Johon Koensgen and Eric Coates. Photo Barb Gray

The Burden of Self-Awareness is a dark comedy about a dark time: ours. It questions our needs and wants and contradicts  our moral values.

What we want, what we do and what we need is mainly shaped by a certain society at a certain moment in time. Of course, our nature plays a role as well and somehow, that nature always leans towards money. Whether it is a question of prestige, power or consumerism, everything  starts and finishes at the same point: money.

Michael is a great success: wealthy beyond his dreams, well respected and happily married… Or, is he?

A close encounter with death changes his outlook and makes him re-examine his life and define his  values. What he comes up with as a solution disturbs his wife and  as a result there is mayhem in the household. Michael’s decision to give away all of his wealth leads to a chain of events through which the ugly truth is revealed.

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What a treat! An unbelievable experience such as this, a journey as much painful as it is beautiful, happens only once in a while on the stage. And it happened during the world premiere of Ciseaux, the inaugural project by The THÉÂTRE ROUGE ÉCARLATE, the first out of – I hope – many to come!

The play follows the lives of two schoolgirls during a civil war. Two seemingly completely different destinies become intertwined in a time of chaos by the violent actions taking place around them. The harsh fate brings them together to fight for survival and to bond into an inseparable unity.

Lisa L’Heureux wrote an incredibly moving story about a very turbulent time seen through the eyes of two young girl victims. One was forced to be a child-fighter, an unwilling murderer who goes on pretending that she is a boy in order to protect herself. The other’s life, a casualty of the same madness, is changed from the moment her parents are killed and she is taken prisoner to be made into a sex slave. Events that follow one another logically are set in a perfect frame and told at a perfect pace. …

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When William discovers a box of his late grandfather’s memorabilia, his childhood spent in the loving surroundings of home unrolls before his eyes.  He shares his fond memories of that time with the audience, using “the puppetry of objects” technique to help him depict the time. This wise use of technology, coupled with the meaningful use of light, proved to be essential to Fidler’s play, Broken. It added a sense of reality and life to the grandfather who came off as a very creative and wise character.

True, I wanted to learn more about him, his life and how he has influenced William’s growing-up. However, Fidler’s focus was somewhere else. He wanted to tell us about the devastating impacts of Alzheimer’s disease. So, somewhere among many things mentioned – his life with the grandfather, the adventure of being lost in the unknown forest, and the tragedy of dementia – he lost his focus and failed to add a few layers to the story telling. The connection, love, and warmth were not quite there. Parts of the story even felt disconnected, flat, and the performer seems to be unengaged from time to time. Involving the audience and explaining some scenes did not help either – on the contrary – it killed the magic of what was supposed to be very personal and emotional performance. …

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Grain of Salt
Production: 9th Hour Theatre Company
Script: Megan Piercey Monafu

Art is a form of communication. It communicates ideas with us using a variety of tools. So, while the main rule of communication, in general, is to know your audience, an even more important rule for the art as a communication vehicle is to know your medium. Even the best idea supported with the highest level of creativity will not reach its “target” – that is to say the audience – if the author and the director do not respect the theatre as a specific medium. I understand what The 9th Hour Theatre tried to tell us (or, at least, I think I do): despite our differences, one thing that (should) connect us is love. You may call it God or just Love, but it has to include everybody and be ruled by the natural law of tolerance, respect and understanding. If there are places such as Heaven and Hell (or an idea of such places as symbols of good and evil) – that Heaven should be a granted reward for every good soul. Merit should be based on each individual’s deeds, and not on what has been socially accepted in a certain period in history. I believe that was the message, and I hope that I have gotten it right. …

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Sasha Samar

Where do our most intense feelings hide within us, and what does it take to unleash them?  Some found the answer to this question on Wednesday night (September 25, 2013) during a performance of Moi, dans les ruines rouges du siècle. I heard some young people saying that they felt a yearning to live a life as warm and filled with love as the main character’s (Sasha) in his native Ukraine. I cannot imagine a better compliment for any artist.

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Passages  is a dance featuring the plight of the Scots in the 18^th century. It is based on historical facts and encompasses events of everyday, happy life in the highlands in Scotland, war between the British army and supporters of the Jacobites in Scotland, atrocities caused by the overpowering British Army, and finally a trip to Canada. Brief instances of storytelling are included in the performance, but it is the dance that carries the audience through the history of the first inhabitants of the harbors of Cape Breton, Pictou and others.

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Actor Chase Padgett presents  six musicians – guitar players ranging from an 87-year-old blues musician to a 20 years old rocker. Chase Padgett is an excellent actor and his impersonations are generally very realistic, although there were some slips. The attempt to adopt a Spanish accent when portraying a Mexican character was not spot on. It ended up sounding more like an Indian than a Mexican one. A 20 year old rocker also ends up looking a lot younger due to characterization.

It is an original idea of how to tell the story about music, entertain and connect with the audience. The entertainment element is definitely impeccable, and Padgett’s very strong command of the stage helps as well. The audience loves it. They laugh and enjoy short and well executed guitar passages and admire the impersonations. 

Unfortunately, it stays at the entertainment level, without an attempt to go deeper, to explore the connections and the power of the music. It can be so much more than individuals falling in love in instruments and expressing that love through different genres. I would like Chase Padgett to dig a bit deeper and try to discover the magic behind the notes. Only that way  can he find that it is not only about main stream sell-outs: sex, sadness, cars and mess-up, but much, much more.

by Chase Padgett and Jay Hopkins, performed by Chase Padgett

Orlando FL.

Rajka Stefanovska