undercurrents Festival Director Patrick Gauthier and Associate Director Brit Johnston have discussed openly their curatorial strategy for this year, one which stems from an urgent problem: mid-winter Ottawa begs for joy. The city has resigned itself to being stuck squeezing as much life as possible from short, frigid days. In programming undercurrents 2020, Gauthier and Johnston have searched Canada for beacons of theatrical joy, even if the performances fit that moniker in ways that defy convention.
This is an excellent solo show produced by The Precariat and written nearly a decade ago by Canadian playwright Jordan Tannahill. The solo piece is based upon the real-life Skyler James who defected from the US military after facing vicious homophobia, physical assault, and threats of rape during the “don’t ask don’t tell” years.
Portrayed masterfully by Kellie MacDonald, the show finds James holed up in an Ottawa KFC recounting her painful story as to why she fled the American military. MacDonald fully immerses herself in the role, maintaining a good Texan accent throughout and capturing the emotional nuances and highs and lows of a story that goes from love to tragedy so quickly. …
Murder mystery dinner theatre is not intended to be taken seriously. Neither should it be viewed in the same light as regular theatre.
Rather, the mystery is the frame for a variety of clichés about characters and plot, bookended by a meal and a miniscule amount of suspense as the audience solves whodunit. Audience members must also be prepared to interact with cast members in character while they are eating. In addition, they should be ready to laugh a lot between mouthfuls.
For two decades or more, Eddie May Mysteries have proved conclusively that the formula works. Now, the company has expanded to a second venue — the Velvet Room attached to Fat Tuesdays restaurant in Kanata Centrum.
Southern Dis-Comfort by Dan Lalande and Eddie May founder Noel Counsil is the first show to play at both the downtown and the west end location. The storyline not only speaks of murder and mayhem at the Caj-Inn hunting lodge in Louisiana, but also provides a vehicle for banter about Canada versus the U.S. and even a few moments of song. There are also some slow-down film-like segments that work very well.…
Drugs, sex, foul language and self-delusion, combined with a sense of entitlement. These are the underpinnings of the world depicted in This is our Youth.
I thank my lucky stars that it was not my youth. Perhaps this is why Kenneth Lonergan’s 1996 drama — set in New York during the Reagan era in 1982 — does not resonate with me.
Admittedly, the dialogue, heavily padded with the f-word and worse, rings true for this threesome of Upper West Side drifters from wealthy backgrounds living through the dropout generation of the 1980s. And, by the end of the play, there is a sense that they have overcome some of their moral confusion, if not their destructive drug habits.
