Ruddy Sylaire -Le Photographe et Audrey Pamphile
Photo: Marie-Claire DELBE-CILLA 
INSTANTANES D’INFINI d’ Annick JUSTIN JOSEPH : en création originale au 44° Festival de la Ville de Fort de France, Martinique Les 11 et 12 Juillet 2015 – 19H30 THEATRE AIME CESAIRE
Laurie Fyffe and Michelle Leblanc. Photo: Annette Hegel.
The Bytown Museum, with its historical atmosphere, physical references to the founding of Ottawa and the life of the early settlers in the area, provides the most perfect set one could imagine for this performance. It takes place between 1764 and 1769 between London England and Quebec City, several years after the battle of the Plains of Abraham (1759) when France lost its most important colony in North America. Laurie Fyffe incarnates the British playwright/novelist/essayist and translator, Frances Brooke (1724-89) annoyed by the male dominated theatre milieu in London, after her last play, Victoria was rejected by the reading committee. Her husbad is pastor in the the new British Colony in Quebec, “ that orphaned colony of French peasants” and she is rushing out to join him where she hopes to discover a new land, and revive her work as a writer. She arrives accompanied by her French maid Manon (Michelle LeBlanc) and the story explains how they pass those three years in Quebec City, discovering the history of the country, the elegant social and cultural life of the new British colony with all its military personal, and trying to adapt to Canadian winters which are unbearable.
Experimental Farm Theatre is a comedy collective who base their work on interesting contemporary stories. Given the fact that Ottawa improv-comedy is still small, they decided to jump in and enrich it by their endeavour. They produce funny sketches, and, as they say, “We’re trying to get people to just be present and be really perceptive listeners and to advance the story rather than just sacrifice it for the sake of jokes.” Very sound and admirable attitude!
Their first Fringe appearance, EFT-up: Just Like You, proves mean what they say. They find material for the script in the contemporary world: running for mayor, falling in love with the phone, having to spend a night in a disastrous hotel. Another point in their favour is that they don’t only rely on jokes, but rather try to develop strong characters. The audience’s reaction confirms that they are funny. Well, yes, they are energetic, fun to watch, and, sure, the potential is there. Some of material is hilarious, some not so much. Execution is engaging from time from time, though sometimes it is less successful. It is evident that there’s still a lot of learning and polishing to do, but I believe that Experimental Farm Theatre is on the right track. Hopefully, we will see them next year with even better material and acting skills. Still, EFT-up: Just Like You is an enjoyable show to watch.
EFT-up: Just Like You plays in Academic Hall.
After seeing Lara MacMillan’s exquisite show, Lara Loves Leonard, one understands that it is not just a title of yet another performance at the 2015 Ottawa Fringe Festival. It’s the simple truth: Lara MacMillan loves Leonard Cohen! That love is embedded in every song she sings and in every verse she says.
This show is a tribute to Cohen. MacMillan’s interpretation of his work oozes emotion – passion, desire, and affection. Her voice and her silence speak volumes equally and keep the audience under their spell. By her precise pace and tone, she electrifies every corner of the venue, from the simple stage where she stands alone, to the visitors in the last row. Increasingly, one moment after another, she builds a magic atmosphere of love and tranquility. By the end, one feels that a whole new world living in Cohen’s poetry and music opens up to those willing to listen. With her honesty, expressiveness and deep understanding of art, Lara MacMillan proves to be a perfect transmitter.
Lara Loves Leonard is an absolute must for those who love Leonard Cohen, music, poetry, or simply for those who are in search for an extraordinary 60 minutes.
Lara Loves Leonard plays at Studio Léonard Beaulne
Photo Jay Kopinski.
This production should be titled “Canadian Smugglers on the St. Lawrence in 1926.” It’s an extremely loose adaption of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance” by Ashlie Corcoran and Andrew Kushnir. Since the season brochure doesn’t mention that it’s an adaptation, if you’re expecting the original, prepare for a shock.
For example, there’s an extended original rhyming prologue, the girls enter in 1920s beach clothes and end up doing the Charleston with the smugglers to the tune of “Sweet Georgia Brown and instead of policemen, it’s the US Coast Guard in US Navy uniforms. Ukuleles abound and the Finale version of the lovely “Poor Wandering One” morphs into “Makin’ Whoopee.” There’s lots more, but you get the idea.
That said, there are some terrific voices in this cast. However, the unnecessary over-micing of both the cast and the excellent musicians tends to distort the sound. Some of the tempos on the group vocals are so fast that the lyrics are unintelligible, especially the women. On the other hand, the group vocal on the “Hail Poetry” section is wonderful.
Photo: Cory Thibert.
A brief note: I happened to see HOOTENANNY! during a performance during which their tech broke down, leaving them with huge gaps in the plot due to missing video sequences that help to advance the plot. And so I will just say a couple words, as I think Kate Smith and Will Somers’ brave work onstage, despite these difficulties, merits some attention!
Meet Hoot and Annie–two Australian children’s entertainers—on their world tour! They will play you some of their most beloved tunes, including one that reminds children to “do your chores or you’ll get a spank,” and another about a hopping possum that meets a not-so-friendly fox. This show is a parody of children’s entertainers that calls to mind the irreverent humour of Will Farrell. Hoot and Annie are contractually obligated to tell you that they are best friends, even since Hoot’s most recent stint at rehab.
Kate Smith & Will Somers have a natural penchant for humour that helped them to pull together a really funny performance. They referenced their own broken video sequences, and tried to make up for the gaps in the plot through some crafty improv. This was a solid performance, and I have no doubt that, once the tech issues are resolved, it will be even better.
Performed and conceived by Kate Smith & Will Somers / Smith & Somers
Performed by Keith Brown.
I don’t usually go to magic shows because, frankly, they hurt my brain. Keith Brown’s show, Exchange, does just that. It is a conundrum. A complete question mark. In other words: A great magic show.
Brown is charming and sincere in his performance, while he delivers a set of tricks that defy logic. From impressive feats of memory, to prestidigitation (that I still can’t figure out), and unbelievable guess-work, Exchange is a great performance. What’s more, Brown’s framework is all about creating a bridge between he and the audience, which leads to a very entertaining evening. He has the audience’s rapt attention as he delivers a series of unbelievable tricks that will keep you up late searching the internet for answers.
During the Ottawa Fringe, the climax of Brown’s performance is a feat that supposedly landed him in the hospital, and he has photos to prove it. Whether you are a skeptic or a believer, Brown has the format of his show down to an art and delivers a performance that will stick to your brain like glue, whether you like it or not.
Photo, Monique Elliot
Two friends, have gone to a wedding, they wake up the next day and discover a corpse in their apartment. Two legs sticking out from the wings could be the beginning of a sit-com version of Antonioni’s Blow Up which might have lead to a more non-traditional investigation of the presence of the corpse. However, still in TV mode, the writers have chosen Murder She Wrote as their mystery solving model which transforms the corpse into a bit of a sterotype , especially at the end. Instead there are hysterics, jumpy nervous flippant tv-style dialogue, a perfectly good sit-com style relationship between the two friends who insert Jessica Fletcher into the mix as part of their playing at being sleuths.
The show is rather well layered as far as the characters and their situation are concerned, Good directing by Dave Dawson whose work is always very competent and fitting performances by the two young women concerned who really seem to be having a great time on stage. This is a perfect example of the way TV is having a deep deep influence on the style and narratives of a certain kind of popular theatre these days. Its not a bad thing. It is just very revealing and no doubt inevitable.
Two Girls, One Corpse at Academic Hall. .
Two Girls One Corpse
Created and performed by Marissa Caldwell and Michelle Blanchard
Directed by Dave Dawson
Production of Lazy Sunday Theatre
By Johnny Wideman (Theatre of the Beat, Stouffville, Ontario). Performers are Johnny Wideman as the prisoner, writer and director. Benjamin Wert is his astonished interlocutor who pops up through the floor to rescue him, except that Wideman does not want to be rescued. This begins an amusing fantasy where a longtime prisoner, on death row, has obviously become out of touch with the outside reality, while turning into an obsessive compulsive creature in relation to his prison routines and cannot imagine another kind of life away from this cell, even though it means he will soon be executed.
What can the new arrival who just bursts through the floor, do to convince this Johnny to leave? A frustrating piece of writing because although Johnny is strong and amusimg and Benjamin tries to clarify everything for him, Johnny cannot be penetrated by any kind of logic as to his situation. He is about to die and he does not seem to care. The point of this is not particularly clear. Is it the dehumanizing force of long term prison? is it a dialogue between two realities trying to grasp the superiority of one or the other whereas nothing really changes? after about 30 minutes I felt i would have liked to hear more intervention by the new intruder. Johnny’s banter became tiring and kept turning in on itself. Playful preciosity, talking to hear himself toss words about, spouting a logic that did not exist. Even the ending when he suddently breaks into tears made no sense at all since he kept insisting he wants to die.
This Prison or He Came Through the Floor was not particularly satisfying although there will soon be a full fledged performance of this show with the dialogue worked out to a more satisftying stage.
Venue Studio Léonard Beaulne.
–
Screwtape is an adaptation of C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters and Screwtape Proposes a Toast (an after-dinner speech given by Screwtape at the Tempters’ Training College for young demons). Both address Christian theological issues, mainly those of temptation and resistance to it. The story is told through a series of letters written by senior Demon Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood, a Junior Tempter. In John D. Huston’s one man show version, Screwtape is a contemporary bureaucrat, who builds his career on preparing young tempters for the serious duty of re-routing the race away from Heaven and toward Hell.
Huston sticks to the statement in the preface of Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters that states “The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid “dens of crime”…… but … in well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars..” He builds his character with the persuasion and poise bestowed only to those born as natural story tellers. The show is set up as a lecture to junior tempters, which is constantly interrupted by Screwtape’s nephew’s frequent phone calls. …