Category: Theatre in Ottawa and the region

Up to Low: Musical adaptation has theatrical merit but falters on plot

Up to Low: Musical adaptation has theatrical merit but falters on plot

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UP to Low, Brendan McMurtry_Howlett, Magan Carty Photo David Hou

 

Reviewed by Natasha Lomonossoff on May 4th, 2018

The English theatre season at the NAC is closing with what is meant to be a feel-good musical on life in the rural Gatineau Hills during a more idyllic time (or at least, the 1950s). Based on a book of the same name by popular local writer Brian Doyle, Up to Low tells of the journey which 15-year old Tommy takes with his dad and a family friend from Ottawa up to their cottage in Low, Quebec. The strength of this production, adapted and directed by Janet Irwin with musical direction by Ian Tamblyn, lies more in its theatrical deliverance of the material than the plotline itself. What initially seems to be a comedic road trip turns into a somewhat shoehorned lesson about healing and forgiveness; by the end of the show, it’s not clear exactly what the significance of this lesson is to Tommy or how it relates to his family’s stay in Low. …

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Up to Low via memory lane

Up to Low via memory lane

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Photo: David Hou   UP to Low at the NAC

Up to Low By Brian Doyle. Adapted for the stage and directed by Janet Irwin. An NAC English Theatre production

Up to Low is a journey in several senses. As well as a tale about traveling to a place at a certain time, it is a rite of passage in growing up and, most of all, a trip through memory.

Therefore, the dramatization of Brian Doyle’s novel for young adults is bound to have the greatest appeal for local residents who share some of the memories of the time and place described in and around Low, Quebec, circa 1950. …

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Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily : From stodgy to frothy in two acts

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily : From stodgy to frothy in two acts

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Photo Maria Vartanova, Sherlock Holmes nd the Case of the Jersey Lily at the OLT

 

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily by Katie Forgette   Directed by Val Bogan. An OLT production

It is not surprising that some of the dialogue in Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily sounds familiar. Playwright Katie Forgette’s tongue-in-cheek look at Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective frequently borrows snippets from plays by William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde as the mystery unfolds. These excerpts and such in-jokes as the working and final titles of Wilde’s most famous play provide some of the script’s most amusing moments.

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Snake Oil: A thought provoking show best suited for a small stage

Snake Oil: A thought provoking show best suited for a small stage

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Photo: Sophie Croteau

Snake Oil
By Jayson McDonald
Black Sheep Theatre
Directed by Dave Dawson

Snake oil began as a traditional Chinese medicine, particularly effective in easing joint pain. Brought to North America by Chinese railroad workers in the 19th century, it was made from the fat of the Chinese water snake — a species not found in the West.

Seeing the medicine at work, western profiteers began manufacturing much less effective, completely fraudulent or placebo versions of a bottled wonder drug and selling it as a cure-all. Sales depended on just how convincing any oily, traveling promoter could make his marvellous medication sound. …

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Gracie a compelling, chilling coming of age story

Gracie a compelling, chilling coming of age story

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Patrick Langston
April 28, 2018

At one point in Gracie, Joan MacLeod’s compelling play about a girl’s coming of age in an isolated polygamous community, the titular character stands on a road at the border of where she lives. The road is blocked by a chain, and there’s a No Trespassing sign. “I know I’m home when I see that sign,” says Gracie in the safe, contented tone another child might use when sighting a favourite corner store or a friendly neighbour.

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Gracie at the GCTC is a terrific theatrical experience.

Gracie at the GCTC is a terrific theatrical experience.

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Gracie, Erica Anderson. Photo: Alexandrew Alexander

 

Gracie By Joan Macleod, directed by Eric Coates

A GCTC Production

Gracie is like many eight-year-olds. She loves the doll her new best friend has given her. She really, really wants a bike. She is sad to be moving to a new home in a strange country but is comforted by having her family around her.

From here, her life is very different from that of other children around the same age. …

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Sal Capone at the NAC suffers from communication problems

Sal Capone at the NAC suffers from communication problems

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Omari Newton: Slam poet, Award winning writer, Photo: https://www.digitalhumanlibrary.org/4031-2/

Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy of …By Omari Newton

Directed by Diane Roberts. NAC English Theatre— a  Boldskool production with Holding space productions

It’s only reasonable that anyone with a genuine social conscience might be driven to embrace the idea of a stage piece driven by the truth that black lives do — really do — matter.

But it might be stretching matters somewhat to assert that the current offering in the NAC Studio — Sal Capone: The Lamentable tragedy of —  is really injecting any fresh insights into the conversation. On the other hand, it’s rather difficult to know for certain.

What this production of Montreal playwright Omari Newton’s 2013 drama does provide are moments of bold theatricality and a rhythmic insistence that can easily become seductive. And there is no doubt that it is fuelled by anger — anger arising from the real-life 2008 shooting of an unarmed black teenager by the Montreal police. …

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La Cerisaie: bits and pieces of pathos and ferocious humour are all that remain of the tragic content !

La Cerisaie: bits and pieces of pathos and ferocious humour are all that remain of the tragic content !

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photo. Theatre TG Stan. Lopakhin, Firs, Lyubov

La Cérisaie (The Cherry Tree/the Cherry Orchard) presented by the Belgian company TG  STAN (i.e. Stop Thinking About Names)

The Flemish  TG Stan collective from Antwerp  chose to perform their version of Chekhov’s last play (1903-04), as a comedy where the tragedy was reduced to moments of pure pathos as  the actors free themselves from the  constraints of Chekhov’s  theatrical conventions.  The enclosed space of a dying society has flung open the windows and let fresh air flood into the theatre to produce  a counter discourse that brought this performance beyond  what we might expect.  This reading  was at times intriguing but at times disturbing because we seemed to lose something. …

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La Cérisaie: a performance that feels like a workshop might need a director!

La Cérisaie: a performance that feels like a workshop might need a director!

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La Cérisaie,  Jolente De Keersmaeker as Luybov, Frank Vercruyssen as Lopakhin
Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy of … shouting about hate is not always the most effective way to bring about change.

Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy of … shouting about hate is not always the most effective way to bring about change.

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Tristan D. Lalla, photo Urban Ink

Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy of …By Omari Newton, directed by Diane Roberts. NAC English Theatre, a  Boldskool production with Holding space productions.

The anger and the rhythm that are the underpinning of Sal Capone are clear and compelling. But almost constant shouting and the poor enunciation of most of the cast — frequently overwhelmed by the crashing soundscape — blur detail and nuance.

The hip-hop musical by Omari Newton, updated from the 2013 original, was inspired by the police shooting of a Montreal teen, Freddy Villanueva, and the riots that followed his death. …

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