Theatre in Ottawa and the region. Archives - Page 9 of 10 - Capital Critics' Circle / Le cercle des critiques de la capitale

Fringe 2011: The Sucker Punch

By Patrick Langston | June 18, 2011

The Sucker Punch

Stupid Gumball Dispenser Productions

At SAW Gallery.

The Ottawa Citizen.

Recently announced research at the University of Montreal suggests that the drug metyrapone may help ease painful memories by reducing the emotions associated with them. The question is, would such a pill alter what it means to be human by shrinking our depth of experience and changing our ability to learn from mistakes? Brent Hirose, a darn good actor, ponders something similar in his solo show about four characters and a nifty device that lets you undo actions that you know you are going to regret. Is life diminished by not having regrets? Hirose asks.

Do we not have some responsibility for trying to avoid stupid actions in the first place and then accepting the consequences when we do screw up? Crisp vignettes, some slam poetry, and important ethical issues define this brisk, thoughtful show.

Fringe Ottawa 2011: When Harry Met Harry, A Funny and Poignant One-Man Show

By Patrick Langston | June 17, 2011

If ever there were polar opposites, it’s Harry and Rodney. Harry, the focus of Allan Girod’s very funny and surprisingly poignant one-man show, is an uptight, obsessive introvert whose chief joy in life is keeping the papers on his desk in military-like alignment. Rodney is the oily animator of interpersonal skills workshops, those appalling events meant to get you in touch with your inner whatever and to build team spirit. Needless to say, when Harry is sent to Rodney’s workshop after a series of customer complaints about his communication style, the results are not pretty. Australia’s Girod is a brilliant physical performer, using his supple six-foot-nine frame and facial expressions to telegraph not just the emotions but the entire world view of these two guys. One minute he’s Harry, all gangly limbs and constrained gait; the next he’s Rodney, every gesture a testament to self-confidence and entitlement. To see Girod breathe life into these two characters, each commanding in his own way, is sheer delight.

Ottawa Fringe 2011: Wet Dream Catcher.

By Maja Stefanovska | June 17, 2011

We all have moments of shame. We have elements of ourselves we keep hidden, whether it be our fantasies or our opinions. It is the job of Miss Nancy (portrayed by RC Weslowski) to collect all of these musings and thought wash them of their shame. This is achieved through the wet dream catcher, a giant eye that can see though each of our defenses and bring out our inner-most thoughts, no matter how embarassing. The story follows the main (and only) character through his initaition into the job. The low-tech show is audience-interactive and seeks to bring out peals of laughter.

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Fringe 2011: The Interview at the OLT

By Alvina Ruprecht | June 2, 2011

There is something immensely satisfying about this meticulous three hander where every character is clearly defined and they each feed off the other to produce a smooth running stage dynamic.

Mr. Anderson (Dan Baran) finds himself in an “interview” room in a police station, sitting between the impatient, no nonsense , let’s get this thing wrapped up style of detective played by Michael Kennedy, and the more thoughtful, brooding, perceptive detective Smith played by Ken Godmere.

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Strawberries in January: imagined screenplays provides the impetus for this cute little sit-com

By Iris Winston | February 13, 2011

Whether you think of Strawberries in January — if you think of it at all after viewing this slight piece of theatre — as fantasy, sit-com or glorification of falsehood, it is unlikely to have a lasting impact.

Four people looking for love eventually pair up in an entirely predictable fashion, after a little entanglement with might-have-beens and imagined screenplays.

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The English Language World Premier of Little Martyrs Creates Directorial Challenges Which Are Not Resolved.

By Alvina Ruprecht | February 12, 2011

A graduate of the National Theatre School in Montreal Dominique Parenteau-Lebeuf has had her work translated into German, English, Bulgarian and Italian. She has also had her plays staged in festivals in Europe. The company La Baraka based in Paris, which also created Le Collier d’Hélène by Carole Fréchette, even before it was mounted in Canada, also did the first production of Parenteau-Lebeuf’s play Filles de Guerre lasses in 2005, the same year La Petite Scrap (original title of Little Martyrs) was published. This translation by Mishka Lavigne is the first English language version of the play, and thus, this production by Evolution Theatre is a world première.

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Blackbird: A Melting Pot of Character Weaknesses and Social Pressures in This Dialogue of the Unspoken.

By Alvina Ruprecht | September 20, 2010

The development of the two protagonists (a young woman Una, and a middle aged man Ray) shifts directions so often that we are left with the impression of a play that has captured the very essence of human relations: the intertwining of contradictory motives, of multiple influences, of character weaknesses and social pressures . All these things come together in the melting pot of the human mind, to produce reactions that are unexplainable and certainly unforeseeable.

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Someone for Everyone: too much pathos as playwright G.A.D. Caplan carries us through the intiation of a nice young man trying to find a nice girl.

By Alvina Ruprecht | September 20, 2010

This play comes to the conclusion that maybe there isn’t “Someone for Everyone”, something we discover after a series of sketches that carry us though the “case” of Steven Greenberg. This nice Jewish boy from Montreal is desperately trying to find a nice girl who is willing to have sex with him because she finds him physically attractive, and not because she wants to be “nice’ to him. But, girls only want to be his friend, and he is fed up, frustrated and even quite desperate. Narrated by his alter ego, who speaks to audience members as though we were the omniscient house shrink, in pure Woody Allan style, the story of Steven has moments of clever humour, (like the meeting in the confressional with Steven caught between a Priest and a Rabbi. or that encounter in the Jewish Dating service, or some of the scenes in first year university where Steven meets Girls! ). Some of the scenes do becomes repetitive, some even drag out the pathos a bit too much .

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Someone for Everyone: fringe-style show not strong enough for the 80 minutes it lasts.

By Iris Winston | September 20, 2010

The quality of the direction and performances make the sad/amusing tale of Steven, apparently doomed to be everyone’s friend and nobody’s dream lover, as effective as possible.

The sharp corners that one of the characters turns are a reflection of the sharpness of the direction and the energy of the presentation. The visuals add a layer of interest to the content.

But. while Someone for Everyone begins well, the material in this fringe-style show is not strong enough for the 80-plus minutes that it lasts. Neither are such crudities as the graphic Portnoy’s Complaint segment warranted.

Reviewed by Iris Winston. Ottawa, September 20, 2010

Someone for Everyone

by GATD Caplan

Friends Not Lovers Productions in association with NightHowl Productions (September 15 to 25)

Director: Patrick Gauthier

Lighting design: Jon Alexander

Video material: Kris Joseph

Costume design: Jody Haucke

Production crew: Gwen Davie

Cast:

StevenGeoff McBride

Beth et al:Sarah Finn

Irma et al:Catriona Leger

Narrator and alter ego:Jordan Hancey

Reviewed by Iris Winston

ÉCUME d’Anne Marie White: Il faut respirer profondément, en se laissant emporter par la beauté de la scène

By Alvina Ruprecht | September 20, 2010

Les cultures des peuples qui vivent près de la mer recèlent des figures mythiques issues des grands récits marins. En fait, dire qu’Homère, La Sagouine et Anne Marie White se côtoient, n’est pas tout à fait farfelu. L’auteure de ce texte qu’elle a aussi mis en scène, est originaire de l’Acadie, lieu où les chanteurs de la mer transforment les récits folkloriques en poésie visuelle et orale. L’Écume se situe à la confluence de plusieurs instabilités : celle du monde liquide qui noie ses secrets, celle des identités changeantes qui occultent des vérités indicibles. L’œuvre devient une sorte de quête « locale » qui se transforme en questionnement poétique de toutes nos certitudes quant à la nature du corps et quant aux rapports humains, minés sans arrêt par l’inattendu, l’incertain, l’inconnu.

Au départ, Écumes est une histoire d’amour entre Morgane, une fille jeune et belle, et Émile, un beau garçon « raisonnable » et sérieux. Les liens entre les jeunes amoureux sont sensuels, physiques, voir magiques. Dès la première rencontre c’était le coup de foudre.

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