Ottawa Tonite.com : Section Title
- In a slam, teams compete in four rounds.
- After a poet presents a piece during a round, the audience judges jot down a score between 0 and 10, using one decimal place.
- There’s no time to chew over your score. The host will demand to see the judges’ decisions right away, so you need to write down a score while the audience applauds the poet.
- Your scores are read out by the host, and recorded. And so it goes, poet after poet, round after round.
- At the end of the slam, the judges’ total scores determine the winning team.
- “Friends: joy is our birthright” (Elyse Maltin)
- “I B who I B ‘cuz only I can define my I D” (Dana ‘I D’ Matthews)
- “I wear my heart on my sleeve but I have this bad habit of losing my shirt” (Frankin ‘Wordzworthe’ Davis)
- “I will not remit these weapons ‘cuz I need to make it out safely” (David Delisca)
- “This essay is my desire to quote you so our conversations will be remembered… my educators of consequence were artists” (Fraser)
- “You are lightning. Be just as deadly.” (Kiki)
- “FOB? FOB?!? Nobody uses boats nowadays, motherf#$ker!” (Joshua Bartolomé)
- “I don’t teach subjects. I teach students… I teach body odor and boners and pants put on backwards by accident” (Tyler Perry)
- “Bodies dipped in red liquid like french fries” (Synonymous)
- “We are coming to know how to write poems in the final days of an empire” (Hodan Ibrahim)
- “The hands of my uncles that mop and sweep hold the keys to every room on Wall Street” (Hyfidelik)
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APPRAISE of the Theatre: . . . EXIT UP.
[Ken Godmere is an Ottawa-based freelance actor/director with 35 years experience and offered his theatre reviews as an unbiased professional appraisal. www.kengodmere.com]
It was quite a year for Ottawa theatre and quite a year for me in the role of a reviewer. And now, as this new theatre season begins, I have decided not to renew my column commitment with Ottawa Tonite.
Even with some indications that “APPRAISE” may not be what the Ottawa theatre scene wants, it is actually my fresh focus on acting and directing that is driving my decision (performing in a television series pilot with Parktown Productions, creating two films for the Digi60 Festival, developing a new webseries with Tim Anderson, performing a new solo show for a national Fringe tour, and more). I am full-plated. And sated.
To wrap a whole year of experience and experiences, I graciously thank Ottawa Tonite Producer and Editor, Cheryl Gain for such faith and support. A big thanks to the theatre companies, casts, and crews for inviting me and trusting me to review their work. And so much appreciation to the readers and the commenters for sharing in the life of my “APPRAISE of the Theatre” column.
Au revoir, merci, et merde.
>> Ken
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Complex Numbers—An Ottawa Fringe Review
Complex Numbers = No Pants
You know when the writer and producer of a theatre production hands you a condom before the show that you’re not in for a run-of-the-mill Rom-com.
And certainly Nadine Thornhill’s Complex Numbers is anything but run-of-the-mill. It’s smart, funny, sexy, and geeky and has no fear treading deep into the confusing and taboo world of open relationships. Polyamory: check. Intraoffice romance: check. Analingus: check.
But it’s not all about sex, it’s about the people. And here Thornhill as Writer & Producer and Ken Godmere as Director deliver a piece that’s remarkably human whereas others may have been tempted to indulge in prurient exhibition. We watch mathematician/software developer Fiona (Stephanie Halin) and English academic Alex (J.P Chartier) navigate the dark, deep waters of an open relationship (with a little help from a course on the subject as voiced by Jenn Keay.) There are many rules but sometimes rules are broken. Sometimes with consequences.
The script is quick and clever, rapidly switching between intimate discussions about the fine mechanics of relationships to the minutia of mathematical algorithms with ease (and technical accuracy!) Staging is spare and simple and music provides a surprisingly effective means of setting the scene. Tim Anderson is excellent as Dan with great timing and delivery and Ellen Manchee as a female PHB (that’s Pointy-Headed Boss for non-Dilbert readers) gets some of the best laughs as Maggie.
The rapid-fire delivery could be a little smoother at times, and some of the scene cuts, while clever, could have benefited from a better timing. I saw Complex Numbers on its second of six nights so these quibbles can only improve as the cast and production gets into it’s groove.
Complex Numbers is never heavy but nor is it frothy. It’s a frank (perhaps explicit) exploration of couples and coupling and the irregular intersect between love, desire, and commitment. Like it’s namesake mathematical construct,
Complex Numbers is comprised of multiple parts and dimensions that make it work.
Complex Numbers
60 minutes
Ottawa Fringe—Academic Hall
$12
Sunday June 19, 1:30pm
Monday June 20 9:30pm
Wed June 22 8:00pm
Thursday June 23 11:00pm
Saturday June 25 12pm
Sunday June 26 6:30pm
For information and tickets ottawafringe.com/complex-numbers
David Hicks—Ottawa dweller. Marketing consultant. Dad. Dog owner. Handyman. Gadget guy. Photographer. Coffee Drinker. Scotch sipper. [Not necessarily in that order] Blogs at davidhicks.ca and spends too much time on Twitter.
APPRAISE of the Theatre: Daniel MacIvor’s “This is What Happens Next”
Ken Godmere
[Ken is an Ottawa-based freelance actor/director with 35 years experience and offers his theatre reviews as an unbiased professional appraisal. www.kengodmere.com]
* Opening Night, Thursday May 26, 2011 *
In 2007, Daniel MacIvor, actor and playwright (The Soldier Dreams, Cul-de-Sac, House, and Monster) announced that he “would no longer be doing solo shows”. Two years later when his life imploded, the award-winning playwright approached collaborator Daniel Brooks to do “one more”. With Brooks’ condition that the stories in this one be true, MacIvor set himself to question truth and real characters in his exploration of true feelings and fears and joys. The result – This is What Happens Next – is layered, complex, and at times, obscure.
In his most autobiographical piece to date, MacIvor began by discussing at length, his arrival, what he’s going to be talking about, and why he’s telling us a story — a story about people telling stories. Is it theatre? Is it meta-theatre? It felt more like “MacIvor in concert”. A CBC Comics Special. It was definitely an interesting look at the life and into the mind of the writer. But I suppose I arrived at the restaurant expecting a meal. What I got was a description of the chef, the menu and the complex preparations, a few juicy samples and then a glass of port to wrap things up. The set and lighting were also in the style of those character-based standup routines of, say, Cathy Jones or Sandra Shamas. Sharp and quick, but static and spotlight-y. Co-creator and dramaturg, Daniel Brooks also directed the piece and he kept things brisk. But with MacIvor’s own mile-a-minute rants and the recurring self-commentary breaks, that briskness made it difficult for us to get right in and stay onboard. Even the ending (that “glass of port”) was an odd fit of instant theatricality and sentimentality in their world of bare bluster.
On stage this evening, MacIvor’s writing was stronger than his performance. The writer’s sense of the human script (what characters say, what they don’t say, and what they change in the middle of saying) was absolutely brilliant. While the actor’s fluid comfort, consistent connection and confidence only landed near pretty good. I do understand firsthand how it can be most difficult in that kind of autobiographical exposure. Where all the elements did align and light up the night was during the fully-felt character monologues of the female lawyer and the drunken ex-husband. Daniel MacIvor hit deep and high and broad.
I don’t know if it was the project, the script or the performance that had me feeling as though we walked through some very long hallways with lots and lots of doors. And only a few were opened.
MY ASSESSMENT: | Brilliant | Clear | Murky | Flawed | – a tricky locket.
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This is What Happens Next runs through June 12, 2011.
A Necessary Angel Production
Created by Daniel MacIvor and Daniel Brooks
Written and Performed by Daniel MacIvor
Directed and Dramaturged by Daniel Brooks
At the Great Canadian Theatre Company
Tickets available at the GCTC Box Office
www.gctc.ca
613-236-5196
This production is also part of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival
www.magneticnorthfestival.ca
613-947-7000
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[Requests for "APPRAISE of the Theatre" reviews should be directed to info@ottawatonite.com]
All Together For Japan
Wednesday, April 13th at the Rainbow Bistro: be sure to check out this fundraiser for Japanese earthquake/tsunami victims, organized by local musicians Chris Landry and Tara Porter. This event features a whole bunch of great and diverse local music talent, as well as spoken word and raffle prizes. Show starts at 9pm sharp.
From the facebook event listing page:
By now we’ve all heard about the situation in Japan and seen the horrible images of the destruction caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. We’re all connected to Japan through people we may know who live there, or those who have travelled or visited. Because of this, we have decided to hold a fundraising event.
FEATURING:
The Polymorphines, www.myspace.com/thepolymorphines
Claude Munson, www.myspace.com/claudemunson
L. Poushinsky, www.sonicbids.com/lpoushinsky
PrufRock, www.reverbnation.com/prufrock
Lefty McRighty and the Shameless Bastards, www.myspace.com/leftymcrighty
Wise Young and King, www.myspace.com/wiseyoungandking
Train Jumpers, www.myspace.com/2trainjumpers
Censored… right out #$*@#@ loud!
Ottawa Tonite likes it when people create things. When creative people make books, poems, art, or music then the rest of us get to enjoy the fruits of their labours. Unless… their work is censored. And that happens a lot.
According to the Book and Periodical Council, which organizes Freedom To Read Week in Canada every year, more than 100 books in Canada have been censored or challenged in the last few years alone. And those books range from what you might expect to be challenged — queer literature, books dealing with the Israel-Palestine conflict — there are also some you might not expect to ever be the victim of censorship: Of Mice and Men, Harry Potter, or Wallpaper magazine.
In recent days, a version of Huckleberry Finn that deletes the “n-word” and the censorship of the Dire Straits song “Money For Nothing” have been in the news.
So, since Ottawa Tonite believes that each person should get to choose what he or she consumes, we’re organizing a cabaret of censored and challenged works. Come to Censored Out Loud at the Raw Sugar Café and join a motley crew (no, not Mötley Crüe) of writers, actors, and musicians as they celebrate Freedom To Read week by bringing some scandalous — and not so scandalous — works to life. Everything you’ll hear will have one thing in common, whether it’s Donna Summer or Margaret Atwood: the work has been censored or challenged.
Some of the people reading and playing on stage will be: Lisa Poushinsky, Nichole McGill, Jesse Dangerously, Megan Jerome, Jessica Ruano, Mike Essoudry, and many more. It’s gonna be fast-paced, fun, and a great way to celebrate the power of creative expression and the freedom to offend.
The show takes place Wednesday, February 23, 2011, starting at 8:00 pm at the Raw Sugar Café, 692 Somerset Street West. There’s a cover charge of $10 or what you can afford to pay and proceeds are going to go to PEN Canada, an organization that fights for the right to create and read.
We guarantee at least ONE thing to offend EVERYBODY. Spread the word. Loudly.
UP & UP Concert Series #2: CLAUDE MUNSON
We welcome you to the second night of a concert series that brings you some of Ottawa’s newest and most authentic folk, funk, blues and world music, held on the last Thursday of every month at Mercury Lounge.
This month features CLAUDE MUNSON, an eclectic singer-songwriter that mixes elements of folk, neo-folk, roots and blues. An old-soul voice and train-like acoustic guitar paired with the melodic basslines of Garett Barr (Mackenzie Rhythm Section) and the rock-solid beats of Pascal Delaquis (Louis Philippe Robillard & Keur Fidèl).
Thursday, Oct.28th @ Mercury Lounge,
Ottawa, CA 9pm, $7
easylofi music
www.myspace.com/easylofi
easylofi@gmail.com
The Turn of the Screw: Opens October 27th!
WIKIPEDIA states: The Turn of the Screw is a novella (short novel) written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story. Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favorite text of New Criticism.
The novella has had many differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive, including those of a Freudian nature. Many critics have tried to determine the exact nature of the evil that is spoken of in the story.
FROM THE PRODUCERS: The version of The Turn of the Screw that we are presenting was created in 1996 by American playwright Jeffrey Hatcher. But Screw has been fascinating artists ever since Henry James first published his novel in 1898.
Perhaps the best-known recent film that is connected (albeit loosely) to The Turn of the Screw is 2001′s The Others. The movie uses the classic novel as a launching point — using children, wandering spirits, a largely-empty country estate and a primary female character — but goes in entirely different directions.
If you dig a little bit, you can find all manner of other adaptations of Screw, in almost every form of media. The story has been touched upon by authors like Joyce Carol Oates and Peter Straub; adapted as a ballet and a graphic novel; lifted for plot lines in everything from the soap opera, Dark Shadows, to Star Trek: Voyager; and adapted directly for television in versions that have starred actresses such as Lynn Redgrave, Jodhi May, and (oh yes!) Valerie Bertinelli.
Something in Henry James’ classic story has made it absolutely irresistible over the past century. We hope you’ll find our production of Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation irresistible, too.
Because Laurier House is a very intimate space, seating is extremely limited.
Purchase tickets in advance to ensure you can get a seat!
For more information about the production and the historical (and reportedly ‘haunted’) Laurier House, visit here.
CFSW 2010: Don’t judge me
“How would you like to be a judge tonight?” he asked.
“Uh.” Stammer. “I.” Wild gesticulation. “But.” Crotch moistness.
“You know you want to,” he confirmed.
“It’s too much responsibility,” I protested.
“It’s just a responsibility. You’ll love it”. And with that a small whiteboard was dropped into my lap and I became one of five randomly-snookered audience judges for the 2010 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, Bout 4.
So this means I don’t have to write a review for the bout, right? Because that would be awkward? Right? I certainly understand awkward, now that I’ve been a judge.
Here’s the deal with judging, in case you don’t know:
As far as I can tell, the only non-starter criteria for being a judge is that you shouldn’t be sleeping with a poet. “You can sleep with the poets after the bout,” tonight’s host said. (aside: the immortal words of Stephen Sondheim come to mind here, in imagining this scenario: “the trouble with poet is how do you know it’s deceased?”. But I digress.)
What they don’t tell you, after qualifying you as a judge, is that you’re going to be sitting in an audience surrounded by people who are sleeping with poets. And poets, too.
Our “calibration poet” was a maestro named Kim, from Montreal. I was told our scores for him would set the tone for the rest of the bout. Not wanting to be too effusive, I scored the poor boy low: 6.8. I didn’t mind being the “wicked judge” for the night.
The immediate booing and razzing was surprising, coming from folks who usually use their words. “I think,” I thought, “that I am an asshole!”
I was reminded of my instructions at the beginning of the evening: “You’re going to experience something known as ‘score creep’. You’re going to want to inch your scores up as the bout goes on. Try to resist that and stay consistent.” So: by virtue of my first (low) score, I was doomed to being an asshole all night.
Round one began. The first poet spoke. I scored low. People behind me sucked teeth. People in front of me spun around to see my board, scoffed, and made faces at me.
“I think,” I thought, “that I’m going to get lynched.”
Two poets later, I scored low again. “Where the f#*k did they get these judges?” I heard from behind me.
I resolved to stand firm.
I scored low again in round two. People scoffed. I began planning my post-bout escape.
Another low score: whisperers behind me decided I was the source of a great conspiracy.
Another low score. Friends of poets hissed “HIGHER!”. By this point I was possessed by impenetrable steely resolve. This, friends, is the arrogance Lex Luthor feels. These poets were Supermen and I was wielding whiteboard kryptonite.
At the end of the bout, when final scores were revealed, it turned out that my perception didn’t match reality — the team scores were in a perfectly normal range. This just proved that all of the razzing and moaning from the audience was just good-natured fun. And so now I want to be a judge forever. Take that, Superman.
But hang on. Just to prove that I wasn’t a curmudgeon all night, I’ll close by sharing some of the drops of verbal gold that made it into my notebook, on a team-by-team basis: I may have scored low in general, but this was terrific poetry. These lines struck me hard enough that I needed to record them.
London
Toronto Poetry Slam
Calgary
Urban Legends
Fiddler on the Roof Kicks Up Its Heels in National Tour
“Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as… as a Fiddler on the Roof,” announces Tevye, a humble milkman from the Russian village of Anatevka. And so begins a tale of love and laughter, devotion and defiance… and changing traditions.
Fiddler on the Roof, The Tony Award® winning musical that has captured the hearts of people all over the world with its universal appeal, embarks on its National Tour.
Tevye’s wrestling with the new customs of a younger generation is punctuated by an unforgettable score that weaves the haunting strains of Sunrise, Sunset and the rousing If I Were A Rich Man with the exuberant Matchmaker, Matchmaker and triumphant Tradition. When his daughters choose suitors who defy his idea of a proper match, Tevye comes to realize, through a series of incidents that are at once comic and bittersweet, that his children will begin traditions of their own. At the story’s close, the villagers of Anatevka are forced to leave their homes and even the sturdy mores that have guided everyday life begin to crumble. Paradoxically, it is the enforced loss of the rigid traditions and home life that Tevye has tried so tenaciously to preserve that leads the family to reconcile and draw closer still.
A perennial hit since it first opened in 1964, Fiddler on the Roof has enjoyed critical acclaim for bringing to the stage a poignant story about the enduring bonds of the family. Now, the National Touring production of this timeless musical brings the wit and wisdom of Tevye and his family to audiences throughout the United States and Canada.
Fiddler on the Roof will be at the National Arts Centre for 8 performances only, November 23-28th. Tickets go on sale Monday, October 4th at 10 AM by visiting the National Arts Centre Box Office, calling 613 755 1111 or online at www.ticketmaster.ca.
As a special offer for Ottawa Tonite readers, you can get a headstart on the box office lineups by ordering online through this link using the presale code DANCE. This offer expires at 10pm on Sunday, October 3rd.
Peering into the Abyss (and finding it a mirror): Blackbird review
Una (Kristina Watts), confronts Ray (John Koensgen) about their sordid shared past
Blackbird is a disturbing and powerful play, for reasons that run deeper than its premise.
The action, consisting of an unexpected confrontation between Ray and Una, who had had a sexual relationship when he was forty and she was twelve, takes place in real time, drawing attention at first to the characters and their staccato, tense dialogue, and then toward their story and shared history together. There’s a certain degree of almost orchestral suspense; a dance of point and counterpoint in the dialogue between the two characters on stage. At first, it seems as if Una is pulling the wings and legs off Ray as a torment, but the dynamics between the two quickly become more complex as she learns some of the answers she seeks. It seems at times that there is not one complete declarative sentence in the entire script, and indeed, this mimics the greater “incompleteness” of the play. This is not the incompleteness of an unfinished work, however; it is an intentional incompleteness, a statement that not all things end up resolved.
With a necessarily spare set, much of the mood is created by Guillaume Houet’s fabulous lighting. Between this, and the natural yet precise blocking, the look and feel of a graphic novel is achieved. This is entirely appropriate to the subject.
There are one or two more physical scenes where the actors seem to be struggling to make their actions appear natural; they fade quickly in memory as they are followed by highly effective emotional exchanges.
The actors are completely immersed in their roles. There is no question that John Koensgen is Ray; there is equally no question that Kristina Watt is Una. The question of apparent age has come up in discussion of this performance. If one is prone to worry about Una’s precise age, and whether or not Watt looks exactly that, one may miss the fact that she has nailed the character with precision. In any case, it is not something that distracts from the performance, or makes the play lose its stark realism.
Due to the size of the theatre, the actors are on occasion quite far apart; in one senes, that makes it difficult to observe both at once, but then again that lends an additional element of suspense and tension as one directs one’s attention from one to the other. Still, it is possible that this performance would be better suited to a larger venue.
The tension in the audience throughout the performance is palpable. At the end, it is almost unclear when to applaud; that in itself is a success for this particular type of play.
In Blackbird, since the playwright refuses to make a clear statement as to motivation or morality, you may come out of the play having seen an entirely different aspect of the dynamics between these two characters than that seen by the person next to you. It opens the door to discussion and debate, which is one of its clear purposes. It is not, in most cases, a “date” play; or certainly not a first date play.
There is no question as to the artistic merit of Blackbird; both of Harrower’s script and Third Wall’s production. Director Mary Ellis’s decision to initially approach it as a love story does not mean that we are left with a love story; rather it gives the characters the required depth to make what could be disturbing on a solely sensational level disturbing on an empathetic level. There is no tragedy here, for tragedy requires a heroic figure; this is the aftermath of a resurrected tragedy.
Blackbird takes place as much in your mind as on stage, and is likely to play itself out more than once before it is done, asking questions for which there can never be any certain answers.
