It is understandable that the discovery of his grandfather’s journals is fascinating for his grandson. But the excerpts presented in Newfound Histories do not have the same fascination for a general audience.

Added to the generally boring nature of the content, the awkward attempt to connect past and present by having Evan Walsh move between rocking chair and restaurant table creaks more than a little.

The blurb on Newfound Histories sounded attractive for history buffs. The reality is a disappointment.

 Newfound Histories   by Evan Walsh  

A Vagrant, Arts Court library (Venue 2)

The performance is devilishly powerful, sometimes enhanced and sometimes hampered by the chosen venue.

Veteran fringe performer John D. Huston, elegant and dapper in a smart business suit, dress shirt with French cuffs and cufflinks, polished shoes and a scarlet tie — the only concession to traditional hellish tones — advises his nephew on how to perfect his abilities as a tempter, while he prepares his keynote address to the next graduating class of young devils.

This dramatization of C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters, updated to include computer technology and such current references as mention of corruption in the Senate, is fascinating. It is also somewhat uncomfortable to have this content presented in the sanctuary of a church (the acoustics are not that good anyway) with the final speech delivered from the pulpit.

In the performance I saw, Huston pitched his presentation at such a high level from the beginning that it was difficult for him to extend his emotional reach. Nevertheless, this is one of the must-sees of the Fringe.

Note: This production is 75 minutes. Plays in St.Paul’s Eastern United Church Sanctuary (BYOV)

Screwtape

By John d. Huston. By the Book Productions

One of the few shows at the Fringe to offer a program (thank you) Autoerotic, directed by Wayne Current, is a story of sexual fantasy that is only partly successful, despite well controlled and choreographed performances from Sterling Lynch (also the playwright) and Linda Webster.

Whether this is a recounting of an ordinary business transaction about buying sexual favours that evolves into a relationship or simply a series of imagined encounters and a way for a lonely man to escape temporarily is unclear. Either would work if Autoerotic created a closer connection with the audience than was apparent in the performance I saw.

Autoerotic, plays at Arts Court library (Venue 2)

Photo. Maria Vartanova

In many respects, J.B. Priestley’s Dangerous Corner, written in 1932, is like the early T-groups that became popular some 40 years later.

The T- or sensitivity-training groups, also known as encounter groups, were intended to encourage self-awareness by exposing emotions and attitudes. Some of the most controversial were effective in laying inner thoughts and feelings bare, but apparently had more trouble in putting those they destroyed back together. This is the warning implicit in Priestley’s psychological thriller. Do we really want to hear every uncomfortable detail of truth? Isn’t it more civilized and safer to retain a social veneer?

To emphasize the point, the opening, in semi-darkness, features the end of a radio play called The Sleeping Dog — which all the listeners would be better to let lie. But, the group, together for an elegant social evening at the home of Robert and Freda Caplan, do not hear the warning. Instead they turn the dangerous corner of total exposure of lies, theft, infidelity and emotional betrayal, sparked by opening a musical cigarette box — a true Pandora’s box in terms of the release of information about the various sins and desires of the cosy group. Only turning the clock back could have avoided the crisis of psychological destruction.

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Photo: Modella Media

Underneath the froth, bubble and joy of Hairspray is a serious intent. While the 2002 musical (adapted from the 1988 movie) delivers its message about inclusion in a lighthearted, rhythmic way, the pain of being an outsider and the cruelty of some of the insiders is clear. This is particularly so in view of recent events in Baltimore, the setting of the award-winning show.

Although Hairspray’s main aim is entertainment, it is also a metaphor about not having to be a Barbie-doll type beauty to ensure success and partly a statement about racism and social conditions in the 1960s U.S.

Hairspray takes place in 1962, the era of big-hair and back-combing fashion and the year before Martin Luther King’s famous I Have a Dream speech called for an end to racial discrimination in the United States and it becoming a place where people would “not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

In the musical, the initial focus is on a fat girl with big hair and big dreams. Tracy Turnblad desperately wants to be one of the teen dancers on her favourite television show. First, she and Little Inez, a black dancer with a similar ambition, have to fight for the chance to audition for spots on the TV show.

The Orpheus Musical Theatre Society production of Hairspray, directed by Judy Follett, with musical direction by Gabriel Leury, starts in top gear with a cleverly designed bedroom scene and the clear-voiced Joyanne Rudiak as Tracy waking to deliver Good Morning Baltimore.

A well-drilled ensemble, with strong choreography from Mary Hills, and extra voices from the pit to add richness give the impression that the large cast is even bigger than it actually is.

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Photo: Alan Dean.
Presenting Jesus Christ Superstar as a rock musical was controversial when it premiered in 1971. Andrew Lloyd Webber (then 21) and Tim Rice based the show on the accounts of the last week of Christ’s life in the Gospels and peppered it with anachronistic allusions.

Revivals over the years have included further anachronisms and sometimes updated the setting. The vision of the current Suzart production is a present-day Jesus Christ Superstar. As director/designer Elaine McCausland says in the program note, she asked herself, “How would it look if Jesus arrived in the Byward Market in Ottawa in 2015?”

Does the concept work? Some aspects work extremely well and inject immediacy. At other times, it is hard to understand some of the choices. For example, having Christ on the cross being blessed by a Roman Catholic priest makes no sense however much leeway is given to anachronistic references. Christianity did not exist until after the death of Jesus, who was a Jew. One of the main reasons given for his being tried and crucified was that he was called the King of the Jews (by others).

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Photos from the Kanata Theatre website.

The Faustian theme goes curling in The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon. W.O. Mitchell’s Canadianization of bargaining with the Devil worked in its original incarnation as a radio play in 1951, then as a television play in 1965 and, finally, as a much-lauded comedy on stage in 1979.

But, whether it is the play that has not stood the test of time or the many hiccups in the Kanata Theatre production, it certainly comes across as corny and laboured in 2015.

As directed by Shelagh Mills, the script seems wordier, the show edges along at a snail’s pace and the staging is extremely choppy and repetitive. Actors, who periodically appear uncomfortable in their roles, frequently stand, shout and declaim rather than project. The two worst offenders in this regard are Derek Barr as the Devil and Gordon Walls as Pipefitting Charlie Brown.

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