Theatre in Ottawa and the region Archives - Page 78 of 92 - Capital Critics' Circle / Le cercle des critiques de la capitale

Festival’s playlist runs gamut from delightful to pedestrian

By Patrick Langston | October 31, 2013

9110167 — Scene from The Book of Daniel
featuring Maureen Smith, Eric Craig
and Brian K. Stewart
Photograph by Andrew Alexander Photography

The Extremely Short New Play Festival
New Theatre of Ottawa
At Arts Court Theatre

The thing about a festival of extremely short plays — in this case 10 of them, all new and each no longer than 10 minutes — is that if you don’t like one, another will soon take its place.

This second annual festival consists of shows by Ottawa writers about everything from an ape applying for the job of governor of the Bank of Canada (the ridiculously humorous The Top Job by Wynn Quon) to a memory piece about coming of age as a Jew during the 1976 Montreal Olympics (The Book of Daniel by Lawrence Aronovitch).

Under John Koensgen’s direction, Eric Craig, Maureen Smith, Brian K. Stewart and Colleen Sutton perform all the parts. …

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NAC’s English theatre Impishly Transfers Moliere’s Tartuffe to a Newfoundland Fishing Village

By Jamie Portman | October 28, 2013

It’s fascinating to see how well Tartuffe adapts to the outport culture of Newfoundland. Or perhaps we should modify this and note that we’re talking about the particular outport culture that emerges from the impish mind of Andy Jones, a social satirist who knows his island well and remains ever alert to its possibilities when it comes to creating comic mayhem.

Indeed, Jones’s gleeful new version Moliere’s 350-year-old masterpiece, does have the rollicking cadences of a salt-water ballad — albeit an off-kilter one. And in Jillian Keiley’s spirited production for the NAC English theatre, it carries the tang of an irreverent tall tale about duplicity and gullibility on the Rock. It’s a testament to Keiley’s direction, to the work of the cast, and to designer Patrick Clark who has concocted a splendid two-level period set for the occasion, that for two-and-a-half hours you’re ready to engage in the fantasy that Moliere’s vision of human nature at its most preposterous actually did play out here, on this island, in the late spring of 1939. …

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Sparks: Fires Flicker at the Avalon Studio performance space as NORT opens the new Studio-Theatre on Bank Street.

By Alvina Ruprecht | October 12, 2013

Poster courtesy of the New Ottawa Repertory Theatre. Sparks, a new play for a brand new theatre space seems like a fitting choice as the New Ottawa Repertory Theatre opened its 2013-14 season with the work by Doug Phillips, Sparks. NORT performances are usually seen at the Ottawa Theatre School on Picton Avenue in Westboro Village but this time they are one flight up at 738 Bank Street which has been transformed into a modern space for theatre classes as well as an acting space for small theatre productions.

Clearly, the whole evening was in a discovery mode. Sparks takes place in a fireworks factory in Smith Falls, where six workers are re-packing fireworks to be sent around the world. Each worker, two women and four men, has his/her own obsessions, personal problems and they all pour out during that hour long show as they stand behind the packing table putting fireworks in the boxes. Moments with Jennifer Vallence as the provocative Cindy are excellent and the withdrawn Charlie Ebbs, who never eats lunch, creates a sense of pathos that might have gone even further. Tensions build, tempers fly as all the frustrations of this microcosm of the Canadian working class, are thrown back at the “ruling classes”, represented by the owner of the plant, Julie (Annette Cole). Director Paul Dervis fittingly placed her in an office on the upper level of the stage to represent the power that dominates them all and controls their lives.

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The Weir : Conor McPherson’s superb writing given an acceptable production at the Shenkman Centre.

By Patrick Langston | October 11, 2013

Photo:Peter Juranka Cast of The Weir

Irish playwright Conor McPherson has given us a superb piece of writing in this apparently simple play set in a rural pub, and Tara has for the most part given McPherson’s story its rightful due.

The plot is straightforward: four locals and one newcomer spend an evening knocking back a few drinks and trading ghost stories, a couple of them truly chilling. What these folks, all lonely and disappointed to varying degrees, are actually talking about is their own regrets over what might have been and how a community gathering spot like a pub and the sheer grace that we humans sometimes show to each other can make the journey through a dark and sad world a little easier.

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Private Lives: Slack pacing plagues production of Noel Coward classic

By Patrick Langston | September 21, 2013

David Whiteley and Alix Sideris . Photo: Andrew Alexander

Noel Coward had no qualms about knifing his audience emotionally, but he did it with sparkle, his language a kind of pirouette that, lunging suddenly, could disembowel.

This production of Coward’s most popular play, which we saw in a preview before opening night, thrusts the knife a lot but dances rarely and winds up saying little for all the talk that occurs.

The plot is simple and deliciously silly. Elyot (David Whiteley) and Amanda (Alix Sideris) have divorced each other and remarried. They accidentally meet while honeymooning at the same hotel with their new spouses: in Elyot’s case, Sybil (Bronwyn Steinberg) and in Amanda’s, Victor (Steve Martin).

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Proud: Biting Funny and Thought Provoking

By Capital Critics Circle | September 15, 2013

Photo: GCTC, Ottawa

You don’t need to know much about Canadian politics to enjoy Michael Healey’s laugh and thought provoking new play PROUD. It’s an examination of politics that skewers both ends of the political spectrum. PROUD is about much more then political chicanery. To quote Artistic Director Eric Coates, “This play is a fearless and funny poke at government and the public’s role in the whole equation.”

It’s set in the Conservative Prime Minister’s office in 2011 when Stephen

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Proud : Taking Pride in Canadian Theatre

By Iris Winston | September 15, 2013

Photo of Poster. Courtesy of Great Canadian Theatre Company.

Regardless of political persuasion, Ottawa audiences are sure to find Michael Healey’s Proud amusing and thought provoking.

The majority will probably be left shaking their heads that Tarragon Theatre refused to mount the latest play by their long-time playwright-in-residence — who was proud enough to quit after 14 years in the position and mount the play elsewhere. The word was that Tarragon found Proud potentially libelous because it was a satirical view of the current Prime Minister. (Possibly, Tarragon’s cowardice was also prompted by fear of losing government grants, but I digress….)

Written as the third of a trilogy following Generous and Courageous, Proud is set in the Prime Minister’s office just after the 2011 federal election, in which 59 Quebec seats have been swept up in a blue wave, giving the Conservatives a huge majority. In this alternate reality, as in the actual NDP orange crush, the leader is stuck with a mass of rookie MPs.

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Proud: A GCTC Production. Patrick Langston in the Ottawa Citizen

By Patrick Langston | September 13, 2013

Photo. Andrew Alexander

Michael Healey and Jenny Young.

This Prime Minister is shrewd, cynical — and likable. Astute, funny play at GCTC is based on Stephen Harper

No doubt about it: Michael Healey sticks us with a problem.

On the one hand, no matter what your political persuasion you’ll probably like — or at least have a chunk of fellow feeling toward — the unnamed prime minister, a man based on Stephen Harper, at the centre of Healey’s political satire Proud.

On the other hand, how can you not be repulsed by this shrewd, powerful leader’s cynical reduction of political life to manipulation of public opinion and the achievement of his personal Holy Grail: a better debt-to-GDP ratio? Then again, who ever said theatre, or politics for that matter, is supposed to wrap life up in one tidy package? Healey himself plays the prime minister in this funny, astute and talky play that is set in the days after the 2011 federal election.

The Conservatives, rather than the NDP, have swept Quebec and hold .read more …..http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/This+Prime+Minister+shrewd+cynical+likable/8908639/story.html

Peggy Laverty explains her choice of costumes after Alvina Ruprecht’s review of the Confessions of a Drag Queen.

By Capital Critics Circle | August 29, 2013

Hello
Regarding Toto Too’s recent Production , I would like to make a few comments.
It is always easy and satisfying to make a character look good. It is harder to allow oneself to make a character look relatively unattractive.

Barry’s clothing was not meant to be modern. The dresses, according to the script, had been in storage for 25 years while he was in jail. They are from the 80’s, and, as most were at that time, are somewhat frumpy and overdone. These are referred to by John as being “shit ugly frocks”.

Neither the Director or the Production people wanted blatantly flamboyant outfits for Miranda’s character. He was to be involved in a meeting with a serious straight man who would affect his life, not dressing for a night at a Drag Queen competition. I filled the two racks on stage with the more dramatic outfits which would have been used earlier in their stage shows. He is living in an altered reality, delusional and living in the past, and he thinks he looks wonderful in his old clothes and overdone makeup.

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The (Post) Mistress: Sweet but not sizzling!

By Alvina Ruprecht | August 25, 2013

Martha Irving as the Post Mistress. Photo: Jay Kopinski

The (Post) Mistress, playing at the 1000 Islands Playhouse in Gananoque, is clearly a culturally hybrid stage event that slowly works itself out through moments of story- telling, of singing, of music, of striking lighting effects (thanks to Paul A. Del Motte). Adapted from a Cabaret style that Highway has already produced in other one woman musical shows (The incredible adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito, and Rose) this one suffers from the inadequacies of the lone actress, Martha Irving who is not quite able to sustain the extraordindary and rapid changes in music and spoken word styles. To work well, this show needs a much stronger and more transformative dramatic presence.

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Photo. Andrew Alexander

This Prime Minister is shrewd, cynical —­ and likable. Astute, funny play at GCTC is based on Stephen Harper

This Prime Minister is shrewd, cynical — and likable. Astute, funny play at GCTC is based on Stephen Harper