Author: Maja Stefanovska

Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina to a political journalist father and arts critic mother (Rajka Stevanovska) , Maja has been immersed in the performing arts since she could barely walk and learned very early on to look upon works with a critical eye. She has a Master's degree in communication and currently works for the government in her field, as well as writing theater reviews on the side.
The Neverending Story: NAC’s production a visual feast which doesn’t quite gel with the story

The Neverending Story: NAC’s production a visual feast which doesn’t quite gel with the story

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Photo Emily Cooper

The Neverending Story is a testament to the importance of imagination and the power of stories. When life seems to be closing in around us, the story reminds us that imagination can be the force needed to start anew and lift ourselves up. It makes sense, then, that director Jillian Keiley’s production for the National Arts Centre – adapted by David S. Craig from Michael Ende’s popular novel – uses a number of different techniques to showcase imagination on stage, almost all of them visual. It’s clear that no expense was spared in creating the visually slick world, filled with magical creatures and highlighter-toned colours. It’s certainly visually striking. Unfortunately, the core story often feels forgotten at the service of the visuals, making the emotional impact of its message fall flat. …

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Mama Mia! – A fun, albeit uneven production

Mama Mia! – A fun, albeit uneven production

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Image courtesy of Suzart Productions

Mama Mia!, the well-loved jukebox musical featuring ABBA’s greatest hits leads the audience on a romp through a sun-drenched Greek island and fills them with a heady combination of romantic, carefree, and nostalgic sentiment. In order for this to really work, a production needs to match the light and energetic pace. Suzart’s well-directed production of the musical has potential, but ends up feeling sluggish and uneven. There are many moments, particularly when the ensemble is involved, that sparkle with energy and fun, but most of the solo acts could have benefitted from an injection of energy befitting the heart of the story to boost the production up to its potential. …

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Oleanna: Seventhirty Productions excellent take on flawed script

Oleanna: Seventhirty Productions excellent take on flawed script

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Image: Seventhirty Productions

David Mamet’s play Oleanna is about the power struggle between a university professor and one of his female students who accuses him of sexual harassment. It came out around the time of Anita Hill’s testimony against U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Clarence Thomas and the themes still ring true. The early 90s had Anita Hill and the 2010s have the #MeToo movement, proving these problems are, unfortunately, still very relevant. Today, there is a push to hold those in power to task for their predatory behaviour, and political correctness is at the forefront of discussion. It is no surprise that a play centring around power and submission and who has the right to occupy what position, is fiercely relevant and needed today. I’m just not sure Oleanna is or should be that play. …

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Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story: Form gets in the way of important, heartfelt story

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story: Form gets in the way of important, heartfelt story

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Photo: Stoo Metz Photography

Hannah Moscovitch has a rare gift for portraying sincere, nuanced relationships. To watch her characters on stage is to live their moments of pain, joy, and intimacy along with them. In her best works, the connection between characters leads the story, with social commentary powerfully rounding out the edges. In Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, presented by 2b Theatre (Halifax) at the National Arts Centre, she flips the formula and tries to let social commentary take the lead. The result is a messy and overall jarring show made up of various parts that are incongruous with each other, both in style and substance. …

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Hamlet: brilliant performances but opposite gender casting adds nothing new to the play

Hamlet: brilliant performances but opposite gender casting adds nothing new to the play

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Photo   Bronwen Sharp                                                                                                                                                                   That Why Not Theatre’s Prince Hamlet is daring and different is undeniable. Adapter and director Ravi Jain has taken the well-known classic and given it a gender-bending, modern, bilingual twist. By approaching the story from a different perspective, the aim is for more people to see themselves in the mirror being held up to nature, in the director and playwright’s words. It is an ambitious undertaking and, while the approach is refreshing and there are some stand-out moments, there are so many elements competing for attention that the production comes off as messy rather than avant-garde. …

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In the Unseen World: Important story in need of polishing

In the Unseen World: Important story in need of polishing

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In the Unseen WorldIn the Unseen World, performed at the new LabO “black box” theatre space, is a devised theatre performance directed by University of Ottawa MFA directing student Vivi Sørensen. The piece is a reaction to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and the performance moves between a present day Inuk journalist writing a story on the topic and traditional myths.  Sørensen, originally from Nuuk, Greenland, is particularly interested in working with storytelling, influenced by old Inuit stories she heard throughout her childhood. Her love of the form is evident in her mastery of it. The strongest and most beautiful parts of the performance are during the storytelling portions. So much so that the performance, which is full of potential, ends up uneven as a consequence. 

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What a Young Wife Ought to Know,: a play that stays with you long after you’ve left the theatre, dried your eyes, and found your voice again.

What a Young Wife Ought to Know,: a play that stays with you long after you’ve left the theatre, dried your eyes, and found your voice again.

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Photo Timothy Patrick

Hannah Moscovitch’s play What a Young Wife Ought to Know, which is based on a compilation of letters women sent to famous birth control advocate Dr. Marie Stopes in the 1920s, tackles an uncomfortably difficult theme.    It is  particularly hard to watch nowadays  when  crimes, attempted against women, are coming to light every day;

The subject matter of Moscovitch’s play, which is so  deeply sad and disturbing,  does not allow the spectator to relax for one minutes from the  overwhelming horror.   Nevertheless,  the playwright, with the director, technical crew, and actors, create an intimate, haunting story and infuse it with so much warmth and humour that it seduces its audience  in spite of the uncomfortable truths it speaks. The result is an overwhelming empathy and understanding for the characters and a play that stays with you long after you’ve left the theatre, dried your eyes.
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887 lepage at the NAC: technology masterfully used to support storytelling

887 lepage at the NAC: technology masterfully used to support storytelling

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887 Robert Lepage,   Photo  Erick Labbé

Robert Lepage’s 887, named after his childhood home address, deals with the unstable, vague nature of personal and collective memory. It’s an autobiographical show, in which he recalls his childhood in Québec City during the turbulent 1960s.

Details about his father and his immediate surroundings, as well as the Quiet Revolution and its consequences, frame his childhood and shape his identity, to an extent that surprises even Lepage. The snippets of story are nestled within the frame of the artist’s struggle to remember the words to “Speak White” By Michèle Lalonde, a poem dealing with the cultural and linguistic imperialism of the English-speaking world. …

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Arsenic and Old Lace: A fun night at the theatre delivers laughs

Arsenic and Old Lace: A fun night at the theatre delivers laughs

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Photo: Maria Vartanova

We often make jokes about that which scares or hurts us the most. It’s a way many of us cope with a world that can often feel needlessly cruel and absurd. It’s because of this need to laugh in the face of darkness that a comedy such as Joseph Kesselring’s play Arsenic and Old Lace has such an enduring quality.  After all, there’s something strangely captivating about discovering the layer of rotten silt under a veneer of respectability. The Ottawa Little Theatre’s production  of Arsenic and Old Lace, directed by Brian Cano, is a delightfully relaxing romp, despite its dark plot. There are some minor issues with pacing, but its combination of adept directing, brilliant acting, and sumptuous sets make for a cozy evening at the theatre. …

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GCTC’s Production of You Are Happy Grapples With Modern Relationships

GCTC’s Production of You Are Happy Grapples With Modern Relationships

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Photo: JVL Photo

We live in a confusing world, a loud word full of what ifs and shoulds. You Are Happy, the Great Canadian Theatre Company’s season opener, criticizes one of those – the pre-conceived notion of love and being part of a couple. Written by Rébecca Déraspe, translated by Leanna Brodie and directed by Adrienne Wong, the play by no means takes a condescending stance. While satirizing modern relationships with an average turnaround time of two years, at its heart always remains our human need for connection and love.  …

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