, the vocabulary is always taken from areas of specialisation as they are bantered back and forth by these scientists who are all specialists in their own fields: cognitive science which is questioned as a science, evolutionary or behavioural biology; genetics, analysis of the brain are linked to science as opposed to the study of the mind. The study of the mind is not a science whereas the study of the brain is linked to human biology and is a science. If this is so, how does one experiment on human consciousness? How does one analyse the “mind”.which has no material substance? Later the question arises related to the fact that materialsm is a philosophy, does that mean it can be put in the same category as the belief in God? Is that scientific? And the ideas roll round in the laboratory and board rooms of the KROHL institute of Brain Science where all these nine characters find themselves, employees or students in this research institute, where they are trying to define human consciousness.

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