Bryon Cranston. Photo by Evgenia Eliseeva

All the Way, currently playing at Cambridge’s American Repertory Theatre (ART), was originally produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as part of its project to explore U.S. history. “American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle,” is commissioning up to thirty-seven new plays of differing styles and genres that tackle significant moments of political and/or social change. Thirty-seven, the number of Shakespeare’s plays, alludes to the kind of characters the Festival hopes the project will create.

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Sasha Samar

Where do our most intense feelings hide within us, and what does it take to unleash them?  Some found the answer to this question on Wednesday night (September 25, 2013) during a performance of Moi, dans les ruines rouges du siècle. I heard some young people saying that they felt a yearning to live a life as warm and filled with love as the main character’s (Sasha) in his native Ukraine. I cannot imagine a better compliment for any artist.

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Choeur avec les oranges. Mise en scène de Joël Beddows. Photo: Alexandra Campeau.

L’Atelier de l’Université d’Ottawa, s’inscrit dans une démarche à la fois artistique et savante, menée par le Centre de Recherche en civilisation canado-française.  Il s’agit pour ses animateurs de sortir des chemins battus du réalisme et de contribuer au renouvellement esthétique du théâtre franco-ontarien, tout en formant  une nouvelle génération de chercheurs et de praticiens s’intéressant à ce théâtre francophone hors  du Québec.
Le texte de Sarah Migneron tient  à la fois d’une partition pour voix, et d’un scénario de situations mises en espace par un chorégraphe (on parle de dramaturgie corporelle),  où se mêlent  les voix et les corps qui  font penser aux chorégraphies de la célèbre Martha Graham.

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Jean Marc Dalpé (Mercier) et Elkahna Talbi (Maha)

Photo: Mathieu Girard

II (Deux) de Mansel Robinson, traduction de Jean-Marc Dalpé, mise en scène de Geneviève Pineault.

Zones théâtrales, une  biennale qui regroupe des artistes des scènes  francophones du Canada, a présenté neuf spectacles créés  en Ontario,  Québec, et Acadie (Nouveau Brunswick). qui mettent en scène des  univers à la fois réalistes, singuliers et poétiques, qui s’ouvrent sur des aventures intérieures des plus troublantes.
Deux textes ont retenu l’attention :  II (Deux)  de Mansel Robinson  (Toronto), traduit en français par le comédien et l’auteur dramatique  d’origine franco-ontarienne Jean-Marc Dalpé,  qu’il joue avec Elkahna Talbi. Et À tu et à moi de Sarah Migneron, avec onze comédiennes/danseuses  sur le plateau.  Chaque  spectacle fondé sur  un choix esthétique différent,  présente une réflexion sur le processus de jeu et l’orientation de l’acteur dans l’espace.

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First a novel, then a movie, finally a spoof of both. John Buchan’s acclaimed 1915 spy story was made into an equally acclaimed suspense movie by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935. (John Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir, a former Governor General of Canada, instituted the Governor General’s literary awards in 1940.)

Patrick Barlow’s 2005 comic adaptation of Buchan’s spy thriller tips the hat ironically at both genres. This version of The 39 Steps, while amusing and giving an almost frame-by-frame mocking tip of the hat to film noir, will not appeal to every taste. In the interests of full disclosure, I am one of those not thrilled by the style of comedy with its repetitive format and protracted jokes.

Nevertheless, such moments as escaping through very mobile window frames or dancing through assorted and equally mobile doorways are very funny. They are well executed in the effectively timed Kanata Theatre production, directed by Sandy Wynne.

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David Fox and R. H. Thomson. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.

NO GREAT MISCHIEF is an adaptation by David S. Young of Alistair MacLeod’s prize-winning novel. It’s about the MacDonald family’s history that has been elevated almost to the status of myth, beginning with their emigration from Scotland to Cape Breton. Brothers Alexander and Calum explore their family’s memories and relationships. In the play’s words, “. . . the legacy of life handed down across the centuries.” The series of stories are pulled together by Alexander’s lyrical narration. This production has almost a dream-like quality that captures the spirit of the book.

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Photo of Michael Healey: Amanda Lynne Ballard

Michael Healey’s “Proud” has been loudly publicized. Tarragon Theatre refused to put it on, allegedly fearing that it might bring a libel suit from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is the main character. With this kind of background, one would expect the play, a political satire about current political events and figures, to pack quite a sharp punch. However, Healey decides to take another approach. While the play is full of funny moments, it actually presents a very balanced view of the Prime Minister. Sure, he can be shrewdly calculating and socially awkward, but he’s also shown in moments of compassion and excitement. All this paints a very honest picture of a passionate man with clear goals.

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Reviewed by Alvina Ruprecht

Tom Barnett and Jenny Young. Photo by Barb Gray.

English Canada has a long tradition of theatre that comments on our political history. The Riel Story and the Metis Rebellion have often been dealt with on stage and more recently, the War of 1812 was the object of a satirical reconstruction that made known its distaste for that useless slaughter along the American Canadian border.

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A male actor’s hand on a female actor’s breast? The F word? A play about a cash-strapped married couple making a porn film? It’s sure not the old days at OLT.

Even so, this comedy by Norm Foster seems so far not to have driven any patrons from the theatre at intermission. And really, how could it? It’s funny, fluidly directed (Venetia Lawless in her directorial debut) and well-acted (the cast includes Kenny Hayes, bespectacled and in a conservative suit, as the most unlikely porn star ever). And while suggestive in a tongue-in-cheek way, it’s not offensive, and the stability of married life – albeit occasionally fraught – is at its core.

Skin Flicks is light fare, its characters all likeable but without much depth, its plot hardly credible. But it is kind of sweet in a silly way, and OLT could have done worse than to launch its 101st season with this show.

Skin Flick  by Norm  Foster

Ottawa Little Theatre

© 2013 Microsoft

 

Photo. Maria Vartenova

Expect no profound messages or, for that matter, much skin in Norm Foster’s latest comedy. Beyond the underlying theme that poverty makes respectable folks take risks, Skin Flick is intended as a send up of the “adult film” industry and is written for laughs.

Rollie and Daphne Waters, an ordinary suburban couple whose son has just started a pricey university program, are out of work and out of cash. Their rough cameraman friend, Alex — a juicy part that Foster wrote for himself — has just been fired. When, Jill, an out-of-work actress with low self-esteem, mistakenly delivers a balloon-gram to the Waters’ house, the group decides that making a DIY porn movie is the way out of their financial troubles. All they need is an appropriately endowed leading man. Enter Alex’s mild-mannered, shy bookmaker, Byron Hobbs.

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