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Babes4Breasts @ St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts
Here are the photos from the Babes4Breast Benefit Concert for Breast Cancer.
The concert featured:
The show took place at St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts.
More photos can be found here.
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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APPRAISE of the Theatre: “Spider’s Web” at OLT
[Ken Godmere 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, Tuesday July 19, 2011 *
Agatha Christie novels are often material for other playwrights. This script for Spider’s Web was penned by the grand dame herself. The setting is a 1955 drawing room in the Hailsham-Brown home in Kent, England. The characters include the wife of a foreign diplomat; her young step-daughter; her husband’s ex-wife’s new husband; three gentlemen house guests; the gardener; and, of course, the butler. The plot contains the customary dead body, a secret passageway, an old desk, and a web of stories and connections. It is a reel of relationships with a mix of mystery and a smidgeon of suspense. Definitely Christie. Quaint, but not spectacular.
The Ottawa Little Theatre’s production design was also quaint, but not spectacular. There was an air of “leftovers-hashed-together-for-a-post-season-production”. The set was fine and functional, but had some odd and awkward pieces in the room, including garden lattice and vines on the walls, mis-fitting leaded glass in the windows, and oriental area rugs thrown down just, wherever. The time spent on costumes seemed to be proportional to the time they would spend on the stage. I cannot comment on what the lighting design was meant to look like — with countless opening night mis-cues, especially in the crucial timing-for-suspense moments.
Director Timothy Ginley valiantly tried to focus on the human relationships between Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, her step-daughter Pippa, and her long-time friend and mentor, Sir Rowland Delahaye. Unfortunately, in his OLT directorial debut, he was not able to develop much in the other layers and levels of this simply complex script. Surprisingly, the weakest parts of this murder mystery were the pivotal and key moments of suspense and climax which fizzled and fell. This kept me guessing – not at the usual suspects, but at whether the play was meant to be a comedy-drama, a dramatic mystery, or a mysterious satire of the genre itself.
There were elements of strength and style in Chantale Plante’s performance as Clarissa. And, though she knew how each logistic bit fit, she hit them all with the same force, not allowing for the subtleties of dynamics, discoveries, or development through the moments, scenes and overall story arc. Robin Carter, as Sir Rowland, brought experienced charm to the stage and to the story, and Sarah Hearn’s Mildred Peake (the earthy gardener) capped the comedy with fun pace and energy, but with less commitment. The various other characters, and the various experience levels of the actors playing them, wandered. And so did I. Although, even with some dramatically impotent scenes, there was (and is) some promise in the talents of two relative newcomers – Steve Liddiard and young Katie Norland.
OLT’s production of Spider’s Web was a lot of work for the cast and crew. And for us. A ski trip without a map, a lift, or enough snow for the slalom.
MY ASSESSMENT: | Brilliant | Clear | Murky | Flawed | – a flat necklace without a clasp.
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Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web
continues at Ottawa Little Theatre
through July 30, 2011
and is part of the Downtown Rideau SUMMER FLING!
Tickets available at the OLT Box Office Online
by phone at 613-233-8948
or in person at 400 King Edward Avenue
Monday to Friday 11 am to 4 pm
Showdays 11 am to showtime
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[Requests for "APPRAISE of the Theatre" reviews should be directed to info@ottawatonite.com]
APPRAISE of the Theatre: Disney’s “The Lion King” at the N.A.C.
[Ken Godmere 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, Saturday July 16, 2011 *
It’s big. It’s bold. And it’s blatant. The first few lines of credits in the programme read: Disney presents The Lion King. Music & Lyrics by Elton John & Tim Rice. Additional Music & Lyrics by Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor, Hans Zimmer. Book by Roger Allers & Irene Mecchi. Adapted from the screenplay by Irene Mecchi & Jonathan Roberts & Linda Woolverton. (Whew!)
Bringing a ‘classic’ Disney movie to the live theatrical stage poses two very big questions. Why? And how? Both magnified exponentially when the original film is animated and the characters are animals. Why would someone want to do a staged musical about animals? Although Cats has had a very long and successful run, my first point was going to be that it should have a strong story as a core. (And Cats didn’t. So go figure that one out. And then let me know.)
The Lion King‘s story is from Disney’s 1994 animated film of the same name, which is thematically from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (and that was probably from some earlier fable or lore) — a Prince’s succession is sidetracked by his father’s death at his uncle’s hand. Okay, with a story to tell, art to create, and money to make, the next question is: how?
Julie Taymor. Her name is all over this show – Director, Costume Design, Mask/Puppet Co-design, and Additional Lyrics. Very well known for risky, novel creativity, Ms.Taymor tapped deeply into the roots of Africa for concepts, style, and story-telling. Strong and stirring. Creative and courageous. And costly. So the questions is, still, how? Money. Who has more money than Disney? And it is their property. So now I have another question. Were they trying to bring the story to the stage? Or the movie? (Which is, to me, a dangerous mix and misuse of media.) Or are were they fighting to do both?
In the staged production I saw on Saturday night, there were several powerful plusses. The opening pageant of animals was truly moving. And magical, in seeing through the rough and raw mechanics to the humans living inside. Also profoundly apparent were the strong feelings of this cast of fifty creating a village of tribal story-telling with their puppets, shadows, dance, and colourful cultural costumes. Even the highly-technical and complex staging of the wildebeest stampede worked well because it was dramatically countered with the bare, simple, human moments between Simba, his fallen father, and his sinister uncle, Scar.
Where the production struggled and clashed with itself was, ironically, in some of those same areas. Spectacle often trumped spirit. Machine over human. Being. The masks and puppetry of key characters were inconsistent in extremes ranging from the lions’ simple head-top masks allowing them full access to motion and emotion; through the awkwardly distracting and varied versions of the hyenas; all the way to an exact replica of the movie’s cartoony Timon the meerkat, leaving his puppeteer walking awkwardly and separately behind him in floppy feet, green camouflage and face paint. These extremes were also reflected in staging and characterization. Some characters were allowed to grow in the story and in the evolution of the production with new scenes and songs for the scheming Scar and for the maturing Simba and Nala. But that growth and life were completely absent in the characterizations of Timon and Pumbaa which ended up being a strict and rigid parroting of the movie’s original cast soundtrack. Even delicate design choices of organic fabric leaves and plants were slammed with glaring kiddie-kitsch when two giant plastic inflatable plants were pushed onstage, then deflated to sagging as an illustration of the thirteenth Pumbaa fart joke.
With such a sprawling show, there are bound to be bald spots. And when the show is as big and busy as The Lion King, over-mechanized devices and cloying gimmicks and jarring irregularities can mortally wound the story and the heart of the show. This fighting between indigenous African story-telling and American Disney-factory fodder may simply be the timeless friction between the piece of art being painted and the wall of money it’s hanging on. (See Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway.) (I mean it. Literally. See it.)
Thankfully, there were also some individual spirited performances growing and glowing between the machines and the marketing. There were memorable notes in the performances of leading characters like Scar, Mufasa, Simba, and young Nala. But worthy of special mention were Buyi Zama’s playful charm and chants in the role of the mystical Rafiki. And Syndee Winters, who brought it all together, acting, singing and dancing (and fighting) with power, grace, and that “something else” in the way of believing and discovering it all as new. I would also like to spotlight the actor who played young Simba on opening night (no programme indication whether it was Niles Fitch or Zavion J. Hill). For a performer with smaller stature, age and experience on this big stage in a big show with big players to find real moments to be present and to believe (in a way few “Disney Channel actors” can or do), his character earned my sentiments; and his “character” earned my respect.
There is something deep in Disney’s The Lion King as it takes us on a spectacular walk along an earthy path. And something cheap in being served plastic-wrapped mechanically produced process cheese slices at every intersection.
MY ASSESSMENT: | Brilliant | Clear | Murky | Flawed | – a tangled charm bracelet.
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Disney’s The Lion King
continues at the N.A.C.’s Southam Hall
through August 7, 2011.
Tickets available ONLINE
by phone through Ticketmaster 1-888-991-2787 (ARTS)
or at the NAC Box Office
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[Requests for "APPRAISE of the Theatre" reviews should be directed to info@ottawatonite.com]
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]
APPRAISE of the Theatre: The Lavender Railroad
– by Ken Godmere
[Ken Godmere is an Ottawa-based freelance actor/director with 35 years experience and offers his theatre reviews as an unbiased professional appraisal. www.kengodmere.com]
* Thursday May 5, 2011 *
Thank you. Those are my first words to playwright Lawrence Aronovitch. His two one-act scripts, Safe House and Ex Cathedra are smart, tense and volatile; strategic, tectonic and vital. This is the world premiere production of the two plays, written as companion pieces which are thematically linked to, in, and around the “Lavender Railroad” — his not too far from imaginary collection of safe houses, escape routes, and underground guides for homosexuals fleeing persecution, prison, and peril.
This Evolution Theatre production has taken the norm (the Studio Leonard-Beaulne theatre, for instance) and bent it into sharp, angular style. Set Designer, Margaret Coderre-Williams hasn’t so much designed a set, as she has designed the space itself – using existing exit doors, walls, and the depth of the stage as its breadth. The entire room and all its elements were in total service to the piece. And when I say the entire room, I include the stage lighting. Lynn Cox brought her own art and technical prowess to the style of the production by extending the majority of the lights down from the grid to the level of the actors. Effective and evocative in its mood and its bent. Director, Joël Beddows is powerful in his craft with theatricality and text. His strength is obvious in this staging of two different plays on one stage – criss-crossing both space and time.
All this style and strength was perhaps too much for the two actors in the first play, Safe House. Simon Bradshaw, playing Sebastian (a refugee homosexual mathematician), is a smart and well educated performer. Here, that is what we saw – devices to perform text and style. Intricate, but not involving. Tom Charlebois, in the role of Mother Courage (a code name for this leader of the Lavender Railroad), had a enigmatic voice and stature, but seemed limited by two gears and was not driven by listening or connecting. The delivery of words and messages was there, going by; but with very little reason or reality in it, between them or for us,… nothing happened. As the second play, Ex Cathedra began by weaving in and beyond the first, everything changed. The style became not simply what the actors played, but a flavour in and how and where they were. Maureen Smith as the Commander (a security officer in an anti-gay state) was quick to find her footing. And she stood strong as the story eroded the sand from beneath her character’s feet – challenging us to search for any guarded clues to her true motives. And Beverly Wolfe as the Sister (who has found religion to heal the wounds from her failed romantic past with the Commander) was the embodiment of the play’s smart, tense, tectonic vitality. Her performance was so immediate and present that the chemistry between the two actresses was literally breathtaking. All the way. Through.
While both plays are very powerful and very important (they could and should be made into films), the performances in this production of Safe House were a discussion of a stylized drawing of a tree; and those in Ex Cathedra were a tree.
MY ASSESSMENT: | Brilliant | Clear | Murky | Flawed | – a chipped jewel.
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The Lavender Railroad continues through May 14, 2011
at the Leaonard Beaulne Studio
University of Ottawa
135 Seraphin Marion
May 4 to 14, 2011 – 8 p.m.
Tickets: $25 general admission, $20 students/seniors.
Tickets available online or cash only at the door.
Pay What You Can Matinee: Sunday May 8 – 2 p.m.
(no show on Monday)
Evolution Theatre
www.evolutiontheatre.ca
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[Requests for "APPRAISE of the Theatre" reviews should be directed to info@ottawatonite.com]
APPRAISE of the Theatre: Orpheus Musical Theatre’s production of “Into The Woods”
– by Ken Godmere
[Ken Godmere 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, Friday March 4, 2011.* Stephen Sondheim’s music and lyrics explore the literal and metaphorical journeys into the woods by classic fairy tale characters, Cinderella, Jack, and the Baker with his wife. Magically tying these together is James Lapine’s script — along with the Witch, who not only lives next door, but has connections to the other characters by what she needs from them: the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, the slipper as pure as gold. It is brilliant and it is magical. It is bold and it is blunt. Be careful what you wish for. The path through the woods is not always straight.
The Orpheus Musical Theatre Society’s production began on such a strong note – the bold, bright, crisp, clear, music and vocals. Such an intricate score was met with confidently clean tone, harmony, and balance. Measured and meticulous throughout. Wow. But that strict structure quickly became the production’s main obstacle. Not much else could survive that regime. The set design’s sparse and barren feeling seemed to affect and reflect the entire show. Thin, bare twigs painted on the backdrop (and a few fluorescent green risers and flats) looked like a post forest-fire environment with no organic life, growth or interconnectivity. And when the text put so much emphasis on “the woods” themselves, then the dead, open spaces ended up feeling even more awkward and barren. The lighting had some dramatic effect on the backdrop and occasionally on the stage (despite opening night cue problems), but, again, with little connectivity to the life and flow in those woods. Even the costumes and wigs were a hodgepodge of suitable, dull and distracting.
Director Michael Gareau may have hit a couple of moments with strength, but more often left his cast far afield to scurry on and off, unprotected and disconnected. Choices such as having the cow character dance a vaudeville soft-shoe during the buoyantly bonding “It Takes Two” between the Baker and his Wife completely deflated any building conflict and involvement. Many of the characters were lost or dislocated in the bleakness. While a few performers did try to compensate, only a couple managed to find both root and blossom. Graeme Parke, as Jack returning from his adventure up the beanstalk, was the first to really reach out to us with the song “There are Giants in the Sky”. His warm and quirky humanity was truly fun – a “dim bulb” that was fully plugged-in. The true belle of this ball was Skye MacDiarmid as Cinderella. Without missing a note or sacrificing a syllable, Miss MacDiarmid grew and flew in the role, using her superior vocal talents as a facet, and not the focus, of her daring and demure character. She believed. And so did I.
With all the potential magic in the script and the score, this production of “Into The Woods” simply sat as a three hour cardboard concert that could have been recorded as a nice CD for us to listen to in the car.
MY ASSESSMENT: | Brilliant | Clear | Murky | Flawed | – plainly cut and poorly set.
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Orpheus Musical Theatre Society
“Into The Woods” plays at Centrepointe Theatre through March 13, 2010.
The Box Office is located at:
Centrepointe Theatre
Ben Franklin Place
101 Centrepointe Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K2G 5K7
Visit their website at www.centrepointetheatre.com
or call 613-580-2700 (toll free at 1 866 752-5231) for their hours of operation.
Tickets may be ordered by phone at 613-580-2700 (or toll free at 1 866 752-5231).
A service charge applies.
Visa and Mastercard accepted; Interac available (in person only).
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[Requests for "APPRAISE of the Theatre" reviews can be directed to info@ottawatonite.com]
APPRAISE of the Theatre: undercurrents festival at GCTC
– by Ken Godmere
[Ken Godmere is an Ottawa-based freelance actor/director with 35 years experience and offers his theatre reviews as an unbiased professional appraisal. www.kengodmere.com]
My favourite moments of time occur when the house lights fade out in a theatre. After that, anything is possible. With raw, risky, new works on the programme for the undercurrents Festival at the Great Canadian Theatre Company, everything is possible. undercurrents, Theatre Below the Mainstream celebrates its inaugural festival January 26 through February 6, 2011.
* * * * *
Bifurcate Me
created by Julie Le Gal, Andy Massingham, and Kevin Orr
A Theatre 4.669 production
Directed by Kevin Orr
Featuring Julie Le Gal and Andy Massingham
Saturday January 29, 2011. The script for this production would probably look less like a typical sheaf of typed pages and more like the mathematical equations on the chalkboards used in the on-stage set. Based on scientist Mitchell Feigenbaum’s 1970′s experiments in fluid turbulence, Bifurcate Me expresses these “chaos theory” findings in the dynamics of why and how humans fall. Two scientific test subjects, Julie (who only speaks French) and Andy (who only speaks english) take directions from the loudspeaker voice in the lab as they follow the step-by-step instructions to fall in every variation imaginable. This “Cirque” of human movement and interaction doesn’t contain much narrative or deep character development beyond the premise, but the production is totally conscious of that. And it works. Andy Massingham’s interest, expertise, and experimentation has become the “experiment” in the plot itself. And while I was appreciative of the work and the fun, I felt that his mastery of the medium occasionally left him less subjective and innocent than was required by his character. Julie Le Gal, as well, literally threw herself into the piece with strength and fun, but was bumped out of the minimal character framework when she wasn’t convincingly able to keep a straight face in some of the comic beats. Director Kevin Orr found a fun control within the chaos; many beautiful images of bodies in space and time; and some warm human colours in a script with only a primary palette. Jon Lockhart’s elementally creative set design was inspired and interactive with two large chalkboard stands framing a chalkboard floor; opposite a clinical filing cabinet that produced the few necessary props in a Mr. Dressup tickle-trunk fashion.
MY ASSESSMENT: | Brilliant | Clear | Murky | Flawed | and precisely cut, but rather square.
* * * * *
Shadows
by Margo MacDonald
A Queen Mab/Parry Riposte production
Directed by Diana Fajrajsl
Featuring Margo MacDonald and Sarah Finn
Saturday January 29, 2011. This fascinating story about 1930′s theatre diva Eva Le Gallienne peers into her struggles with her art, alcoholism, disfigurement and sexuality. Ms MacDonald’s script boldly unravels many layers and lengths in an array of hard and soft moments in the actress’s life. And the staging of this play is both bright and brisk. Director, Diana Fajrajsl keeps the dozen or more scenes confident and clean; attractive and appealing. The dramatic set and lighting design by Lynn Cox not only supported the moods and moments, but actually ignited them. Sarah Finn, as Eva’s protege and lover, shared beautifully sensitive moments with her girlfriend and with us – this within quick scene changes and time jumps. Unfortunately, I was less enchanted by Margo MacDonald’s performance in the play. With all her daring and dramatic choices, there was a constant stagy/stodgy layer about it. It did not seem to fit with the other style choices, the raw truths of the text, and the context of stripping down (literally and metaphorically) in her private dressing room.
MY ASSESSMENT: | Brilliant | Clear | Murky | Flawed | with some flatter reflections.
* * * * *
Hard Ways
by Jason Cadieux
An Essential Collective Theatre Company production
Directed by Sarah Garton Stanley
Featuring Jason Cadieux
January 29, 2011. The script, at first, seems pedestrian and predictable. A man sits alone in an American Customs interrogation room. There are the cursory introductions — “Where am I?”, “Is there someone on the other side of this glass?”, etc – and the expected expository beats filling in the back-story. It kind of felt like dancing the box-step to a single instrument accompaniment. And it is this seemingly simple yet pleasant, average sort of pace that has us sit back and watch and wait. And exhale. It is then that we find the character, and ourselves, in a tightening grip that will not let us breathe in again until several minutes after we leave the theatre. I’m going to leave it at that. No spoilers here. A surprisingly affecting piece. The simple set of a locked door, a utilitarian table and chairs, and a fitting water cooler, were aptly familiar, strong and mostly un-obtrusive. Simple location-changing lighting and sound effects were subtle, but perhaps not strong enough to bring us back and forth cleanly. And I feel that that the “not quite strong enough” description may be part of the direction as well. Sarah Garton Stanley did well in the plotting and pacing, but was often awkward in the physical staging elements. And then, again, the “awkward physical staging” may have been in Jason Cadieux’s performance. A strong, energetic story-teller, Mr. Cadieux was powerful in his presence on the stage, but was less effective in the dynamic transitions between spaces and characters.
MY ASSESSMENT: | Brilliant | Clear | Murky | Flawed | with a good weight, yet a bit clunky.
* * * * *
This Is A Recording
by Kelly Rigole and Simon Bradshaw
A Ditto Productions production
Directed by Natalie Joy Quesnel
Featuring Kelly Rigole and Simon Bradshaw
February 5, 2011. The concept: audio interviews with real people are turned into monologues that the actors perform (including all the rhythm and music of the original human voice). Verbatim. And the concept is eerily intriguing — capturing true human moments too often elusive for the writer and the actor. This concept and the chosen passages have become the majority of the script in This Is A Recording; with the opening, middle transition, and closing segments coming directly from the actors’ words as they were developing the project itself. Although there were several powerful moments within the monologues, the structure and the pace of the piece, as a whole, sagged and lagged. Sadly, the presentation format was vague and director Natalie Joy Quesnel’s flow was inconsistent, with staging and transitions seeming more like acting class exercises than theatre for the audience. The individual performances from Rigole and Bradshaw found some nice hot spots and fun explorations of the real people, but were not enough to buoy the production physically or emotionally, leaving it feeling twice as long as it was.
MY ASSESSMENT: | Brilliant | Clear | Murky | Flawed | — an ore that could be more.
* * * * *
Spent
by Dean Gilmour, Adam Paolazza, Ravi Jain, and Michele Smith
A Why Not Theatre and TheatreRun Production originally produced by Theatre Smith-Gilmour
Directed by Dean Gilmour and Michele Smith
Featuring Adam Paolozza and Ravi Jain
February 5, 2011. The script is a crisp, clean, clever sketch-comedy look at the social economic world of finance and the characters that inhabit it. Picture the best of “The Daily Show” living in “The Second City” and multiplied by “22 Minutes”. The bare, tightly-lit staging was concise and concentrated. I salute the directing team for delivering a beautiful balance of the verbal, mixed with the physical, in an entire production of bounce and bite – some of the best I’ve ever seen in this style of theatre. One – or actually TWO – of the best choices they made was in casting Adam Paolozza and Ravi Jain to play the dozens of characters necessary to bring Spent to life. Both of these gentlemen were at the top of their game in the dynamic performance of this satirical material. But where they really impressed the audience was in their total commitment to each character; to each scene; to each beat. Their generosity was appreciated, applauded, and acclaimed for the entire 60 minutes. And beyond.
MY ASSESSMENT: | Brilliant | Clear | Murky | Flawed | polished, and seemingly lit from within.
* * * * *
The undercurrents festival continues at the GCTC through February 6, 2011
For more information or to buy tickets and multi-show passes:
Contact the GCTC Box Office, 613-236-5196
The Great Canadian Theatre Company
1233 Wellington St. W. (at Holland)
Ticket prices:
Single tickets = $15.00
3-show Pass = $40.00
6-show Pass = $60.00
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[Requests for "APPRAISE of the Theatre" reviews should be directed to info@ottawatonite.com]
APPRAISE of the Theatre: “TRYING” by Joanna McClelland Glass at OLT
– by Ken Godmere
[Ken Godmere is an Ottawa-based freelance actor/director with 35 years experience and offers his theatre reviews as an unbiased professional appraisal. www.kengodmere.com]
Joanna McClelland Glass’ semi-autobiographical script lives as it relates the arrival and acclimatization of a young new secretary into the well-worn life of an 82-year-old retired judge.
The surface of the play seems smart, sensitive, human, and witty, with a splash of sentimentality. It is, as it plays out, much more deeply grained and jointed. The differences and distinctions between the characters of Sarah Schorr (a young woman from the Canadian prairies who is idling in a mediocre marriage) and Francis Biddle (a former U.S. Attorney General under President F.D.R. and Chief Judge of the Nuremburg trials who is getting his final affairs in order) are rich and dimensional. And the playwright has laid out and played out some beautiful marquetry with these pieces of willow and oak. The contrasting themes McClelland Glass has used in crafting the story – age, sex, roots, means, eras, and stage of life – provide patterns in which we can appreciate core human similarities in the two characters. And in ourselves.
The setting is a spacious “office over the garage” on the property of the judge’s Washington D.C. home in 1967. Ottawa Little Theatre’s production design was apt for the action, but did not capture or reflect the same organic textures of the text itself. The set was big and bold and bright and powerful. I didn’t see (or feel) the Judge’s residual refuge away from his wife’s household, and away from the advancing world outside. And while the set dressings and props were definitely inside the story, they did not seem to “fill the space”. Perhaps the design was measured more for the size of the OLT stage than for the size of the play. The lighting, too, was big – hitting the entire set efficiently, but not necessarily effectively. This “size” factor may have contributed to the feeling that the room swallowed the people. And it swallowed a full third of the volume and energy, causing the audience to lean in and still lose many of the old man’s stories, anecdotes, and lessons. It was a shame, because I could tell the audience was really ready to be entertained, receptive to the humour and the heart. That was clear when warm applause followed many of the poignant scenes; and generous laughter followed the louder moments of booming, blustery vocal energy. But even with my sixth-row seat and first-rate hearing, I continually felt the disappointment one feels when sitting at at arena with an obstructed view – with the boxers disappearing behind a pillar each time they moved to that side of the ring. “What was that?” “I missed that?” “I’ll try to catch the next one?”
And yes, there was humour and heart throughout. Director Geoff Gruson danced with this production. He lead and followed with smooth style allowing turns into the quirky corners of the story, but gracefully found the centre again. With the occasional leaning dip into sentimentality, he had us back on the level for the next movement. Nice. Supportive. And fun. Gruson and his team were even able to keep the necessary scene changes simply measured and comfortable with gentle, unhurried music. The one obvious weakness in all of this, again, was the often-inaudible vocals. I do look to the director to find and secure the necessary balance between the actor’s true, intimate character frailty and the responsibility of delivering the story to the audience in a public auditorium. It may seem like I am stuck on one small point, but this is a spoken medium. And without a strong enough “spoken”, it is difficult to get much past medium.
Jim McNabb’s portrayal of the crustily defiant Judge Biddle was filled, surrounded, and supported by truth. He was as charmingly loveable and insufferable as our own grandfathers and great uncles. Actually, it was Mr. McNabb’s profoundly human performance that kept us engaged through the moments of inaudibility – much the way it happens when we are face to face with the elderly in real life. We sometimes feel uncomfortable, but we take the bits we do hear. We nod and smile and love them all the same.
Sara Duplancic, as the secretary, found some interesting fibre and fun in what is, essentially, “the straight man” role opposite a big child who doesn’t think he needs a nanny. She carried her responsibilities as an actress and as a character with sense and style. She was, however, stronger and more engaging when she was trusting her human instincts over her consciously-placed theatre “staging” techniques.
So, Ottawa Little Theatre’s production of Joanna McClelland Glass’ touching play, “Trying” made an impression on me as a beautiful life portrait with depth and tone. Though the frame didn’t quite fit, and it felt like we were appreciating it from behind a velvet rope seventy-five feet away, I was (and am) still appreciating it.
MY ASSESSMENT: | Brilliant | Clear | Murky | Flawed | with qualities of an estate heirloom.
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Trying runs at OLT through January 22, 2011.
Ottawa Little Theatre
400 King Edward Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7M7
Phone: 613 233-8948
Toll Free: 1-877-892-0220
Box Office: 613 233 8948 press 1
Ticket Prices: Adult $24 – Senior (60+) $21 – Student $10
Prices are all inclusive – no tax is added to the above ticket prices
All evening performances, Tuesday to Saturday, begin at 8 pm
Matinee performance begins at 2 pm
There are no shows on Mondays
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[Requests for "APPRAISE of the Theatre" reviews should be directed to info@ottawatonite.com]
