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

The Edward Curtis Project: Visuals Aren’t Enough

By Capital Critics Circle | April 10, 2013

Todd Duckworth as Edward Curtis. Photo, Andrew Alexandre

THE EDWARD CURTIS PROJECT, written and directed by Marie Clements, typifies a problem that’s becoming all too common in contemporary theatre. The technical production far outstrips the script, which I hesitate to even call a play. Rather, it’s more a disjointed sophomoric polemic on the plight of Aboriginals. When I end up with four pages of notes, all on the set, projections and music, it’s a sure sign that something’s out of kilter.

The story is centered on Angeline, a traumatized Aboriginal journalist. However we don’t get a full picture of her traumatic experience until near the end of the piece, so much of the earlier material is merely confusing. As for Edward Curtis, the controversy regarding him and his photographs isn’t mentioned. In order to get the point, one needs a deeper knowledge of his work than can be gleaned from the sketchy script.

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The Fools for World Theatre Day: Fourth Stage at the NAC

By Capital Critics Circle | March 26, 2013

Ottawa Theatre Challenge

Wednesday March 27th,2013
National Arts Centre,Fourth Stage
53 Elgin Street, Ottawa.
The Doors open at 7:00 pm and the fun begins at 7:30 pm

In celebration of World Theatre Day,theatre companies from across the region come together to compete in a “Contest of Creation.”The participating companies will have only 48 hours to write,rehearse and produce a brand new piece of theatre from objects of inspiration provided to them by the other competitors.

A storm of creativity is unleashed and the results presented for the audience and panel of esteemed but easily bribed judges on Wednesday March 27th,2013 at the National Arts Centre,Fourth Stage. Hilarity is the result! It’s all in good fun and the prize? Why the world renowned and highly coveted Rubber Chicken Award and bragging rights as Ottawa’s Best Theatre Company! Tickets are now available through the NAC Box Office and Ticketmaster. Proceeds to the ALS Society of Canada

Photo: Margo Macdonald and Scott Florence : the best of Fools!

World Theatre Day, March 27. Events in Ottawa and the Official Message from Dario Fo in English and in French.

By Capital Critics Circle | March 26, 2013

Dario Fo, the actor, writer and director who inherited and transmitted the Commedia dell’arte tradition,won the Nobel prize in 1997,

Today, his official message for World Theatre Day (2013), published by the International Theatre Institute, follows in English and French, translated from Italian

English

A long time ago, the people in power resolved the intolerance against Commedia dell’Arte actors by chasing them out of the country.

Portrait of Dario Fo. Photo taken at the Venice Carnival in Italy, February 2009.
Copyright © Marina Muolo

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Le retour du “Cahier"…” à la fondation Clément: intense émotion par la grâce de Jacques Martial.

By Capital Critics Circle | March 18, 2013

—Par Roland Sabra —

Depuis 10 ans sa lecture du « Cahier d’un retour au pays natal » tourne autour du monde, Australie, Guadeloupe, Singapour, Fidji, Nouvelle Calédonie, New-York, Martinique, Paris, etc. avec aussi des retours, obligés, au pays natal de l’auteur. C’était le cas samedi soir à la Fondation Clément, en plein air. Moment inoubliable : les fils, au propre et au figuré, de Césaire, hallucinés et émus jusqu’aux larmes, et c’étaient de vraies larmes miraculeuses, ont vu de leurs yeux vu sur scène le Père de la nation martiniquaise. Alors que rien dans la corpulence de Jacques Martial ne renvoie à la frêle silhouette du poète, Césaire était là vivant parmi les siens. C’était Lui au premier jet du texte. Telle est la performance fabuleuse de Jacques Martial dans la nuit lumineuse d’un moment partagé.

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Opera Lyra announces a return to Bizet, Puccini and Gilbert and Sullivan!! Something for everyone..

By Capital Critics Circle | March 15, 2013

Carmen at Opera Lyra.

Photos: from Opera Lyra

Today, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Tyrone Paterson announced he has programmed a season filled with passion, love and crime. Bizet’s Carmen and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly will both be fully staged operas in Southam Hall, NAC. Rounding out the season is an opera for families and students; Gilbert & Sullivan’s witty

Pirates of Penzance presented in the Arts Court Theatre.

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Innocence Lost. A Factual Re-imagining

By Capital Critics Circle | March 6, 2013

Allan Morgan & Fiona Reid Photo: Lucy Tremblay Gaudette

Innocence Lost, a Play About Steven Truscott by Beverly Cooper, tells the story of a 1959 murder and subsequent trial whose outcome eventually changed the entire Canadian judicial system. Fourteen-year-old Steven Truscott was tried and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of his twelve-year-old classmate Lynn Harper. Continuously maintaining his innocence through many appeals, his conviction was finally overturned in 2007. Playwright Cooper explores the case using trial transcripts and interviews to help understand its effects on both the country and Steven’s friends and family.

Although this is a fascinating story, the structure of INNOCENCE LOST feels much more like a documentary than a play. The majority of the story, especially in Act I, is told either in narration or statements of facts delivered as direct address to the audience. Even in Act II, which contains more short dramatic scenes, we just begin to become involved when the scene is broken off for more narration.

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NOMINEES ANNOUNCED FOR THE SIXTH ANNUAL PRIX RIDEAU AWARDS

By Capital Critics Circle | March 1, 2013

Some of the Nominees ….

Zone, ABC Démolition, Kathi Langston, Todd Duckworth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Vernus at the Fringe.

Founded in 2006 to celebrate, encourage and promote French and English locally produced
professional theatre work and its artists, the Prix Rideau Awards is proud to announce the nominees
for 2012.

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The Audience: broadcast live across North America (and Ottawa) June 13

By Capital Critics Circle | February 22, 2013

National Theatre Live to Broadcast The Audience Starring Broadway Vet Helen Mirren

By Bethany Rickwald • Feb 22, 2013 • New York City

Helen Mirren in <i>The Audience</i> Helen Mirren in The Audience
(© Johan Persson) The world premiere of Peter Morgan’s (Frost/Nixon) The Audience, starring so-many-awards winner Helen Mirren (Dance of Death), will be broadcast from London’s Gielgud Theatre to movie theaters across North America on June 13. The filmed performance, presented by National Theatre Live, will also show on varying dates internationally and at encore screenings throughout the summer.

Directed by Broadway’s Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot: The Musical, Creative Executive Producer of Ceremonies for the London Olympics), The Audience imagines a series of pivotal meetings between Britain’s Downing Street incumbents and their Queen. These encounters are based on the actual conferences Elizabeth II has held weekly with each of her twelve Prime Ministers for sixty years.

In addition to Mirren, who will be playing The Queen, the cast includes Michael Elwyn (The Iron Lady), Haydn Gwynne (Billy Elliot: The Musical), Robert Hardy (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Richard McCabe (Yes, Prime Minister), Nathaniel Parker (The Merchant of Venice), Paul Ritter (The Norman Conquests), Rufus Wright (The 39 Steps), Geoffrey Beevers, Maya Gerber, and Nell Williams.

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Metamorphoses – The Emperor Has No Clothes

By Capital Critics Circle | February 4, 2013

Metamorphoses2 — Andy Massingham & Joey Tremblay
Photo: Andree Lanthier

The production of METAMORPHOSES by Mary Zimmerman currently at the NAC is a perfect example of a very good production of a very weak play. METAMORPHOSES is based on the myths of Ovid and is staged, apparently at the request of the playwright, primarily in and around pools of water. The watery gimmicks disguise the fact that there’s not much of a play there, and what there is comes off as both sophomoric and pretentious. The script is rather what one would expect from a university MFA program, not professional theatre. That said, I repeat that the production is first rate.

Bretta Gerecke’s eye-catching double level set of silvery metal features not one but two pools. The smaller tank on the upper level has a glass front, allowing the audience to see what’s happening under water. The large square pool below appears to be about a foot deep and gives the actors plenty of room to slosh around as well as sit on the surrounding benches. Stairs right and left connect the levels, and – oh – more water. It constantly rains in a band onto the upper level and pool. Miss Gereke’s costumes are excellent and clever, especially that for Apollo. …

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Carmen Aguirre’s BLUE BOX Disappoints in Larger Venue

By Capital Critics Circle | January 21, 2013

Blue_Box_2 — Carmen Aguirre
Photo: Andrew Alexander

BLUE BOX, written and performed by Carmen Aguirre, deals with two aspects of her life, both concerned with passion of different kinds. There is her passion as a youthful revolutionary in the Chile of Pinochet and there’s her romantic passion for a Hollywood movie star when in her early thirties. The structure of what is essentially a monologue is problematic. It shifts abruptly and constantly in time and place with no apparent reason or connection, making it difficult to follow. …

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