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

Frantic but Funny “Don’t Dress for Dinner” in Gananoque

By Capital Critics Circle | August 7, 2015

Todd Thomson as Bernard & Kirk Smith as Robert. Photo: Mark Bergen — Todd Thomson as Bernard & Kirk Smith as Robert. Photo:
Mark Bergen

The 1000 Islands Playhouse has mounted an antic production of “Don’t Dress for Dinner.” The rollicking farce, by Marc Camoletti and adapted by Robin Hawdon, is a sequel of sorts to his earlier play, “Boeing Boeing,” in that it features the same male leads: Bernard, still having woman problems, in this case with his wife Jacqueline and mistress Suzanne, and Robert, his hapless friend. Through a series of mis-chances they all end up in Bernard’s country home for a disastrous dinner party along with a hired cook, Suzette.

Jung-Hye Kim’s set is good, with plenty of doors for slamming, a necessity for farce. The furniture is colorful and easily tips, another plus. The only flaw is the large mirror on the stage left wall which is very distracting. Oz Weaver’s lighting is good except for the last two scenes, which doesn’t make sense. As the actors leave they turn out the lights, but the stage lights immediately sneak up again to light the final scene. The costumes by Cindy Wiebe are fine and Suzette’s onstage change is very clever. The exception is Jacqueline’s very unflattering nightgown and odd slippers. Also, someone should remind Jacqueline and Suzette to make up their tan lines. …

The Ugly One: devastating, cruel and tightly choreographed. Admirable theatre!

By Alvina Ruprecht | August 23, 2014

Photo: Jay Kopinski

German playwright Marius von Mayenburg has written an angry little Hegelian parable which is tightly staged, highly stylized, prone to split second reactions that generate enormous excitement. He shows us that the human being’s awareness of himself /herself comes from the way he sees himself through the gaze of those around him. A certain Lette (Alex Poche-Goldin) working for a corporation where he has just discovered a new technological mechanism, will not be allowed to present his product at an international meeting because his boss Scheffler (Hardee T. Lineham) says Lette is too ugly and he will just turn potential buyers off. Lette is horrified. He was never aware that he was ugly because no one let on, no one told him, and even his wife Fanny was not able to look at him so he never noticed the horror reflected in her gaze. Of course none of this is visible but that just emphasizes the state of mind at the basis of such thinking.

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The Ugly One: Food for thought

By Capital Critics Circle | August 23, 2014

Photo: Jay Kopinski

The Ugly One” by German playwright Marius von Mayenburg and translated by Maja Zade is billed as a black comedy, and rightly so. Lette is a successful engineer who happens to be so ugly that his wife can only look at his left eye. They have what they call an “acoustic relationship.” Lette has his face reconstructed by a plastic surgeon and emerges charismatically handsome. The play deals with image, identity and perception. It also raises questions about today’s celebrity culture, so often based only on image. Exactly who are the Kardashians and why should we care?

Set and Costume designer Camellia Koo has done a splendid job. The spare futuristic set consists largely of a metal rectangular table with the audience seated only on two sides facing each other. The long table functions as a stage, a speaker’s platform and an operating table with the four actors moving from it to the floor and in and out of the front row of the audience. There are also a couple of mirrors and a rectangle of fluorescent tubes over the table. Her costumes are equally simple and allow the actors to switch characters using only body language and voice.

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