887 Playwright, Designer & Director Robert Lepage
Like pinpoints of light scattered across the map of shows I have attended over thirty years, a Robert Lepage production always stands out as something special. His reach into the subject matter of any endeavor he conceives, develops, and then as much as embodies as performs, triggers all the receptors in the theatrical brain. …
By J.B. Priestley Ottawa Little Theatre Directed by Jim McNabb
Social responsibility and time, two of J.B. Priestley’s major preoccupations, are at the centre of An Inspector Calls.
One of his best-known works, the drama is part social manifesto and part mystery in a drawing-room setting. With its underlying theme of the obligation to care for others and the playwright’s signature interest in time shifts, An Inspector Calls delivers strong criticism of class divisions in Great Britain immediately before the First World War as the scene is set for the mysterious inspector of the title to call on the wealthy Birling family and dent their complacency. …
Sarah and Matt Cassidy are back at the Gladstone Theatre producing a British panto style show for the holiday season, one that is particularly relevant this year with the deep frost vortex from the north that has turned us all into living icicles. Written and directed by Ken MacDougall, the show has taken, as it did last year, a well-known young people’s story, transformed it into a tale best suited to Ottawa in winter and located it in a section of the city that allows local merchants to show off their stores, take part in the shenanigans and become a perfectly amusing background to this version of Alice down the Rabbit hole, where the frigid wonderland is not the one we were expecting. …
Written and Directed by Ken MacDougall
Musical Direction by Wendy Berkelaar
Choreographed by Jessica Vandenberg
Produced by Matt Cassidy and Sarah Cassidy
On a night when Ottawa was the coldest capital city on the planet, I appropriately ventured out to see a local production called Alice in Winterland. It seemed a proper choice of entertainment to bridge the Christmas and New Year festive season. It is a pantomime show which incorporates broad actions combined with music and intended primarily for children in what is described as family friendly theatre.
There are a number of adult jokes sprinkled throughout that were not particularly funny which makes their inappropriateness more offensive. I was left wondering whether writer director Ken MacDougall thought the insertion of campy, raunchy vaudeville was the only way that adults could be inspired to bring their children to the theatre. I again wondered if he figured that it would be okay because the phallic references would be lost on the children. In any event, the crass gratuitous dick humour was anything but family friendly. …
Anne of Green Gables The Musical
Based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Book by Don Harron
Music by Norman Campbell
Lyrics by Don Harron, Norman Campbell, Elaine Campbell, Mavor Moore
Kanata Theatre
Directed by Michael Gareau
Anne of Green Gables has been charming Canadians since Lucy Maud Montgomery created the spunky redhead in 1908. And the 1965 Don Harron/Norman Campbell musical based on her novel carried the Anne legend even further afield, so that every tourist from away makes a point of seeing Anne on stage at least once when visiting Charlottetown. …
Annie, Book by Thomas Meehan, Music by Charles Strouse
Lyrics by Martin Charnin, Suzart Productions
Directed by Kraig-Paul Proulx
Success is elusive, especially when the product seems simple but actually requires a great deal of subtlety and skill to make it more than a sickly sweet vehicle for kids looking cute on stage.
Annie, the 1977 musical inspired by the Orphan Annie cartoon strip of the 1930s, is such a product. While the musical, with book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin, has its share of catchy tunes and even a near-classic number in Tomorrow, it drips with sentiment and requires a massive suspension of disbelief to become even mildly credible.
Basket of Deplorables By Tom Rachman at Gladstone Theatre
If the definition of satire is: “ the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and critisize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issures” Tom rachman definitely hit t he mark with his latest book “Basket of Deploraples.” In this series of short stories , he explores the Trump era with an open eye , leaving no room for sympathy for the culture of his own time. Of course, his lont journalistic career made him a knowable observer of our reality. …
. Publié le 6 décembre sur www.theatredublog.unblog.fr Paris
Cette pièce dont l’auteur américain, qui a obtenu de nombreux prix (Tony et Pulitzer), a aussi écrit des scénarios pour le cinéma et la télévision aux États-Unis. Construire le mur qui a tourné aux Etats-unis vient de terminer sa création canadienne à Ottawa et le public s’y est précipité; les œuvres de ce genre sont en effet rares chez nous! Depuis l’arrivée de Donald Trump au pouvoir, l’image du mur est devenu le symbole de son projet politico-idéologique : une construction qui enferme, interdit, exclut, rejette, isole, sépare. La pièce montre, avec une simplicité désarmante, notre glissement, presque imperceptible, vers une absence de conscience, une indifférence qui aboutit à la normalisation et la légitimité des gestes les plus horrifiants.
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En juin dernier, au Centre des Arts d’Ottawa, Marie Brassard a monté un spectacle à partir des textes de Nelly Arcan, une jeune écrivaine qui s’est suicidée à trente-six ans, à Montréal: La Fureur de ce que je pense d’après son roman(voir l’article de Jane Baldwin http://capitalcriticscircle.com/?s=Nelly+Arcan), premier jalon théâtral de la création auto-fictionnelle cette année, puisque l’école de théâtre de l’Université d’Ottawa poursuit une expérience semblable. …