Theatre in Ottawa and the region Archives - Page 53 of 92 - Capital Critics' Circle / Le cercle des critiques de la capitale

Servant of Two Masters. Massingham’s staging of Goldoni is intriguing, engaging and funny from the first second! A Winner.

By Rajka Stefanovska | July 22, 2016

Photo: Barb Gray.Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni. Directed by Andy Massingham. An Odyssey Theatre production

Almost as a rule, plays start slowly and develop into something interesting as the story unfolds. Fortunately, director Andy Massingham forgot all about this, and instead made “The Servants of Two Masters” intriguing, engaging, and funny from the first second. The play starts with the characters presenting themselves. One by one, they come dancing on the stage, promising an evening under the stars (and sporadic rain) full of fun and delight. Odyssey Theatre premiered its “Theatre Under Stars” production with the adaptation of Carlo Goldoni’s best known comic play, giving it a more contemporary twist (the play is set in late fifties), and so proving the old art form of commedia dell’arte to be timeless.

Of course, in commedia dell’arte, the narrative itself is not the center of attention. The outline of the story and characters is always a simple tale about love, error, and deception. In this case, a young couple, Clarice (based on Isabella) and Silvio (based on Flavio), celebrate their engagement, when Truffaldino (based on Arlecchino) enters and announces that he has come with his master Federigo, Clarice’s former fiancé who was presumably dead. While Clarice tries to whimper her way out of her predicament, hot headed Silvio to fight it, master Federigo (in reality Beatrice disguised as her brother) attempts to get his hands on Pantalone’s (Clarica’s father’s) money. Florindo Aretusi (in love with Beatrice) comes looking for his love. Sly and capable Truffaldino (who has no idea that his master is a woman) seizes the opportunity to double his income. Now as a servant of two masters (Beatrice and Florindo) he juggles his duties masterfully, except for a few unfortunate errors, which lead to unexpected and hilarious developments.

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Creative “Julius Caesar” at the St Lawrence Shakeskpeare Festival at Prescott.

By Capital Critics Circle | July 20, 2016

Photo by David Blake. Richard Sheridan Willis as Julius Caesar.

Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, directed by Rona Waddington.

The St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival has opened their season with a strong and creative production of “Julius Caesar.” Director Rona Waddington, with special permission from Actors Equity, has recruited 18 volunteers to play soldiers, senators, and citizens along with the 12 professional actors. These volunteers do a fine job with the complex staging, as well as making some very nippy costume changes.

There are two real stand-outs in this generally strong cast. Ash Knight as a wonderfully nuanced Brutus and Richard Sheridan Willis as the complex Caesar are both expert at handling the language. My companion said for once she didn’t have to translate in her head. Jesse Nerenberg’s Cassius tends to be on a single note of anger till Act II, when we see more of his wiliness. As Octavius Michael Man does a nice job, also doubling as the timid Cinna.

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“Assassinating Thomson”: A Unique Perspective at 1000 Islands Playhouse (Firehall Theatre)

By Capital Critics Circle | July 8, 2016

Photo. Stephen Wild

The Firehall at the 1000 Islands Playhouse has opened their season with the fascinating solo show, “Assassinating Thomson,” created and performed by Bruce Horak. Those of you who saw him play three characters, sing, and play the guitar in last season’s “Dear Johnny Deere” will be surprised to learn the Mr. Horak is legally blind. Due to a childhood illness, he has only 9% vision – what he describes as extreme tunnel vision.

Mr. Horak appears in brown pants and a brown paint-spattered t-shirt on a simple platform covered by a drop cloth and backed by a black curtain and three of his large painting. (There are others on display in the lobby.) There’s also an easel and a small table with paints, brushes, and water.

Unlike most solo shows, “Assassinating Thomson” is basically a conversation between Mr. Horak and the audience. The house lights remain on, since during the performance he paints a picture of the audience. I loved it, since I could take notes without mistakenly writing on my white pants. His personality is charming as he weaves together his personal story, with how he sees shapes, and his theories about the death of Tom Thomson.

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Ottawa Fringe 2016: Best Picture, Grade 8 , A Tension de Detail- There is a winner here!!

By Patrick Langston | June 22, 2016

Best Picture
RibbitRePublic (Jersey City, N.J.), Studio Léonard-Beaulne
It’s a near-breathless sprint, but they get it done: Jon Paterson, Kurt Fitzpatrick and Rachel Kent lampoon every Best Picture Oscar winner ever (80, if you’re counting) by enacting a mashed up excerpt or at least injecting a title into the show’s brisk dialogue. Part of the fun is guessing the name of the movie, say, How Green Was My Valley (1941) or Ordinary People (1980), before it’s spoken. Equally entertaining is how the trio segues from one film to the next or chucks a couple of movies into the verbal Mixmaster so that The Hunchback of Notre Dame suddenly appears aboard the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty (you do know the connection between the two films, don’t you?). The show sometimes bogs down under its own cleverness, but it still manages to emerge as the kind of bright-eyed performance with zero social value that you’d find only at a fringe festival.

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Ottawa Fringe 2016: Raw Footage – mission accomplished as three artists create trustworthiness, honesty and beauty.

By Rajka Stefanovska | June 22, 2016

Raw footage is comprised of three dance pieces performed by Cathy Kyle-Fenton, Mary Catherine Jack and Nicola Henry. It is a real treat for dance lovers who like to immerse themselves in a beauty of dance moves and to be carried away by the imaginative narrative. Artists dance beautifully, showcasing their talent, strength and creativity while portraying women who struggle with their personal perception of loss, beauty and life defining light.

Cathy Kyle-Fenton is dancing partly to the faint sound of guitar and partly to the complete silence – at the beginning the only sound heard is tapping of her own feet accompanied by the rhythmic sound of her breathing. Silence adds to the drama of the story about woman who recently suffered a loss of someone close and beloved. Pain is clearly written on her face. Every move tells about battle to accept the reality in hope that they will meet again.

Mary Catherine Jack is a true comedian in a role of a woman who is not a youngster any more, and has hard time to accept the plain facts: sagging skin, wrinkled face and not so firm body. She portrays the wont-to-be sexy seductress in a naturally humorous way while preserving control and gracefulness of dance.

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Ottawa Fringe 2016: Best Picture is a Treat for Oscar Buffs

By Jamie Portman | June 20, 2016

 
Best Picture is a cheeky romp through more than 80 years of Academy
Award winners. The script emanates from the nimble brain of Kurt
Patrick who also shares the stage with the versatile Rachel Kent and
the hilarious Jon Paterson in zipping entertainingly through decades
of Oscar history in only 60 minutes.
A warning, however: this show will work best for film buffs, Without
some knowledge of the movies themselves, you'll miss a lot of the
witty allusions. But this show from Vancouver's RibbitRePublic is
smartly conceived: it knows that even the most savvy filmgoer is
likely to know nothing about such forgotten winners as Wings or
Cavalcade, yet it's still creative enough to find ways to get them
into the mix.
With Jeff Culbert directing, the  tone is one of witty irreverence —
but these people do have the good sense to show respect for
Schindler's List and they also tip-toe cautiously when it comes to
Gentlemen's Agreement. Some of the spoofing does fizzle, but in a show
like this there's always the promise of redemption seconds later —
that's how quickly it moves. So its pleasures are substantial, and
include hilarious send-ups of The Silence Of  The Lambs and The King's
Speech, a mischievous pairing of the Oscar-winning Going My Way with
the horrors of The Exorcist, and a caustically funny reminder that
Marlon Brando was frequently incomprehensible in his Oscar-winning
performance The Godfather.
 
(Best Picture: Studio Leonard-Beaulne to June 25)

Miss Bruce’s War is One of a Kind.

By Jamie Portman | June 20, 2016

 Miss Bruce's War is not your normal Fringe entertainment. It's a new
piece by 93-year-old Jean Duce Palmer and based on her own experience
of teaching in a one-room school in Alberta's Cypress Hills region
during the Second World War. It's also a student production that comes
to the Fringe from Ottawa's Elmwood School.
This is a memory play rather than a traditionally constructed drama.
It's only real conflict rests in what happens when a young and
inexperienced teacher is thrust into an alien culture and faces the
classroom challenge of dealing with German-Canadian youngsters in a
time of war. Yet it remains an affecting piece of theatre because of
the quiet integrity of the script, and the evocative power of the
playwright's memories, coupled with the responsive work of a group of
talented youngsters under the direction of Angela Boychuk.

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Ottawa Fringe Theatre 2016: “Best Picture’” reveals the Academy Award ritual at its best!

By Alvina Ruprecht | June 20, 2016

Best Picture created and designed by Rick Cousins, produced by RibbitRePublic Theatre Co, from Vancouver.

We are on the red carpet with a host, a male actor and one female actor. They are going to take us on an ultra rapid journey through all 89 Academy award winning films, just to refresh our memory. The talk is glib host-style banter. They greet all the great stars as they walk in…!OH there is Judi Dench, there is so and so ..give her a hand” as the public files into the Leonard Beaulne Studio. No doubt to give this more of an Academy award feel they should have programmed it in a bigger theatre but the three stage performers, made up for the small space with lots of vibrant energy.

It involves taking us on a rapid fly-by history of the Academy Awards by making quick funny remarks, acting out short skits and snapping witty references about different shows, so that the titles of the shows find their way into the discussion and can be easily identified. Linked to all the Wayne and Shuster style humour (at times) there is voice and body mimicry, (Al Pacino from Rain Man was one of the great moments) there are jokes which slide between various shows so that they all make fun of each other and themselves.. as the stars connect and jostle themselves into first place. It was very rapid and sometimes we lost the sense of who was referring to what but I gather in a town like Toronto where one of the worlds biggest Film Festivals takes place, film buffs will have no trouble at all.

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Ottawa Fringe Theatre 2016: “2 For Tea” and the idea of being British!!

By Alvina Ruprecht | June 20, 2016

2 for Tea staged by British to British with James and Jamesy, from Sussex UK.

A new style of fringe performance where the 2 actors capture all the iconic moments,the popular images, and the historical references that make “Britishness”. It’s nothing more than that! But because these elements are so popular, people catch them all immediately and they roar with laughter.

What is this “Britishness” then? It’s a cup of tea slithering out from the wings on the end of a gloved hand suggesting British Music Hall theatre, it’s a full tea pot pouring out tea for that proverbial “Brew” on Coronation street. It’s even oblique references to the “tea party” in Alice in Wonderland; it’s placing the cups in exactly the perfect position on the table because it’s all about style, and good manners that become ridiculously overblown but not so for this very British show.

It’s also about pop culture icons like Mick Jagger _with the swivelling hips and the skinny legs – ; it’s about the civilised and extremely polite Englishman with the bowler hat who epitomizes a mass of British images including financiers on Fleet street and the clowns in Beckett’s theatre; it’s about being caught in the bombing of London during the World War II, it’s about the sense of family with the elderly parents who are awaiting the end and the final voyage that brings them up to their ultimate resting place with smiling faces, the stiff upper lip and all that.

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Ottawa Fringe 2016 : Fugee Is A Show That Deserves Attention

By Jamie Portman | June 20, 2016

British playwright Abi Morgan has always sought to strike a connection between the political and the personal — and her influences come from the left. She reveres the thorny lack of compromise shown over the years by a radical filmmaker like Ken Loach, and she makes no apologies about injecting unabashed polemic into her own work. But she is also so good at her craft that producers were ready to entrust her with the screenplay for The Iron Lady, a portrait of a major political figure, Margaret Thatcher, that she and her family hated.

Morgan is, in brief, a writer worthy of attention, and Ottawa’s Third Wall Academy deserves our warmest thanks for introducing Fringe audiences to Fugee, a lacerating account of how the system is failing refugee children. In her 2008 script, Morgan was zeroing in on the British situation, but with its sense of emotional horror and hopelessness, the play’s implications occupy a wider canvas.

The central character, Kojo, is a child from the Ivory Coast, an innocent whose once idyllic existence was brutally changed forever on his 11th birthday. When he first meet him, he has seemingly made it to safety and a new life. But he has no English and no passport, and his age is in question. Even within the security of a children’s refugee centre, the system is about to start tearing him apart — be it through latent prejudice, outright hostility, or bureaucratic indifference. And we keep being pulled back to the play’s first horrific image — of Kojo fatally knifing another youth on the street. And we keep asking why that tragedy happened.

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