The highlights of this very ambitious production are fine performances from the lead characters of Shrek and the Donkey and some excellent costumes.

Kraig-Paul Proulx handles the role of the green ogre Shrek with great aplomb and Damien Broomes is simply a delight as his sidekick Donkey.

Among the most attractive costumes are the cleverness of the Donkey’s outfit and the charm of the sunflowers.

Director Sue Fowler-Dacey shows her adeptness at handling the enormous cast, despite some variation of ability among the group (almost inevitable given Suzart’s philosophy of openness to any interested in trying their hand at performing or backstage work.)

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Photo: Marnie Richardson.  Eliza Jane-Scott as Maris on Parliament Hill

A production of The Sound of Music conceived as more akin to a pantomime than straightforward musical theatre might appeal to some.

The singalong invitation offered at the beginning sets the tone. Such tricks as a deep-voiced male in drag as a nun in the opening section signal the style. Later, an even cheaper trick of having the Nazi admiral with a Hitler look-alike hairstyle is more irritating.

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Ottawa Little Theatre is serving turkey for Christmas. Over-stuffed with silliness and garnished with an uninteresting, minimalist set and irritating set changes, Christmas Belles by Nicholas Hope, Jessie Jones and Jamie Wooten (all, according to their bios from the “pre-Wal-Mart South”), this festive theatrical meal was accompanied by a rush of walkouts at opening night intermission.

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The Last of Jane Austen
By Shirl Hendryx
Phoenix Players

Appropriate pastimes for elderly ladies are attending readings of Jane Austen’s works at their church and playing quiet games of Canasta at home. But, when the sisters Stevenson become bored with such genteel behaviour and enamoured with the fine art of boxing, their world changes — especially when a needy young man knocks on their door and begs for work.

Finding a photograph of him in boxing mode is all the prompting Sarah and Margaret Stevenson require to go into the boxing business as his trainers/managers.

Such a fairy tale premise makes a believable production extremely difficult. In the Phoenix Players’ version of The Last of Jane Austen, director Jo-Ann McCabe and her cast try very hard to inject some credibility into the show, but they are fighting a losing battle. …

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by John Pielmeier
Kanata Theatre

Based on a 1977 case in New York State, Agnes of God by John Pielmeier, first performed in 1980, tells the story of a young novice accused of strangling her baby. The movie version, released in 1985, starred Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft and Meg Tilly.

In the actual trial, the nun, who, according to the evidence, had apparently been raped by a priest, was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

In Agnes of God, the situation becomes the starting point for pitting faith against science in the form of a battle of words between the Mother Superior at Agnes’ convent and the court-appointed psychiatrist, both of whom carry heavy psychological baggage. …

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Andy Jones as Tartuffe. Photo: Micaela Morey

The universality of oily evangelists and charlatans comes through loud and clear in the current production of Molière’s Tartuffe, “very loosely adapted and even more loosely translated” by Andy Jones of CODCO fame, who also plays the title role — with great glee and to great effect.

The wealthy Orgon is demonstrably as equally easily duped in 1664 in France and in 1939 in Newfoundland. (The stupidity of his obsession is irritating however it is presented, but without his gullibility, Tartuffe could neither triumph nor be exposed as the charlatan he is.)

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Photo courtesy of Suzart Productions and Goya Theatre.

A diary, no matter how famous, is bound to focus on personal matters, regardless of its historical context. Therefore, the emphasis of a musical based on that diary follows the personal relationships and the rise and fall of the career of the writer and uses cataclysmic events of the period as a backdrop.

While this is entirely logical, it is a pity that the script of And So To Bed does not (perhaps cannot) devote more time to the political. One of the strongest moments is when Samuel Pepys is torn between expediency and principle — should he support a man he knows to be innocent and risk ruining his career or should he put selfish interest first?

There are other segments through the script that work equally well but none that holds the key to real conflict to the same degree.

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