The fringe is a chance for artists to try out new ideas thus it is also a game of chance for the audience. You never know what you will get, in spite of the buzz. Such is the case with the Vanity project. This work is essentially a pop opera based on the Greek myth Narcissus whom fate has destined to loneliness because he is only able to fall in love with his own image. Oberholzer wants to explain the truth behind this but his “cautionary tale” did not show us that truth very clearly.  The score with the melodies and accompaniment are composed by Tim Oberholzer, Stewart Matthews and Rachel Eugster. An interesting initiative which unfortunately is certainly not ready to be shown in public. For the innocent audience member, it is a performance that appears to lack direction of all kinds. The actors, who often are not particularly competent, don’t seem to be sure of their movements and musical direction in general seems to be missing. Sometimes the accompaniment works against the melody giving the impression the singer is flat even though most of the voices are rather good. In general however, the whole process of vocal interpretation seems to have been ignored. Transitions between songs appear to have been given no thought at all and in general, the actors/singers  have been left to fend for themselves. I have to admit that the half masks were very classy.  Frankly though, the ensemble work  was painful to watch. Should they continue with this project? I don’t think they can tell until they bring in a real musical director who shows them how to put together a piece of light opera. At that point it might become clearer.

Four strangers are stranded in an airport due to the fact that their pilot is missing. The only way to depart is to participate (and win) a game set up by the airport authorities. As the game evolves on different stages, the audience comes to know the characters better: the competitive 13 years old Piper, the not so bright Pete and Phil, and deceiving Pascale. "Pilot" surely promises more than it delivers. Its very simple and meaningless story, non-existent direction and mostly amateurish acting failed to create drama, humour or honest connections. Talented and energetic Jaclyn Martinez (as Pascale) used up all her energy on the stage in an attempt to infuse some life into the show that looked more like an inside joke than any kind of play. The naive explanation (trying to be funny?) at the end did not help in any way. The message: "you are stupid Americans, and we can make you believe anything" does not sound very convincing or, at least, factual. It came off more as offensive and rude. Maybe there was a deeper meaning in all this, but it definitely did not come across. The audience helped as much as it could. People applauded when they are told to do so, repeated slogans even laughed from time to time, but all this was not enough to build a decent theatre.

Cast

Pete – Kyle Cunningham

Pascale – Jaclyn Martinez

Phil – Mike Connors

Piper – Ashley Rissler

Game Show Assistent – Sam Dietrich

Nhar Moves performed by Chris Kauffman. Original music by Nandi Rose Plunkett. 

Delightful!! That’s the word. Not a show of virtuosity, not slick but there is great sensitivity and artistic flair in the actions of this clown. He stages his own set by projecting diapositives on a small screen and then invents the story of a lonely clown who needs a friend. Certain visual effects but this is mainly a show of the actor’s body and how he recreates a poetic world around him as he holds a fishbowl full of water, illuminated and transformed into a magical object by the spots at the back . He transforms himself as he plunges into his suitcase of mysterious parts (hats, wigs, moustaches etc) and appears as a new creature with a new face before he takes off into the world searching for  his lost friend, the goldfish.  The musical accompaniment is important and very well chosen, the playful twinkle in his eyes is contagious and charming. . One wants to hug the fellow when it’s over. Adolescents and parents will love this too. Go see it with your kids.

Directed by Kevin Orr. Sound by Sean Green

This is the domain of serious contemporary experimental theatre that I must say from the outset is not to my taste. Nevertheless, there is a theme that is set out at the beginning..a creepy film of the mating rituals of crabs on Christmas Island that is carried on through the play . A high powered urban couple return from a honeymoon there and are thrust upon us as they are forced to prove why their company should promote them. It all takes place around a huge board table where the two are addressing the board and us the audience, as the members of the company. The performance is structured by the questions that appear on a screen, the traces of an invisible power that is watching the whole thing during this interview. The language is an ongoing, rapid, dense collage of all the contemporary buzz words, administrative speak, theories of contemporary social behaviour emptied of their content but rather pasted together to resemble the deconstructed figures of a  Dada collage. Here it creates  an impression of urgency, pressure, tension, slick urban manipulation. The words almost function as atonal music as they often talk at the same time, then  shift gears and keep going.…As the actors speak , their movements, also resemble among other things, a pumped up scenario  of exercises from modern weight loss techniques that are sold on DVD.  The bodies glow with energy!  The choreography of  what one might this   contemporary urban dance/theatre is conceived and directed by Kevin Orr.

Lively, original,  funny, the audience loved it but it did not engage me. Sorry. 

Imprisoned    Rebel Rabbit Productions (Ottawa), Academic Hall

This play by Allie Bell raises serious questions. Is pedophilia a form of madness in which the victimizer suffers from a God complex? How often do we get it wrong when we judge our fellow guilty? Why does evil exist alongside beauty in the world?Unfortunately the show, directed by Paul Dervis, also raises other questions. Why, for example, does a man named Salvatore (Jeff Lefebvre), an apparent pedophile whose artistic vision is matched only by his talent for spotting vulnerable children, speak in the precise manner of an immigrant yet have not a trace of an accent? Why did Bell not give Tom (Doug Phillips), the cynical bulldog of a detective who pursues and jails Salvatore, something more interesting to say at fraught moments than “Shut up!” Why does the show, which deals with intense subject matter including a missing child and a seriously troubled man, have no emotional trajectory?

There are no answers to many questions. But some questions shouldn’t need to be asked in the first place.

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Interprètes : Nancy Kenny, Martine Roquebrune.

Presque du Michel Tremblay mais avec une goutte de violence et de tragédie imminente beaucoup plus bouleversante, cette pièce d’Allan Baker nous plonge dans une ambiance de misère familiale à peine supportable. Tout se passe dans la cuisine de Sandra qui est, effectivement la cuisine au sous-sol de l’église 473, rue Cumberland. Dolores, terrifiée, paniquée, désespérée, arrive chez sa sœur. Dolores a besoin d’aide (la preuve,  son œil en beurre noir) parce que son mari est furieux et cette fois-ci, il va certainement l’achever comme une chienne. Sandra hésite, s’énerve, refuse. Elle ne veut pas se mêler de ces histories. Un dialogue musclé s’ensuit mais peu à peu les liens familiaux s’imposent, les deux se redécouvrent et très vite Sandra passe aux aveux. Elle aussi vit des drames semblables mais elle n’a jamais osé en parler, pour assurer la paix chez elle. Et puis, il y a un rebondissement au dernier moment. Et on voit qu’une véritable réconciliation n’est plus possible puisqu’un coup de téléphone démolit tout ! Une pièce très bien faite, un dénouement profondément émouvant sans trop de sensiblerie, tout y était pour en faire un spectacle parfait. Martine Roquebrune est très convaincante en tant que Sandra, la sœur dépassée par les événements, une femme minée par le secret qui la ronge. Malheureusement, Nancy Kenny n’arrive pas à capter son personnage. Son jeu est très compétent, et son acadien semble impeccable, mais dans cette ambiance de théâtre naturaliste il faut que le jeu passe par les tripes et il est très clair que Mme Kenny n’est pas du tout habitée par cette créature écrasée, battue, la victime impuissante d’un mari monstre qui la tient prisonnière en quelque sorte. Cette situation justifie tout à fait le dénouement mais il reste à voir si au courant de la semaine, elle pourra rattraper la signification de la pièce et enfin se laisser glisser davantage dans les réflexes de cette femme, devenue une « loque » pitoyable. Pour l’instant, on n’y croit pas trop.

À voir St Paul’s Eastern United Church au sous-sol. 473, rue Cumberland.

There are pirates, a jungle scene involving a baby elephant and dim-witted hyenas, a woman giving birth to an unexpected offspring. There are nursery rhymes and snatches of I’s the B’y. Fairies flutter about, a dragon intones doom, periodically a door creaks very loudly.Sometimes we’re in Ireland, sometimes we’re not.

In other words, there’s far too much crammed into this physical, 50-minute, three-hander by Victoria Luloff and Stewart Matthews that seems to be about how we construct our lives — often to our detriment — by telling stories about existence.Zach Counsil continues to impress on stage, moving easily through a mix of spoken and singing parts, and enacting everything from that baby elephant to a midwife.Nicholas Surges warms to the job as the show proceeds.

Luloff frequently struggles to be heard above the sound effects and, one suspects, sometimes feels lost in her own unwieldy script. Matthews directs, but should have spent more time taming the story.

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Dolores by Edward Allan Baker directed by Tania Levy featuring Nancy Kenny and Martine Roquebrune 

Site specific naturalistic drama in the kitchen (of the church) where two sisters meet and reconcile in this impeccably constructed and very moving two-hander. A terrified Dolores (Nancy Kenny) comes to her sister (Sandra) for help. Her husband is battering her, has been for a long time and she doesn’t know where to turn. Sandra wants no part of it but family ties prevail, in all the emotional pressure, Sandra finally reveals the truth about her own marriage and the sisters find each other in a new closeness but not before a surprise ending that suggests the real tragedy to come. A taught drama that Kenny has translated into Acadian French and that takes a few minutes to plug into but the text and the translation work very well. Martine Roquebrune was convincing as the distraught sister who seemed to be living something real in this gut-wrenching naturalism. What is less successful is Kenny’s performance that never once convinces us she is a deeply distraught battered woman. She shows us an elegant, sophisticated middle class character playing at being a victim. The character (whom the actress and the director still have to define more clearly) has not yet inhabited the actress. That was opening night however and no doubt her performance will grow.

See it at 473, Cumberland, St. Paul’s Eastern United Church, Performed in Acadian French.

Directed by J.D. Campbell  With Robert Welch

A smashing dialogue by one of Ireland’s foremost playwrights which has a wasted theatre critic  telling  us about his hallucinatory adventures with some strange creatures in London, of the vampire persuasion  who bring him a new lease on life. A heavy load for a single actor who does not happen to be Brendan Behan, Richard Burton or any one of those alcohol soaked geniuses of the Irish/British stage. John Koensgen tried this at the Cube Gallery a few years ago and did a rather good job with it. Robert Welch still has a long way to go before the character sinks in. On opening night, he was not at ease with the role. Welch still appears to be reciting his lines, moving according to his director’s instructions and is not yet really breathing life into this fascinating creature. He should begin by looking straight at the audience and engaging us directly in his tale.  A show that will probably grow.

St Paul’s Eastern United Church-473 Cumberland

http://www.bombshells.com/gallery/west/west_gallery.php. Mae West

DIRTY BLONDE by Claudia Shear, running in rep at Pendragon Theatre in Saranac Lake, NY, is about Mae West, queen of the one-liners. The flashbacks of her career and life are interwoven with the present-day lives of Charlie and Jo, fans of Miss West, who meet at her tomb. The play’s structure is confusing at first, as initially the emphasis of the production is totally on Mae. It takes a bit too long for us to understand the framework of the present-day scenes and connect them to the flashback material. Speaking of flashbacks, projection designer Bonnie B. Brewer has done a nice job with the many photos projected on a screen upstage. Tijana Bjelajac’s simple set consisting of three chairs, a table and an upright piano set into a platform stage right, is very workable. Kent Streed’s costumes are good and keep dresser Clare Paulson hopping with the many very fast changes.

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