Category: Theatre in Ottawa and the region.

The List is marred by a staging which lacks insight.

The List is marred by a staging which lacks insight.

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At first there is that bunker-like interior which greets us as we pass behind the set to gain access to our seats. A sandy, earthy coloured space with a narrow opening at the back that looks out on what appears to be a desert stretching out to faraway hills. A  lone tree with green leaves pops into view, The only living thing in sight. Perhaps an image of the woman herself who is caught in this set that reproduces her inner landscape :  a dry drab sterile place where she would rather not be because it is all  slowly devouring her.

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The List – An Immediate Cure for Insomnia at the GCTC

The List – An Immediate Cure for Insomnia at the GCTC

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Seeing The List, try not to be annoyed at being forced to enter the auditorium in an odd and    embarrassing way. Watch single character taking her shoes on and off, miming wall washing, climbing on and off the window seat and speaking in a monotone. Stay awake despite being utterly bored by the one-note production and the weakness of the script.

The year 2008 must have been an arid year for French drama for The List to win a Governor General’s Award. Admittedly, portraying boredom on stage is a risky business. It can all too easily become boring to watch. Certainly, this portrayal of a bored and self-absorbed woman recounting her banal existence qualifies on that account. But surely it does not have to be so completely uninteresting and sleep inducing from beginning to end?

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The Producers: Alvina Ruprecht speaks to Ottawa Morning host Stu Mills.

The Producers: Alvina Ruprecht speaks to Ottawa Morning host Stu Mills.

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CBO

Host Stu Mills: Some people called it outrageous and other people called it insulting. Others said that it was the most brilliant musical that had ever hit Broadway. Our theatre critic, Alvina Ruprecht, has been to see the new Orpheus production of the show. She’s in the studio this morning. Hello, Alvina.

AR: Hello, Stu.

CBO: What were people doing ? Were they leaving the theatre in a huff   at the very beginning of it all? .

AR: No, no. They weren’t.

CBO: They weren’t?

AR: Oh, no. No, not at all. Somebody left, but I think they were going to the bathroom and then they came back.

CBO: So they weren’t leaving in a huff.

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Facts at the GCTC: Powerful play by Arthur Milner that will encourage debate on a hot subject.

Facts at the GCTC: Powerful play by Arthur Milner that will encourage debate on a hot subject.

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Facts---Facts-at-the-Finb-011

Photo from The Guardian, UK,  with Michael Feast, Paul Rattray, Philip Arditti

Playwright Arthur Milner does not waste any time. Israeli Detective Yossi HaCohen (John Koensgen) is impatiently waiting for Khalid Yassin (Sam Kalilieh) the Inspector from the Palestinian Authority to arrive so they can begin their inquest into the murder/death of renowned American archaeologist Gordon Philips, killed in the West Bank. By whom? That is the question. The meeting takes place on the West Bank and Khalid arrives, visibly annoyed because he was held up at various Israeli check points. First impression: the two are on very good terms. Khalid, we are told, starts by speaking Hebrew, then Yossi mentions speaking Arabic but of course they are both speaking English and language takes on an important symbolic value in this region where communication has become almost impossible.

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The Andersen Project, Conceived, Written, Directed and Performed by Robert Lepage

The Andersen Project, Conceived, Written, Directed and Performed by Robert Lepage

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The  latest creation  by Robert Lepage  has finally come home. It opened a year ago in Quebec. It has since played in Australia France, England , no doubt changing with each new performance  because Lepage’s stagings, which  continuously absorb new  elements,  are never really finished but ultimately in a state of permanent process.

I have seen most of Lepage’s works and it appears clear that the Andersen Project displays a level of elegant refinement ,  a stage  esthetics that has been  purified to a point of  perfection that I have never before seen in his work. Gone are the flashy gimmicks, the  spectacular effects ,the accumulation of gasp inducing  technical apparatus. This is a work of  discrete flowing beauty, that appears to be  so flawless, its traces  implant themselves   insidiously  and indelibly  in the memory of the spectator.

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