Rajka Stefanovska, Author at Capital Critics' Circle / Le cercle des critiques de la capitale

Ottawa Fringe 2012: I’m not crying in the bathroom, I’m crying in the supply closet.Convincing and lovable!

By Rajka Stefanovska | June 26, 2012

Artists have always been in search for new topics and new ways to present their ideas. Lady Business sticks to old issues, but with a very fresh approach through a series of skits. They look into our mind, dissecting its secret corners with a sharp knife and attacking fears caused by stereotypes with no mercy or decorum. You’re a fat girl, they say it to your face, and you have to cry about it? Come on!

The chain of sketches goes on. Some attack daily issues, some ridicule established routines, while others offer a serious criticism of global politics and economy. What is common to all of them, regardless of the form of, is the level of performance. It is a comedy close to its best. The young acting company Lady Business is comprised of three excellent actors: Laura Bonang, Alexandra Hurley and Deborah Ring. Remember those names, I believe we will hear from them again, and I hope soon!
Not only are they smart observers of life, but they also find a new way to talk about it – blunt, but in a good taste, and with the tinge of sarcasm. Their amazing ability to transform instantaneously from one character to another allows them to take on a variety of characters, and to make all of them alive, convincing and lovable. No wonder that the audience loved every minute of the show. The constant laughs and a long round of applause were fully deserved.

Presented in the Arts Court Library.

Fringe 2011: The Interview

By Rajka Stefanovska | June 21, 2012

Reviewed by Rajka Stefanovska, Ottawa, June 23, 2011

Ken Wilson’s play “The Interview” is a witty, funny, entertaining comedy that also explores the complete alienation and lack of real communication in the modern world. The actors, well suited to their roles, take us successfully on a journey through the mind’s maze, showing how it functions, person-to-person, moment-to-moment. This is a very well executed comedy. The simple set underlines the excellent acting by the three protagonists, especially that of Dan Baran in the very demanding role of Mr. Anderson.

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Undercurrents Festival of One Act Plays: Falling Open Makes a Powerful Impression.

By Rajka Stefanovska | February 18, 2012

Falling Open is a journey into the self, after being sexually abused as a child.

The story is set in the bedroom of the main protagonist from where she takes us to the darkest recesses of her memories. Her only companion and support on this tricky and dangerous road is a doll – the only witness of her childhood drama.

It is an extremely difficult task to tell a story about such a sensitive topic. There would be nothing easier than to fall into a trap of over-acting and over-dramatization in an attempt to make the message stronger. Fortunately, this did not happen. Luna Alison showed a thorough understanding of the issue and found the courage to talk about it honestly. Even though her voice was barely loud enough to be heard and understood, her telling of the story resounded powerfully and made a strong impression on those present.

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Undercurrents Festival of One Act Plays: WeeTube 5400 Attemps a MultiMedia Event That Frees the Audience, With Mixed Results

By Rajka Stefanovska | February 16, 2012

WeeTube 5400 is a multimedia performance which uses popular YouTube videos and the comments found under them for the basis of its narrative. The story seems to revolve around everybody and, at the same time, nobody in particular. Or is it so? First of all, is it a story at all?

For about 80 minutes, the actors explore weird videos posted on the popular site YouTube and interpret visitors/subscribers’ comments, in a cold and somewhat detached tone. They choose different settings for “commentators,” such as a home, research laboratory, beach, etc. Why is it so? Are they trying to tell the audience something about certain types of people, about a new generation, new time or, about anything? While the audience laughs at the profanity of the dialogues and weirdness of the videos (this type of humour always works), there is nothing under the surface of this long and repetitive play.

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Fragments of the Bible become a well-rounded story: Creation is a celebration of life.

By Rajka Stefanovska | February 3, 2012

When leaving the theatre after watching Peter Hinton’s rendition of Peter Anderson’s “Creation,” I heard a lady commenting on what she had just seen: ”It’s unbelievable how someone can take a few bits and pieces,” she said “ and make them into a well-rounded story!” This is exactly what Peter Anderson’s play is: fragments of several Old Testament stories from the Bible put together and made into a tale about the creation of the world. Starting from an empty darkness, there was the word, then came light, water, and so on – all the way to humans. God gave life and the chance to live in paradise to everybody and everything.

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2 Piano 4 Hands- a visual and musical treat that has been held over at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto.

By Rajka Stefanovska | January 2, 2012

I’ve always looked on Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt’s marvellous love affair with the piano as a valentine to everyone who ever studied those 88 keys, to everyone who ever endured the same fusty commands to "curve your fingers," "lower your wrists, " and especially to everyone who had to live through a piano recital with a churning stomach and an audience full of beady eyes just waiting for you to slip on a flat when it should have been sharp.
Back again and better than ever, 2 Pianos 4 Hands with Dykstra and Greenblatt is right on key, a visual and musical treat that’s so popular it’s been held over at the Panasonic Theatre until Dec. 4. That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. It’s played all over the world since its premiere in 1996 at the Tarragon Theatre, the brainchild of two childhood would-be prodigies who started comparing notes about their experiences studying piano while appearing at Chamber Concerts Canada’s So You Think You’re Mozart.

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Whispering pines : can the past be reconstructed?

By Rajka Stefanovska | October 30, 2011

Whispering Pines is a story that tries to connect the present and the past. Starting in East Berlin towards the end of the Soviet Era and ending in present day Canada, it tells about two German artists (Bruno, a poet and Renate, a painter) who dream of freedom and a better future for their native country. After Thomas, a Canadian academic, comes into their home and their reality with gifts from across the wall and the promise of a free world, things change and become chaotic. Thomas falls in love with Renate, Bruno turns into an informant, and Renate’s brother is taken a prisoner. Years later, at Renate’s initiative, the three of them meet in Canada and attempt to reconstruct the events of their past.

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The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi: Larry Tremblay revises English in this ground breaking play

By Rajka Stefanovska | October 14, 2011

Gaston Talbot, an elderly man from Chicoutimi, tells the story of his childhood the way he remembers it. Only, as he digs deeper into his past, the story keeps on changing.

So does the leit-motif of the play “I travel a lot,” and with it, Gaston’s motto, ”To keep in touch.”

As a sixteen years old boy, in search of friendship and a need to fit in, Gaston somehow lost himself. His childhood, spent in the nearby woods, ended in a terrifying experience, which left him unable to speak. He fell into a complete silence. Years later, a strange dream liberated him, so that he could finally tell his story. In doing so, he discovered that the self-alienation was so strong that he, who never knew a word of any language but French, could speak only in English, or, rather, in a French structure expressed in English words.

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England

By Rajka Stefanovska | July 4, 2011

The play “England” by Tim Crouch tells a story of a young person from England whose life depends on a heart transplant. After this successful operation, the recipient goes to the Middle East to express their gratitude to the donor’s wife. Of course, the language and cultural barrier make the endeavour very difficult. The meeting is an emotional moment for everybody and is not helped by the interpreter, whose skills do not extend past the literal and simplistic translation of sentences. The true meaning of what is being said fails to reach those involved.

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Ottawa Fringe 2011. Subnormality.

By Rajka Stefanovska | June 24, 2011

To base a theatre play on a comic (and a popular one) is a brave move. Often, what works on paper does not work in a live show. Comic characters are very hard to translate into reality because of their exaggerated traits and freedom of physical movement, which is possible only in a space not encumbered by gravity. The Ottawa-based company “Troupe de la Lune” chose to do just that. Their production of the play “Subnormality” is inspired by a web-comics series of the same name by the cartoonist Winston Rowntree which is published bi-weekly on Rowntree’s webcomic-site. Its main characteristics are satire, absurdity, weird, often unearthly characters and very long monologues and dialogues presented in “thought balloons.”

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