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

Maid for a Musket. A Rollicking Good Time in Prescott

By Capital Critics Circle | July 26, 2013

Photos courtesy of the Shakespeare on the Saint Lawrence theatre.

MAID FOR A MUSKET currently running in rep with HAMLET at the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival is, to quote director Ian Farthing, “a wonderfully silly mix of local history and Shakespeare.” Very loosely based on Shakespeare’s LOVE’S LABOURS LOST, playwright Lucia Frangione has set the play in Prescott itself during the war of 1812. As well as literary allusions from that period, she has used local figures and historic events to tie it together, including the British raid on Ogdensburg.

Basically the plot revolves around three British soldiers who swear off women and frivolity for a year in order to study the art of war and glory. Of course their vows immediately begin to crumble when the attractive American widow Farnum turns up with two eligible daughters in tow.

…

Read More Read More

Third Floor at 1000 Islands Playhouse (Gananoque) Disappoints

By Capital Critics Circle | July 15, 2013

Photo. Courtesy !000 Islands Playhouse. With Taylor Towbridge and Craig Pike

THIRD FLOOR by Jason Hall, billed as a “rom-com with a thriller twist,” is neither romantic nor a comedy, although it does have some elements of a thriller. The play, including the title, is an attempt at an homage to Alfred Hitchcock. It’s set in the hallway of an apartment building, with the doors of four apartments visible. Although it’s never mentioned, I assume they’re on the third floor.

Jung-Hye Kim’s set is very workable and features panels above for Kevin Tanner’s projections of scenes from Hitchcock movies. These are used to cover what feels like at least 50 blackouts. Miss Kim’s costume for the woman is very good, providing constant variation from scene to scene. Adam Harendorf’s music between the early scenes is very repetitive and electronic, but improves as the play moves on.

…

Read More Read More

Master Clown Jesse Buck is back with BUBKUS at the Gladstone.July 12

By Capital Critics Circle | July 9, 2013

After nearly four years on tour with Cirque du Soleil, master clown Jesse Buck is bringing his innovative one-man hit show BUBKUS, back to his hometown, to celebrate the show’s ten-year anniversary. BUBKUS will be performed in Ottawa as part of the Gladstone Theatre’s One Night Only series, on July 12, 2013 (with Artbeat Theatre Group’s, Barely Even There).
The purpose of BUBKUS is to show the audience the beauty and possibility of a play without words. The word “bubkus” is Yiddish for “nothing”, and BUBKUS was in fact created out of nothing. Using only a blanket, a pillow and a toothbrush, Jesse’s clown takes the audience through an epic fairytale, featuring fearsome snakes, giants, and dark magic. It is a timeless story told only with play and imagination.

…

Read More Read More

Capital Critics Circle Fringe Festival Choices for 2013.

By Capital Critics Circle | July 1, 2013

This is the first time the Ottawa Fringe Festival has offered Critics’ choice prizes

and the CCC reviewers were asked to select the winners.

Critics are:

Patick Langston, Iris Winston, Jamie Portman, Maja Stefanovska, Rajka Stefanovska

Alvina Ruprecht, Barbara Gray

Choices are:

La Voix Humaine
presented by Opera 5, from Toronto
Music by Francis Poulenc
Libretto by Jean Cocteau based on his play of the same name.
soprano : Rachel Krehm
pianist: Patrick Hansen

Two honourable mentions

6 Guitars                                                                          The Show Must Go On
Concieved by Chase Padgett and Jay Hopkins                A production of Random Samples
performed by Chase Padgett ,                                              Collective, Toronto
from Orlando, Florida                                                        written and performed by Jeff Leard

Ottawa Fringe 2013. Under the Mango Tree

By Capital Critics Circle | June 26, 2013

I have just written a whole page on this show and I pressed the wrong button so it all disappeared and I dont have the energy to write it again.

The play needs a lot of mitigating comments about her performance style to justify and explain why the show did not work for me but Im too tired now.

I’m sorry.

Alvina

Lady Winderemere’s Fan at the Shaw festival: Hinton gives a stunninng production.

By Capital Critics Circle | June 20, 2013

It’s said that Oscar Wilde was the first person to become famous for being famous. The author/playwright whose own affair with Lord Alfred Douglas created a scandal that surpassed any he wrote about in his plays, was known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and sparkling conversation. Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day.

Photo: by Emily Cooper. L to R: Tara Rosling, Gray Powell, Marla McLean. Reviewed by Jeniva Berger, www.scenechanges.com

But it wasn’t until his first "society comedy’ in 1895 that his playwriting career got a kick start. Lady Winderemere’s Fan, subtitled A Play About a Good Woman, was the first of four significant plays of Wilde and marked the beginning of his real stature as a playwright of consequence. Its current production at the Shaw Festival directed by Peter Hinton, lights up the Festival Stage in delicious hues and dark edges.

…

Read More Read More

DIRTY BLONDE: Mae West doesn’t quite breathe

By Capital Critics Circle | June 19, 2013

http://www.bombshells.com/gallery/west/west_gallery.php. Mae West

DIRTY BLONDE by Claudia Shear, running in rep at Pendragon Theatre in Saranac Lake, NY, is about Mae West, queen of the one-liners. The flashbacks of her career and life are interwoven with the present-day lives of Charlie and Jo, fans of Miss West, who meet at her tomb. The play’s structure is confusing at first, as initially the emphasis of the production is totally on Mae. It takes a bit too long for us to understand the framework of the present-day scenes and connect them to the flashback material. Speaking of flashbacks, projection designer Bonnie B. Brewer has done a nice job with the many photos projected on a screen upstage. Tijana Bjelajac’s simple set consisting of three chairs, a table and an upright piano set into a platform stage right, is very workable. Kent Streed’s costumes are good and keep dresser Clare Paulson hopping with the many very fast changes.

…

Read More Read More

Nominations for the Dora Mavor Moore theatre awards. Independent Theatre Division

By Capital Critics Circle | June 11, 2013

Note that the War of 1812 has been nominated in SIX Categories ww.scenechanges.com/theatreworld.html

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION

BOBLO Co-Produced by Kitchenband and The Theatre Centre
The Lesson Modern Times Stage Company
Mr. Marmalade Outside the March
THE WAR OF 1812 The History of the Village of the Small Huts, 1812-15   VideoCabaret in association with the Young Centre for the Performing Arts
Laws of Motion Small Elephant Co-op, Dani Kind and Kate Zeigle
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION
Christopher Stanton   Laws of Motion Small Elephant Co-op, Dani Kind and Kate Zeigler
Mellee Hutton The Dumb Waiter Wordsmyth Theatre
Michael Hollingsworth THE WAR OF 1812 The History of the Village of the Small Huts, 1812-15   Presented by VideoCabaret in association with the Young Centre for the Performing Arts
Mitchell Cushman Mr. Marmalade Outside the March
Soheil Parsa   The Lesson Modern Times Stage Company

…

Read More Read More

Like Wolves at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre: Funny but Flimsly

By Capital Critics Circle | June 10, 2013

Photo:Ottawa Life blog.

GCTC is closing out their season with the world premiere of LIKE WOLVES by Canadian playwright Rosa Laborde. To celebrate their 44^th wedding anniversary Sam surprises Vera by bringing her back to the spot of their rural honeymoon. No longer a charming B&B, it’s now a residence complex surrounded by high rises. When Sam has an unexpected heart attack, their two squabbling daughters arrive, one with a Chechen doctor in tow. Add a slick salesman to the mix and you have the ingredients for a black comedy about marriage, dreams and life choices.

…

Read More Read More

The National Arts Centre mourns the passing of Maestro Mario Bernardi

By Capital Critics Circle | June 3, 2013

Photo. Malak Karsh

NAC Flag is lowered in tribute to the founding conductor of the NAC Orchestra

Ottawa (Canada)—The National Arts Centre (NAC) mourns the loss of Maestro Mario Bernardi, the founding conductor of the NAC Orchestra. Maestro Bernardi passed away peacefully in Toronto on Sunday morning.

The NAC lowered its flag in Ottawa to half-mast to pay tribute to the man who moved to the nation’s capital in 1968, to literally build the 45-member NAC Orchestra from the ground up.

…

Read More Read More