Capital Critics Circle, Author at Capital Critics' Circle / Le cercle des critiques de la capitale

Robert Marinier remporte le Prix du Centre des Écritures Dramatiques Wallonie-Bruxelles, remis par la Fondation pour l’avancement du théâtre francophone au Canada !

By Capital Critics Circle | June 1, 2016


C’est l’auteur ontarien Robert Marinier qui se voit décerner le quatrième 
Prix du Centre des écritures dramatiques Wallonie-Bruxelles, remis par 
la Fondation pour l’avancement du théâtre francophone au Canada. Ce prix
 permet à un/e auteur/e de la francophonie canadienne de se rendre à 
Mariemont, en Belgique, pour y effectuer une résidence d’écriture d’une 
durée d’un mois sous la supervision du CED-WB. En plus de saluer et de 
remercier ses amis du Centre des écritures dramatiques 
Wallonie-Bruxelles, la Fondation tient à remercier le Service du théâtre
 du Conseil des arts du Canada (CAC), ainsi que la Commission 
internationale du théâtre francophone. C’est Émile Lansman, fondateur du
 CED-WB et actuel responsable des projets internationaux, qui a remis 
cette distinction prestigieuse d’une valeur approximative de 12 000 $ à 
Robert Marinier lors d’une cérémonie tenue le 1^er juin, à Québec, 
pendant le Carrefour international de théâtre qui se
déroule en ce moment.

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Tuneful Patsy Cline in Gananoque

By Capital Critics Circle | May 26, 2016

Tyler Murree, Alison MacDonald and David Archibald; Photo: Barbara Zimonick

A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline
By Dean Regan
Produced in association with Western Canada Theatre, Kamloops, BC
Directed by Daryl Cloran
1000 Islands Playhouse

I’m not sure what to say about “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline” by Dan Regan, except that it’s not really a musical. It’s more a terrific concert or night club act. Loosely structured as a radio show tribute to Patsy Cline, it’s emceed by Little Big Man, played by the energetic and versatile Tyler Murree. We see Patsy, the excellent Alison MacDonald, only in performance, never in her off-stage persona. A few sparse biographical details are supplied by Little Big Man. Entertaining diversions are added by the insertion of old radio commercials for Mr. Clean and Ajax, performed by Little Big Man and the great on-stage band.

Ross Nichol’s versatile set has a raised broadcast booth stage right, the 4-piece band is on raised platforms center, and the whole framed stage left by two dimensional giant radios. There’s a scrim up center on which are projected the names of the various venues where Patsy performs. Of Patsy’s multiple costumes by Jayne Christopher, by far the most flattering is the Act II long black gown. Davida Tkach’s lighting is good and Ben Malone’s sound is excellent and well balanced. …

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Final Press release from the XV Europe Theatre prize held in Craiova, Romania

By Capital Critics Circle | May 9, 2016

The XV Europe Theatre Prize took place from 23 to 26 April in Craiova, Romania, following on from the prestigious International Shakespeare Festival, which this year reached its tenth edition. This year the ETP, held under the patronage of the city of Craiova, which chose to link the two events, was organized in conjunction with the Shakespeare Foundation and the ‘Marin Sorescu’ National Theatre, with the contribution of the Romanian Institute of Culture.

During the first day, as a fitting continuation of the International Shakespeare Festival, the Prize hosted two performances inspired by the Bard of Avon as part of the Returns section: Giulio Cesare, pezzi staccati, by Romeo Castellucci, and Richard III, directed by Thomas Ostermeier.

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Toshiki Okada’s “Time’s Journey Through a Room”

By Capital Critics Circle | May 7, 2016

Photo. Courtesy of the Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, Belgium . Yana Meerzon sends in this comment on the production.

Playwright and director Toshiki Okada; Sound and set design Tsuyoshi Hisakado; Featuring Izumi Aoyagi, Mari Ando, Yo Yoshida; presented at the 2016 Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, Belgium, in Japanese with subtitles in French and Dutch.

Toshiki Okada is one of the most innovative theatre writers and directors from Japan, whose work has continuously appeared at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels, Belgium. In his recent plays, Okada repeatedly attempted to reflect upon the consequences of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. In Current Location (2012) and Ground and Floor (2013), he was addressing the pressing psychological and social issues of life/death interdependency – the source of much reflexion in Japan in the aftermath of the disaster.

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Final notes from the XVe Prix Europe pour le théâtre à Craiova, Roumanie.

By Capital Critics Circle | May 5, 2016

See reviews by Yana Meerzon: http://capitalcriticscircle.com/last-dream-on-earth-the-intimacy-of-the-impossible-the-truth-of-the-unimaginable/#more-9239

http://capitalcriticscircle.com/reikiavik-is-juan-mayorgas-optimistic-answer-to-becketts-game-of-chess/#more-9237

http://capitalcriticscircle.com/thomas-ostermeiers-richard-iii-as-a-loveable-evil-monster/#more-9212

Le XV^e Prix Europe pour le Théâtre s’est déroulé du 23 au 26 avril à Craiova, en Roumanie, dans la continuité du prestigieux International Shakespeare Festival, arrivé cette année à sa dixième édition. Cet édition du Prix a été organisée sous le patronage de la ville de Craiova, qui a voulu réunir les deux événements, et organisée en coopération avec la Fondation Shakespeare et avec le Théâtre National Marin Sorescu auxquels s’est ajouté la contribution de l’Institut Roumain de Culture.

Au cours de la première journée, en se joignant idéalement à l’International Shakespeare Festival, le Prix a proposé dans la section « Retours » deux spectacles inspirés par le Poète de Stratford-upon-Avon : Julius Caesar, pièces détachées, de Romeo Castellucci et Richard III dans la mise en scène de Thomas Ostermeier.

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Notes from the International Symposium of Theatre Critics and Scholars held in Novi Sad (Serbia), 2015

By Capital Critics Circle | April 28, 2016

Explaining the notion of “embodied criticism”. I

In September this year, the traditional International Symposium of Theatre Critics and Scholars, organized by Sterijino pozorje festival, in collaboration with the IATC, was held in Novi Sad (Serbia). This triennial manifestation, the oldest conference in the world that has been regularly organized under the IATC umbrella, celebrated this year an important jubilee, its fifteenth edition. A better visibility in the year of its jubilee was one of the reasons why the organizers decided to hold the symposium, for the first time in its half-century long history, not during the Sterijino pozorje festival itself (which is in May), but in September, and to link it with the international theatre festival in Belgrade, Bitef.

When the symposium in Novi Sad finished, its participants moved to Belgrade to attend, for two more days, the programme of Bitef and to participate in a round table discussion dedicated to the position and role of critics at the international performing arts festivals. A collaboration between two major Serbian festivals, the national one (Sterijino pozorje) and the international one (Bitef), wasn’t the only collaboration upon which this edition of the Symposium was based. The other collaboration was the one between IATC and IFTR (International Federation for Theatre Research): the call for papers was announced on the web site of IFTR as well, some participants were members not of IATC but of IFTR, the keynote speaker was Professor Dr Christopher Balme from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich (Germany), a former president of ITFR.

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Reikiavik by Juan Mayorga: The Game of Chess.

By Capital Critics Circle | April 26, 2016

Yana Meerzon, who is covering the Festival for the Capital critics circle, has seen Reikiavik at the Europe Theatre Festival in Craiova, Romania. It was performed in Spanish with English sub-titles.

Beckett’s Fin de partie/ Endgame is his masterpiece about the cruelty of time, the ticking clock that measures our minutes, days and years. Reikiavik by Juan Mayorga, a recipient of the 13th Europe Prize Theatrical Realities, XV Europe Theatre Festival, is about a very similar game: the game of chess in which the players are in an impossible combat with death. Dressed up as the story about the 1972 famous match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasski, when the Soviet Union lost its 24 year chess crown to the USA, this play uses the metaphor of chess and the metaphor of playing (or of the game) to talk about love, death, and hope.

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“Janet Wilson Meets the Queen” lands with a thud!

By Capital Critics Circle | April 24, 2016

The World Premiere of Beverly Cooper’s play currently playing at GCTC never quite gets off the ground and never quite lands. It’s partly due to Director Andrea Donaldson, partly the cast, but most of all the script. Artistic Director Eric Coates mentions playwright Cooper’s “. . . idea that our sense of self constantly evolves.” In Janet Wilson Miss Cooper has created a character that refuses to evolve as the world around her changes.

Set in 1969-1971, housewife Wilson is stuck in a white-glove life. She’s unable to deal with an errant husband who we never see, a rebellious teen-age daughter, Katie Ryerson in a strong and believable performance, her mother, played by an overly cantankerous and at times unintelligible Beverly Wolfe, and her American draft-dodger nephew, in a two-dimensional performance verging on caricature by Tony Adams.

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Thomas Ostermeier’s Richard III is a loveable, evil monster.

By Capital Critics Circle | April 24, 2016

Yana Meerzon reviewing from the International Shakespeare Theatre Festival in Craiova, Romania. Richard III is the opening feature of the XV edition of the Europe Theatre Prize held in that city.

Lars Eidinger as Hamlet. Photo:
Arno Declair.

Richard III is one of the most famous villains of the Shakespearean canon and thus it would appear that any interpretation other than that of a manipulator of people’s emotions, a cunning and purely evil murderer or a monster obsessed with power, would not be possible. Yet, German director Thomas Ostermeier who often finds exciting ways to think through the classics, takes such an unexpected turn here . His Richard is someone who can be likeable, charming, open, and simple in his own evil ways. Pretense is the rule by which Ostermeier’s Richard lives; he even becomes a victim, someone with whom we can sympathize.

Although opposing a long-standing tradition is a difficult task, Ostermieier does not shy away from having his his leading actor project good in the evil of his character.

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Reading at the Acting Company Studio :Judith Thompson’s work comes to Ottawa

By Capital Critics Circle | April 17, 2016

PALACE OF THE END
a reading, of Judith Thompson’s award winning play
featuring: Mary Ellis, Chris Ralph & Norah Paton
directed by Laurie Fyffe

WHERE: Acting Company Studio
WHEN: Saturday, May 7, 2016
TIME: 7:30 PM
Admission: PWYC – suggested minimum $10.
This is a Canadian Actors’ Equity Association Production, under the Artists’ Collective Policy.
All proceeds will go toward the Knox Church Refugee Sponsorship Fund to support a refugee family from Aleppo, Syria.
Such is the power of Thompson’s talent that even the chest-thumping newshounds who see the show may find themselves recalling that the earliest reports of man’s inhumanity to man took the form of poems, recited beside a crashing sea. – The New Yorker
Compelling, often shocking, riveting. – The Associated Press
Powerful! Three pitch-perfect …scalding monologues.” – The New York Times
Winner of the 2008 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New play, 2008
Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, 2009