Author: Jamie Portman

Jamie Portman has distinguished himself as one of the finest theatre critics in the country. He is presently a free lance critic , periodically writing reviews for theatre in Canada and in England for the Capitalcriticscircle and Postmedia-News (formerly CanWest). Jamie makes his home in Kanata.
Some Solid Theatre At This Year’s Extremely Short Play Festival

Some Solid Theatre At This Year’s Extremely Short Play Festival

By |

extremely10482781_10154876911445055_6458796448432527961_n 

Photo.Andrew Alexander.   Mary Ellis and John Muggleton.

Ottawa’s Extremely Short New Play Festival can always be depended on to yield surprises. To be sure, some entries may prove profoundly uninvolving even even though they mercifully last only a few minutes. But there are always others that yield rich dividends.

Such is the case with the 2014 edition, which continues at the Arts Court Theatre until Nov. 30. As always, director John Koensgen and his actors use a bare stage and the simplest of props. As always, there’s a professional flow to the evening, with one play giving way to the next with a minimum of fuss. And most importantly, the playbill again features a quartet of solid actors — Mary Ellis, Gabrielle Lazarovitz, Brad Long and John Muggleton — giving their all to the material and, in the process, demonstrating their versatility.

…

Read More Read More

The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: An Evening of Potent Imagery and Fine Ensemble Acting.

The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: An Evening of Potent Imagery and Fine Ensemble Acting.

By |

Jekyll-Hyde-Poster-FINAL-low-resolution-399x576

Poster for Kanata Theatre

American playwright Jeffrey Hatcher has created an astonishing new stage version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case Of Doctor Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. It astonishes because of the way it refines and deepens Stevenson’s preoccupation with the idea of a dual nature lurking within every human being, also because of its audacity in offering its own spin on what happens when the respected Henry Jekyll’s lab experiments turn him into the homicidal, cane-wielding Mr. Hyde.

The original novel remains a creepy read. And Kanata Theatre’s sterling production of Hatcher’s play ensures a similar frisson. Director Wendy Wagner, assisted here by Ilona Henkelman, shrouds this piece in atmosphere. Skeletal images lurk behind the fog and gloom, and even the play’s brightly lit moments seem imprisoned in an impenetrable darkness. The existence of creatures and things that go bump in the night seems entirely plausible.

So yes, this is a mood piece. But at Kanata it also moves with a bracing energy and offers a bouquet of fine ensemble acting.

…

Read More Read More

The Importance Of Being Earnest. A cringe-inducing production that is trivial and insulting!

The Importance Of Being Earnest. A cringe-inducing production that is trivial and insulting!

By |

oscarnadted__ensemble__large

Photo: Andrée Lanthier

The National Arts Centre’s English theatre division has proudly unveiled its 2014-15 acting ensemble — and one can only feel embarrassed.

The rationale for a permanent acting company is a sound one. It’s to elevate the play-going experience by assembling a gifted team of artists versatile enough to tackle all types of theatre with confidence and understanding. Possibly the prime example in Canada exists at the Shaw Festival where its company has been hailed as the best in the western hemisphere.

That said, any acting company worth its salt should be able to meet the demands of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest, a staple of the basic repertoire. Unfortunately, the NAC’s much vaunted new ensemble fails the test lamentably.

…

Read More Read More

School For Wives: Excellent Production, Troublesome Translation at The Gladstone

School For Wives: Excellent Production, Troublesome Translation at The Gladstone

By |

Balcony LR David Benedict Brown, Catriona Leger, Tess Mc Manus, Drew Moore, Andy Massingham - photo David Whiteley

Photo. David Whitely.  Set by David Magladry.

Once upon a time, way back in the 17th Century, Moliere wrote a classic comedy called School For Wives. He also created a classic comic character in his main protagonist, Arnolphe, an obsessive control freak who has groomed his ward, Agnes, throughout her young life for the ultimate role of becoming his own compliant, virtuous and faithful wife.

In the original play, Arnolphe has also given himself a second name, Monsieur de la Souche, his amusing inspiration for this being a gnarled but sturdy tree stump of his acquaintance. But David Whiteley, supplier of the new translation for the Gladstone Theatre’s current production of School For Wives, has apparently decided that Moliere needs an injection of contemporary vulgarity in order to ensure that he still connects with contemporary audiences. Hence, Arnolphe now possesses a different aka — Monsieur la Douche.

…

Read More Read More

The Lights of Shangri-La. Outstanding Performances Highlight New Play.

The Lights of Shangri-La. Outstanding Performances Highlight New Play.

By |

shangrila-280x362

Ottawa dramatist David Whiteman has created a trio of beautifully-drawn characters in his new play, The Lights Of Shangri-La. Thematically, this piece may have little new to say: its main narrative thrust stems from the fact that its two principals are gearing up to make painful revelations about themselves to others, and have trouble doing so — and really, that’s a pretty ho-hum device these days. Nevertheless, when it comes to character and dialogue, the play shows real strengths, and these are well-served in director Sarah Hearn’s discerning production.

The evening is highlighted by a terrific performance from Shaun Toohey, as Crockett Sumner, a guy who may have given up his acting career but who still feels compelled to make every moment of his waking life a performance. Crockett is gay, somewhat estranged from his male lover, a policeman named Ilya, and still in denial when it comes to admitting that he’s now HIV positive. Toohey’s Crockett is sharp-tongued, self-admiring and often insufferable, but the performance also offers glimpses of a tormented narcissist unable to drop the mask.

…

Read More Read More

Stratford Ends Its Season On A High Note with The Beaux Stratagem:

Stratford Ends Its Season On A High Note with The Beaux Stratagem:

By |

beaux214665608489_7b8c5c95e8

Photo: Michael Cooper

STRATFORD — We’re only minutes into the Stratford Festival’s splendid revival of George Farquhar’s 1707 comedy, The Beaux Stratagem when we’re presented with the first of many sublimely funny moments.

Mike Shara (extreme right of the photo)  one of those rare actors who can wear fancy dress with confidence, is an amiable opportunist named Aimwell whose mission in life is to find and marry a wealthy heiress. At this moment, he’s in an inn and brooking danger to his health by sampling a flagon of the local ale. Shara’s reaction to his first taste of this lethal brew is all flaying limbs and gasping, gulping horror — yet it’s carried out with the kind of spontaneity that underlines this fine actor’s mastery of physical comedy.

…

Read More Read More

Stratford’s Antony And Cleopatra: The Whole is Lesser Than The Parts.

Stratford’s Antony And Cleopatra: The Whole is Lesser Than The Parts.

By |

 

antony14874297573_a8d6428c2c

Yanna McIntosh as Cleopatra, Geraint Wyn Davies as  Antony. Photo David Hou.

STRATFORD — There’s no denying the memorable moments in the Stratford Festival’s new production of Antony And Cleopatra.

For example — the ferocious outburst of sexual rage from Yanna McIntosh’s Cleopatra when she learns that Antony, the love of her life, has married someone else. Director Gary Griffin shows a keen sense of dramatic timing here, extracting a mounting tension from the scene before Cleopatra explodes into fury.

That sequence is splendidly theatrical. But, in contrast, we also get displays of tender intimacy. A lovely scene where McIntosh helps the aging and weary Antony of Geraint Wyn Davies into his armour has an easy familiarity about it: these are two lovers who know each other well, who are comfortable with each other, who respond to each other naturally.

…

Read More Read More

Bernard Shaw’s early comedy, The Philanderer, makes a stunning return to the Shaw festival – reviewed by Jamie Portman.

Bernard Shaw’s early comedy, The Philanderer, makes a stunning return to the Shaw festival – reviewed by Jamie Portman.

By |

Shaw_The_Philanderer_WebGallery7

Photo: David Cooper. Featuring Marla  McLean and Gord Rand.

NIAGARA-ONTHE-LAKE, Ont. — We’re not really getting full nudity on the stage of the Festival Theatre, but that’s still what the opening moments of The Philanderer manage to suggest.

We’re privy to a couple still in lustful embrace, and they leave us in no doubt about what has just taken place. The man is Leonard Charteris, an accomplished womanizer whose sexual confidence is only matched by his sense of sexual entitlement. The woman is Grace Tranfield, a current conquest and a young widow who has managed to convince herself that the charismatic Leonard is her new soul mate.

…

Read More Read More

The Sea: a beautiful production at Shaw of a strange and beguiling fable that evokes an elusive something; reviewed by Jamie Portman.

The Sea: a beautiful production at Shaw of a strange and beguiling fable that evokes an elusive something; reviewed by Jamie Portman.

By |

the-sea-fiona-reid

Fiona Reid in The Sea. Photo: David Cooper.

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont.  —   Edward Bond’s The Sea is perhaps the most personal play he ever wrote in terms of its relationship to his own life, and it’s certainly his most accessible.
But as the Shaw Festival’s sterling new production of this 41-year-old piece reminds us, it’s also a strange and beguiling fable, set a century ago in an East Anglian seaside village and turning its sights on two favorite Bond preoccupations — class and social disorder.
It can seem discordant in performance. The play can touch you to the heart at one moment — witness the poignancy with which its two young protagonists, beautifully played by Wade Bogert-O’Brien and Julia Course, experience a shared loss from a tragic death and also a shared yearning for escape from a repressive environment. Yet, within the compass of this same play, you’ll encounter a funeral service that degenerates into surrealistic farce.

…

Read More Read More

Christina Casts its Spell At Stratford Despite Problematic Script:

Christina Casts its Spell At Stratford Despite Problematic Script:

By |

christina14657240068_d069ed086e

Jenny Young and Graham Abbey. Photo Cylla Von Tiedemann

STRATFORD — She bursts onto the stage of the Tom Patterson Theatre with cyclonic force, a female fury in the elegant garb of a male. But don’t assume we’re getting another variation of a trouser role here.
This not a case of actress Jenny Young simply dressing up like a man. She’s not just making like a 17th Century tomboy. It’s a moot point as to whether she voraciously inhabits the character of Sweden’s endlessly fascinating Queen Christina or whether Christina has taken occupancy of her. The bottom line is that she seizes our attention immediately as — all attitude — she starts berating a hapless court booby named Karl Gustav for his attempts to ravish her.
What comes through here with burning intensity is the forthright young queen’s revulsion at the thought of any intimate contact with a male. Indeed, as Young’s Christina spells out details of Karl’s attempted seduction, we wouldn’t be surprised if she upchucked before our eyes at any moment.

…

Read More Read More