NAC English theatre 2018 Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Capital Critics' Circle / Le cercle des critiques de la capitale

carried away on the crest of a wave:stylistically simple and attractive throughout

By Iris Winston | March 25, 2018

John Ng, Clarissa Lauzon; Photo: David Hou

carried away on the crest of a wave by David Yee, directed by Kim Collier. An NAC English Theatre Production

Throw a pebble into a pool of water and the circles of ripples spread far beyond the point of entry. Magnified a thousand times, the aftermath of a massive natural disaster such as the December 2004 tsunami that claimed more than 250,000 lives spread around the world.

In carried away on the crest of a wave, playwright David Yee demonstrates the aftershocks in lives changed forever in many parts of the world far removed from the tsunami in Asia. …

Lepage’s 887: An Innovative Exploration into the World of Memory

By Capital Critics Circle | January 20, 2018

Reviewed by Natasha Lomonossoff

Ex Machina’s production of Robert Lepage’s recent play 887, showing at the National Arts Centre’s Babs Asper theatre, is a true triumph in innovative storytelling. The technologies of video and image projection work to complement the events and interactions that are recounted onstage in a way that is meaningful rather than cheesy. The program for the show states that “Ex Machina’s creative team believes that the performing arts-dance, opera, music-should be mixed with recorded arts-filmmaking, video art and multimedia.” Upon seeing a performance of 887, one is inclined to agree. …

Mr. Shi and His Lover: a tautly executed superlative piece of musical theatre

By Patrick Langston | January 7, 2018

Mr Shi and His Lover: Jordan Cheng and Derek Kwan, Photo Erik Kuong

First published on Artsfile. Jan, 5 2018

A word of advice: If you’re going to see this superlative chamber musical, take the time to read the introductory notes from Macau Experimental Theatre that accompany the National Arts Centre’s program as well as the program itself.

That material will give you not just the show’s background – for instance, it’s based on a two-decades long, real-life love affair between two men: a French diplomat and a Peking opera singer who presented himself as a woman – but also provide invaluable explanatory musical and storyline anchors for a show that, like its concerns with love, deceit, identity and the nature of performance, eludes easy categorization and slyly resists our natural hunger for definitive answers in the face of ambiguity. …