Women Who Shout at the Stars written and performed by Carolyn Heatherington, directed by Kathryn Mackay, dramaturgy by Judith Thompson.

Heatherington’s reminiscences are a not to be missed emersion in the distance past of the 1930s.  The characters of her mother Gwen and childhood nannie Edie float across a landscape ravaged by war and lost loves in which the lovely and vulnerable Heatherington was as often her mother’s savior as her child.  Sensitively written by Heatherington, the play allows a daughter to speak for her mother, and make peace with her, while never becoming sentimental. Shaped by bold choices these are women who courageously embrace the consequences of those choices. Heatherington’s performance is by turns gentle, then swift and sharp, but always imbued with humour, and the portraits are unforgettable.  – Snapshot on the Fringe by Laurie Fyffe

Plays at the Leonard Beaulne Studio.

A snapshot on the fringe !

A Universal Guide to Loving Your Shadow written & performed by Sylvia Kindl

When Sylvia Kindl came to Ottawa a strange thing happened, she found herself followed, stalked, and well shadowed by an alter ego, an unexpected interloper who was a lot more aggressive and – imagine the audacity – attractive to young, skinny men than her corporeal self. Teetering between a stand-up comedy routine, sprinkled with highly amusing observations, and a story telling monologue that peels away a curiously dark side of Ottawa, Kindl addresses her audience in an intimate and personable way. But she sometimes loses the thread, and we don’t hear enough from ‘the shadow’. When her shadow launches into a rant, Kindl shuts her down too soon. Sylvia’s shadow is an altered personality complex with something to say and, I suspect, deeper and darker Ottawa secrets to reveal.  A play that will tell you “you’re not alone” if you think Ottawa, in addition to having a lovely canal and a thing about tulips, is sometimes a weird city to live in! 

PLays in Arts Court Library

Oceans Apart by Alain G. Chauvin, dramaturgy by Catherine Ballachey, featuring Alain G. Chauvin with Daniel Groleau Landry and Rebecca Laviolette. Haunted by memories of combat, a solider returns home to Canada and the “real world” now made strange. While the text handles the subject with sensitivity, the main character’s determination to conceal his pain creates a distance that sometimes blurs the picture. Still, moments of revelation colour the narrative, such as when the character reveals why he chose to leave his family and make his cross Canada trek, or contrasts the physical landscape of home with that of Afghanistan.

– Snapshot on the Fringe by Laurie Fyffe