Category: Theatre in Ottawa and the region.

Balanced Direction by Chantale Plante, makes Lost in Yonkers Both Comic and Genuinely Moving.

Balanced Direction by Chantale Plante, makes Lost in Yonkers Both Comic and Genuinely Moving.

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Elements of Neil Simon’s life often appear in his plays. While his 1991 drama Lost in Yonkers is not as closely autobiographical as the earlier written Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound trilogy, his family is clearly a good part of the source material for this memory play.

Yonkers, which won the Pulitzer, several Tony awards and a Drama Desk award, ran for 780 performances on Broadway and became a successful movie in 1993, has been revived on a number of stages across North America recently. Once declared Simon’s best play, current responses have not been universally positive.

Perhaps this is in part because it is set in the early 1940s and fewer members of today’s audiences have as clear an understanding of the era and the hardships it presented for so many. The play itself, in combining serious issues of family dysfunctionality, mental health and poverty with comedy and Simon’s signature one-liners, is harder to categorize.

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Brown gravy…This episodic structure and the posting of food titles (Fish and ships!!) might suggest a tweaking of brechtian critical realism however, this is mainly all about language.

Brown gravy…This episodic structure and the posting of food titles (Fish and ships!!) might suggest a tweaking of brechtian critical realism however, this is mainly all about language.

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The audience howled and squealed with delight as long strings of “ostie”, “crisse”, and “tabarnak”. “ciboire”, “sacrament”, “viarge”, and “câlisse”, just for starters, rolled off the tongue of four   women in Simon Boudreault’s   play Brown Gravy that opened Wednesday night at La Nouvelle Scène.

Given the extensive use of intense Quebecois swear words, as well as the extremely graphics images   referring to various lower body parts, the evening was expected to irritate a few people. Jean Stéphane Roy, artistic director of La Catapulte who programmed Brown Gravy, told the public they could leave quietly by the side door if they found the language too strong.  No one left.

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In The Eyes of Stone Dogs. A problematic staging of Daniel Danis translated into English.

In The Eyes of Stone Dogs. A problematic staging of Daniel Danis translated into English.

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The adventurous and talented Christopher Bedford has chosen one of the most difficult playwrights currently in vogue in Quebec, to give a group of students from the Ottawa Theatre School, professional experience on stage.  The project is in itself a perilous exercise as we have already seen with Third Wall Theatre which fell soundly on its face when they used a  mixed cast of professionals and students in their version of Tartuffe several years ago, in spite of David Whitely’s excellent translation. Last year, Andy Massingham staged a magnificent version of Shakespeare,s Twelfth Night using students from the Ottawa Theatre School as well as seasoned professionals  but he had the good taste to give all the main roles to professionals. As a result,  that performance  worked beautifully.  Added to the cast was the very brilliant Greg Kramer as Malvolio who created a performance we will never forget.

Daniel Danis is another kettle of fish…so to speak.

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Mamma Mia, popular showcase of ABBA songs is still making the rounds to enthusiastic audiences.

Mamma Mia, popular showcase of ABBA songs is still making the rounds to enthusiastic audiences.

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One of the most popular musicals ever, audiences around the world have been enjoying Mamma Mia since it first hit London’s West End in the spring of 1999.

By this time, it is doubtful if anyone does not know the story of how the musical came into being or the details of its cleverly contrived storyline.

Built around the songs that the super popular Swedish group ABBA made famous in the 1970s, Catherine Johnson’s book winds the light-hearted plot into a showcase for the songs and nostalgia for the period.

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And Slowly Beauty: a script to make the audience ponder the meaning of their own lives. Haunting and inspiring.

And Slowly Beauty: a script to make the audience ponder the meaning of their own lives. Haunting and inspiring.

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Photo of Michael Shamata.

As much a love letter to the power of theatre as an exploration of life’s passing, sometimes mundane and often heartbreaking beauty, director Michael Shamata’s And Slowly Beauty…spins a story at once incredibly complex and devastatingly simple.

The play, originally a collaboration between writer Michel Nadeau and his Quebec collective, Théâtre Niveau Parking, is currently showing as a co-production of Ottawa’s National Arts Centre and the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, B.C. and is emotionally rich and intense. It is the story of the average middle-aged Mr. Mann, played by the brilliantly talented Dennis Fitzgerald, who wins tickets at a work draw to see Anton Chekhov’s The Three Sisters. The play, about sisters living in a provincial Russian town and longing to return to Moscow, is also a story of unfulfilled dreams, the fruitlessness of continually chasing something, and the beauty which is sometimes lost in everyday life. Mr. Mann attends alone and in the process finds himself shaken to his core and suddenly awoken to the dreariness and emotional isolation of his own situation. Cekhov’s play is henceforth intertwined throughout the events happening to Mr. Mann.

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NAC revival of Salt Water Moon is too often acting at it most self-conscious.

NAC revival of Salt Water Moon is too often acting at it most self-conscious.

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The National Arts Centre’s revival of David French’s Salt Water Moon certainly offers a display of “acting” — but too often it is acting at its most self-conscious and studied.

That flushes away spontaneity and wreaks havoc with the emotional truth which should drive this play.

Set in a Newfoundland outport in 1926, Salt Water Moon was French’s enchanting prequel to Leaving Home and Of The Fields, Lately — the two plays he had earlier written about the troubled fortunes and shattered dreams of an expatriate Newfoundland family, the Mercers, in contemporary Toronto.

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

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

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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

England

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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: Peter’n Chris Save the World

Ottawa Fringe 2011: Peter’n Chris Save the World

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By Chris Wilson and Peter Carlone Peter ‘n Chris Save the World delivers a fast-talking, fast-paced comedy about two slightly ADD characters out to save the world. The brainchild of Chris Wilson and Peter Carlone, the show leaves audiences practically convulsing in laughter at the scene changes and witty, tongue-in-cheek dialogue. The strength of the show lies in the duo’s comedic timing and capacity as physical performers. The story is there, but it is secondary, seeming to serve as a backdrop for Peter and Chris’ antic on stage. Although a few of the jokes fell somewhat flat, the show struck a chord with the audience. After all, while utterly hilarious, it does touch upon contemporary issues such as our all-consuming fear of boredom and increasing desire to do something- anything- to achieve a sense of purpose. For Peter, Chris and myriads of others, this amounts to fighting to save the world, even if they don’t fully understand what they are doing or how they are meant to do it. Perhaps this is a snapshot of life today, a criticism of our rush to always act at the expense of understanding and real passion. Or perhaps I read too much into it. Either way, this clever, manic comedy will leave you laughing and lighthearted.

Ottawa Fringe 2011. Preshrunk. What Happens When the Shrink Doesn’t Show?

Ottawa Fringe 2011. Preshrunk. What Happens When the Shrink Doesn’t Show?

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Who in this world is sane? This is the question Kainz Players’ dark comedy Preshrunk asks. Five psychiatric patients who arrive for their usual Tuesday meeting with their psychiatrist. When he does not show up, mild chaos ensues as each of the patient’s problems are revealed both through their discussions with each other and monologues. Soon, it is revealed by a detective posing as a grief counselor that the doctor was killed, and the most likely suspects are those in the room.

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