Arsenic and Old Lace By Joseph Kesselring; Kanata Theatre
Directed by Jim Clarke
Judging from the packed houses and the enthusiastic audience response, the Kanata Theatre production of Joseph Kesselring’s dark comedy Arsenic and Old Lace has been unaffected by another local company (Ottawa Little Theatre) mounting the show earlier in the same season. …
The Illusionists, Broadway Across Canada
The show bursts onto the stage with lights flashing, smoke, mirrors and a large video screen proclaiming that the spectacle of The Illusionists is beginning.
Las Vegas style entertainment, particularly when emcee/comedian/magician Jeff Hobson is on stage, the aim is to dazzle as well as to entertain. Outfitted in Liberace-type costumes, he uses somewhat off-colour humour to maintain the show’s momentum. But he certainly contributes a fair amount of sparkle. …
A Streetcar Named Desiare by Tennessee Williams. Ottawa Little Theatre. Directed by Sarah Hearn
A Streetcar Named Desire, generally regarded as one of the major plays of the 20th century, is also one of the most disturbing. Playwright Tennessee Williams’ portrait of aging southern belle Blanche Dubois, surrounded by self-delusion and fantasy as she crumbles into mental collapse was the primary focus of the drama when it premiered in 1947.
When Marlon Brando recreated his stage performance in the 1951 movie version as her brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski, the balance of the drama seemed to shift to make Streetcar his story, highlighting the explosive relationship with his wife, Stella — Blanche’s younger sister — and the constant tension with Blanche. …
Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl
Phoenix Players
Directed by André Dimitrijevic and Rachel Worton
How much of a risk for actors is kissing on stage? Does the challenge of making a kiss appear full of emotion sometimes/occasionally/often morph into the real thing? And what happens when a pair of ex-lovers is cast in a romantic comedy about, what else, a pair of ex-lovers rekindling former romance? …
carried away on the crest of a wave by David Yee, directed by Kim Collier. An NAC English Theatre Production
Throw a pebble into a pool of water and the circles of ripples spread far beyond the point of entry. Magnified a thousand times, the aftermath of a massive natural disaster such as the December 2004 tsunami that claimed more than 250,000 lives spread around the world.
In carried away on the crest of a wave, playwright David Yee demonstrates the aftershocks in lives changed forever in many parts of the world far removed from the tsunami in Asia. …
A Night in November by Marie Jones. Performed and directed by Pierre Brault
The Irish Troubles were raging in1994. Therefore, it is not surprising that the World Cup series qualifying football match in Belfast between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland — won by the Republic (later that year to win the World Cup) turned into a battlefield.
Prejudice and violence coated in national loyalty were laid bare at the game. In A Night in November, this is the glass through which Kenneth McCallister, a Protestant dole clerk in Belfast, views his life. …
Grease: Book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
Orpheus Musical Theatre Society
Directed by Chantale Plante
For some, Grease is all about nostalgia for the 50s and yearning for a simpler time. But, was it really simpler or were expectations, social roles and rules simply different? …
Godspell by John-Michael Tebelak
Music and new lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
9th Hour Theatre Company
Directed by Jonathan Harris
Godspell was a major hit when it premiered 47 years ago. In 1971, writer John-Michael Tebelak — who also directed the original — delivered a rock musical of the “make love not war” era, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (whose later works included Pippin and Wicked.)
In its earliest version, Jesus was a flower child and the focus was on the parables, the teachings of Jesus and the music. The 9th Hour Theatre Company version is presented as being “adapted and reconceived for a contemporary audience.” …
The Normal Heart
Photo Maria Vartanova
The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer, Toto Too theatre, directed by Jim McNabb and Shaun Toohey.
A friend smiled as he recalled the late 1970s as a wonderful time of emotional and sexual freedom. We had met for lunch after his weekly doctor’s appointment. He reported that he had lost a little weight and that one or two more dark marks had shown up on his body. But he was fine, he said. The year was 1990. Less than three months later, he was dead, another victim of the AIDS crisis.
By this time, the scourge of acquired immune deficiency syndrome had been recognized as an epidemic. The black, purple, brown or red marks of Kaposi’s sarcoma were understood to be signs of the dangerous progression of the killing disease.
When Larry Kramer wrote his angry autobiographical play The Normal Heart, first presented off Broadway in 1985, he was continuing his fight to make people understand and respond to the ever-increasing death toll. Yet, because AIDS in 1981 (when HIV/AIDS was officially recognized as an epidemic) and earlier primarily affected gay men, it was extremely difficult to raise political or personal awareness of the depth of the problem. And, in The Normal Heart, Kramer gives no quarter to the members of the gay community, who were too timid to fight or too hung up on sexual liberation to recognize that abstinence might stem the spread of the disease. …
The Clean house by Susan Ruhl, Three Sisters Theatre Company, Directed by Mary Ellis
The most striking aspect of Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House is that the sum of the parts is far less than the play as a whole. The most amazing view of this 2004 play’s history is that it was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. (2005 must have been a dry year for playwriting in the U.S.)