This is an amazing show! I was immediately seduced by the tightly choreographed physical comedy that director Tracey Guptill imposed on her troops, whipping them into some of the best ensemble shape I have seen at the festival. Most of the material is exceedingly clever (the founding story of the ecological movement ) which goes back to Adam and Eve’s real reason for leaving the garden of Eden: an ideological split of a special sort forced them to go their separate ways. The result, Eve travels the world to create a community of green conscious members who don’t always live up to her expectations, while Adam pops up at the most unexpected moments. Its wild and woolly, it explodes into hysterics, it satirizes the fanatics, it harnesses energy and produces tribal dancing and the musical accompaniment which also works as sound effects , created and performed by Scott Irving is perfectly suited to the action. It is an amazing flight of imagination where an uneven text is given an extremely exciting reading by this young director who shows enormous promise. Note that super Ottawa based performer Jen Vallence whom we rarely see in our city.  This “Eve” , when not preventing global warming, must be hiding out in New York doing Broadway shows or something? And of course William Beddoes is his excellent self. This show reveals a ton of talent that I never suspected. Go see this one.

Emissions. A climate comedy written by Ann Cavlovic, directed by Tracey Guptill.

This performance is clearly conceived as a piece of very important personal therapy where a cancer survivor is celebrating the joy of life! He dances, he goes berserk on the public transit system, he infuses his frightening medical experiences (radiation treatments, operations etc ) with a sense of theatrical humour that makes it all bearable (for the audience and for himself) and he sustains an hour of movement, clever lighting effects and an excellent rapport with the audience. This young man is a very talented performer who uses his instruments (his body and his voice) with great inventiveness. The material is uneven but that is not the point here. He has survived,  and it’s his personal journey that he wants to tell us, avoiding any pathos, which is also what I appreciated. It all took a lot of guts. A big hug to this lovely fellow and fine actor.

Noah Spitzer performs at Arts Court.

Chris Kauffman sets up his props, his screen, where the background of his performance pops up,  and promptly becomes Nhar, who reminds us of a cross between Harpo Marx and Charlie Chaplin with the hat, coat and moustache. Here, however his  character is Pedro (a disgruntled warehouse worker).    Pedro discovers a gold fish, and this little creature is the starting point for a brilliant  illustration of  many issues society deals with today as well as Pedro’s own personal need for love. Kauffman is a master mime although Pedro does murmur a few words and sing  a few songs. Nhar Moves is creative theatre and a must on your Fringe list.  

Imagine being trapped in a whale’s stomach for a very long time. You eat mountains of stale crackers, read two books over and over again and -  being alone for a long time – you finally invent friends.   West builds his story on two classics: Moby Dick and Don Quixote.  The concept is very interesting and allows the author to explore daily life and the quest for love. Told in a funny way, it captivates the audience better at some moments than others. Although it is generally a good, well-paced and interesting show, from time to time it seemed that West ran out of ideas. Definitely a good story-teller however,  he is not meant to be a singer and the  song at the end of the show does not help. it is obvious that it  only serves to fill the time. I would have liked to see West invest a little bit more time and energy in the story, because it is the highlight here and it makes the show.

Written and performed by:

Zeb L. West

This is a one woman play written and performed by Veenesh Dubois, where Veneesh leads us on a roller coaster of emotions. Her performance as Timal is outstanding.  She captures the essence of a little 10-year old girl, whose father leaves his family and their small village to travel to the land of opportunity – Canada.  He promises to return and from that moment on, their only contact is through letters.  Timal is left in the care of her grandmother.  This is when Veneesh deftly uses a red scarf to transform herself  into the character of the grandmother and later, using the same prop, she becomes  the auntie, and a bride of an arranged marriage.  Under her convincing performance, we watch Timal  mature through her teenage years into a wife and mother.  The short film screened during the performance, gives glimpses of  father’s life in Canada which is perhaps extraneous to the play but   Under the Mango Tree is a ‘must see’ on your Fringe list. 

Written and performed by: Veenesh Dubois
Location: Studio Léonard Beaulne
June 21, 23, 24 25, 28, 30 2013 (at different times)
Timal’s Dream – Short Film
Director: Suzanne Bastien
Producer: Veenesh Dubois
Cinematographer: Colin Stoddard
Actors: Dhirendra Miyanger, Charlie Bewley
Tammy Gillis, Sean Nowak, Trevor Peever, Rachel Wolski

Brooklyn U.S.A.

After his Wanderlust show that took us into the desert at the Fringe a couple of years ago,  Dockery, the shamanic story teller is back.  The man who transforms his whole body into a story telling instrument, to produce a delirium of vocal sounds, movement and bodily language,  takes us on a long and exciting adventure, full of surprises, twists of language, unexpected humour and lightning references to the encyclopedia rumbling around in his head. All this to bring us into  touch with his inner world and help us understand his own vision of the history of  LSD. This is a most unique story teller, the likes of whom I have never seen in my whole life and I have seen magical story tellers throughout the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and Latin America. This man psyches himself up, gets physically inside his subject matter and explodes with a volcanic energy that makes us hear and feel exactly what he is describing. Do not miss this adventure that is much much more than what it appears. 

The choice of Michael Lesslie’s prequel to Hamlet, a witty, ironic and always elegant text, has been called by this British author “the stepping stone for young people into Shakespeare”.   Conceived for young actors, it would appear to be the perfect vehicle for this inaugural performance of Ottawa’s New Young Company, working in association with  Third Wall Theatre.

Unfortunately, this  text mainly highlights the weaknesses of the players and the direction of actors in general.  The play is characterized by heightened language which echoes both Shakespeare and modern adaptations of this language that try to capture the irony rooted in this text. There is even comic relief by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as British school girls . Lots of fun but not quite what one would expect and all this is  extremely difficult for young players who have relatively no experience. I would have thought that giving them a text written in a language  more familiar to their own, would allow  them to feel more at ease on stage, would have made this first stage experience much more beneficial.

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This is essentially a performance by Bruce Horak about Bruce Horak that totally seduces us. Located somewhere between stand-up comedy, story telling, chatting with the audience and a lecture on art of a very untraditional sort, the performance  becomes a self portrait of the speaker while it sets up the mystery of  Thom Thomson’s death and gives us the impression Horak  is trying to solve it. A strange amalgamation of coincidences which are intriguing and heartwarming and keep us glued to this fellow so that 75 minutes float by in a jiffy. 

He tells us  right off the bat that he is “vision impaired, he tells us in great detail how this came about, exactly what he sees in front of him,  how he grew up with it, how he deals with it and how it lead him to his love of painting. He even sneaks a good dose of humour when he explains how he fakes being fully sited which made the audience howl.  Parallel to that,  he talks about his discovery of Thom Thomson and why he has become  so obsessed with finding out how the painter died.  Private sleuth, philosopher and artist bent on making life a beautiful experience, Horak brings together both stories by alternating and criss crossing his tales so that we keep up on both streams. He is also spurred on by the fact that certain coincidences  seem to link him to the artist’s life as well as various intriguing (true or not?) accounts by people who knew the artist.

We don’t feel he is acting..he is simply chatting with us and it is beautiful because he has stage presence, a sense of humour and a strong love of life, a general ease with the audience and a genuine love of what he is doing.  A special kind of theatre that might even be the origin of a new genre called  “serious stand-up of the feel good kind”.  Very special indeed. 

In "Slut (r)evolution" Cameryn Moore is talking about sexual experiences. There is one thing to say about Moore: she is an excellent actress. Her performance is strong, vivid, and convincing. A perfect pace and especially skilful use of pauses makes it very natural. Yes, it feels as if she is not acting but talking to the audience about her own experience. Surely, good direction makes this show a success.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the story. In fact, there is no story. Moore represents a form of Open Theatre where yesterday’s taboo topics are now spoken about freely. Thus, the story about sex and enjoying sex – homosexual and heterosexual equally. The language is "mature," which means that the script consists of many profanities. There is nothing wrong here with the topic, language or angle. The problem is that those tools are confused with the story. I was listening for about 60 minutes about numerous sexual encounters, one very similar to another. There was nothing along or between the lines that had the slightest hint of character, reason or consequence, or, anything at all beyond the sex. I am quite sure that every person has something that distinguishes her or him in a given situation. Surely, sex is an important part of life, but it is also part of who we are and it fits somewhere and happens because of something. Nothing in our lives, including sex, can stand on its own, floating between earth and heaven, as this play suggests.

Created and performed by: Cameryn Moore

Directed by: Elizabeth DuPré

From the creator of “Gametes and Gonads” comes another hilarious comedy. “The Show Must Go On”  has Jeff Leard’s signature all over it: it is funny, witty, and physical.

Leard tells about his experiences as an actor who started his career touring Canada with a children’s show. The experience encompassed numerous misfortunes on the road, in motels where they stayed and in classrooms where they performed. Leard’s unwillingness to be part of it is clear. Among many obvious reasons, there was the fact that he hated children. But, he would not be Jeff Leard if it were that simple. Somewhere, squeezed in between slippery and sloppy roads, bike gangs, and dirty motels, blossomed a heap of wonderful pictures and heart warming occurrences. During the narrative the young actor, although unaware of it, grew up and matured. At the end of the cycle he came to a realization that he loved performing for children and, more importantly, that his work made a difference. It’s a wonderful story told by an even better performer who kept the audience engaged every second of the hour. Leard’s acrobatic and acting abilities are superb. He is an unparalleled  story teller, able to bring a variety of characters on the stage, and to make each of them unique and convincing. He performs with every segment of  his body: his movements and facial expressions paint the additional elements of the tale, which enhance the scenography and add much to the already rich atmosphere.

“The Show Must Go On” is entertaining, funny and highly creative, all the reason why this show is a must for admirers of  good theatre.

Written and performed by: Jeff Leard

Directed by: James Leard

Dramaturgy: Rob Salerno