1000 Islands Playhouse Archives - Capital Critics' Circle / Le cercle des critiques de la capitale

Ken Cameron’s “Harvest”: A funny and perseverant take on the shocking and unexpected.

By Natasha Lomonossoff | July 12, 2018

Harvest with Sheldon Davis and Catherine Fitch. Photo: Randy deKleine-Stimpson

Harvest performed at the 1000 Islands Playhouse in Gananoque, ON

A play that is inspired by a real-life experience of his parents, Ken Cameron’s comedy Harvest successfully transmits an equal amount of seriousness and humour as directed by Charlotte Gowdy in the Firehall Theatre. Performed by an extremely versatile pair, Sheldon Davis and Catherine Fitch, Harvest tells the story of a retired couple who decide to rent out their farmhouse when they move to the city. A WestJet pilot named Ron is all too eager to move in immediately. …

The Clockmaker: Romantic Mystery with Kafkaesque overtones makes for powerful summer theatre.

By Capital Critics Circle | August 11, 2012

Photo: Kaufmann Photography

Stephen Massicotte, author of the award-winning play THE CLOCKMAKER, has become one of my favorite contemporary playwrights. If you’ve seen either of his earlier plays, MARY’S WEDDING or THE OXFORD ROOF CLIMBER’S REBELLION, you can understand why. This time THE CLOCKMAKER tackles some heavy questions with both insight and humor.

This romantic mystery begins with the Kafkaesque interrogation of clockmaker Heinrich Mann by the rather threatening Pierre, whose function remains obscure till near the end of the play. Heinrich is then asked to repair a smashed clock by the mysterious Frieda and we begin to learn of her abusive husband Adolphus. Threaded through the complex unraveling of the story is the pervasive way smells trigger memory and the idea that what we remember is a choice.

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Amelia, The Girl Who Wants to Fly: A perfect fit for the 1000 Islands playhouse summer theatre.

By Capital Critics Circle | June 30, 2012

Eliza-Jane Scott as Amelia. Photo: Michael Grills Photography. Having seen and enjoyed this production of Amelia, The Girl Who Wants to fly at the GCTC last fall, I was looking forward to a second viewing. Written by John Gray, who also wrote Billy Bishop Goes to War and Rock and Roll, it’s a perfect fit for the 1000 Islands Playhouse’s Firehall. If anything, it seems to have gotten even stronger.A co-production with the Festival Players of Prince Edward County, this fascinating fact-based three-character musical explores the life and times of Amelia Earhart during the 1930s, the Golden Age of Flight. As the playwright has said, “It seems to me like a musical with competing narrators, all of them unreliable.”

There are three of them, (narrators that is), all strong actors and singers. Midge, Amelia’s sister, is played by Karin Randoja in a subtly layered performance, who settles for what she considers a “safe” life. Her Act II solo, “The Man Who Is Not There,” is very powerful.

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