On Stage Ottawa: Should you see it?

Jeremy Francoeur and Clara Prevost in Macbeth Muet

Yet again, Undercurrents 2016 serves up a wonderful selection of performances. From the comedic, to the interactive, to the incredibly thought provoking, this year’s festival has provided a little something for everyone, and with enough variety to actually sit through and have an entire evening of it.

According to festival director Patrick Gauthier, one thing you can expect is a focus on “women’s voices and stories,” with more than 7 in 10 of this year’s writers and directors being women. And truly, they have created some of the most impressive performances in this festival so far. In the second week, Circle Circle’s A Man Walks Into A Bar and La Fille Du Laitier’s Macbeth Muet deserve a special mention.

Let yourself be pulled along; A look at Undercurrents 2016 – Part One

Undercurrents 2016 has lined up an impressive collection of shows for the first half of the festival. From the comedic, to the interactive, to the incredibly thought provoking, this round has a little something for everyone, and enough variety to sit through and watch everything in one evening.

According to festival director Patrick Gauthier, one thing you can expect is a focus on “women’s voices and stories,” with more than 7 in 10 of this year’s writers and directors being women. And truly, they have created some of the most impressive performances in this festival so far. In this, Quote Unquote Collective’s Mouthpiece and Calalou’s Monstrous deserve a special mention.

Romantic Poetry: An ode wrapped in a limerick – now with extra dancing!

Romantic Poetry, Presented by Black Sheep Theater

Romantic Poetry opens with a lovely ode to the beauty of poetry sung by a newly-married couple and their freshly-coupled younger counterparts. From this first impression, I thought I’d be in for a gushy romance but this assumption was quickly dispelled as the newlyweds Connie and Fred proceeded to demand a divorce.

Silliness quickly ensued. First, the hotel’s ‘honeymoon manager’ falls in love with the caterer who’s been stiffed by the bride’s father: they sing a fun duet while the quarrelling couple looks on in annoyance. Then, we find out that the recent wedding wasn’t exactly legal since the wife’s first two divorces never actually happened thanks to a morally-questionable lawyer who, did I mention, was her second husband.

Cold Cases and Frosty Inspectors in Kanata Theatre’s Cat’s Cradle

Caught up in the weddings plans for one the village’s most dearly loved daughters, Sarah Fulton, the townsfolk of Waverton Magna aren’t happy to see Inspector Frost darken their doorstep once more, with a great deal of undesired baggage in tow. Having failed to solve the disappearance of the bride-to-be’s infant brother years earlier, Frost won’t leave until he’s solved the case that left a stain upon his life.

While the townsfolk insist that they’ve moved on, Frost refuses to let the matter lie. When he finally lets slip that new evidence may have come to light concerning this twelve-year-old cold case, it soon becomes obvious that this town is keeping something hidden just beneath its placid surface, in a Hot Fuzz “the greater good” kind of way.

Raise your glass to Asylum: a boozy play that’s more than what it seems

A Scot, an Irishman, and two Brits walk into a bar: Asylum’s set-up reminds me of a joke but its subject matter is anything but. What begins as light-hearted reminiscences between friends on the bittersweet final night of a beloved neighborhood pub slowly culminates into a shocking finale that will get audience members talking over their own post-show drinks.

The show begins with a couple of middle-aged men, London (Doug Phillips) and Scotty (Sean Tucker), enjoying a pint at their favorite pub. Soon they are joined by Yorkie (Charlie Ebbs), the owner who is closing up shop for the final time. London and Scotty are not only regulars; they’re Yorkie’s friends who have assembled to toast his legacy.

The first act of Asylum is kind of slow as these men (later joined by Brian Stewart’s Paddy) alternate between raucously funny drinking stories and quiet memories of loved ones long departed. There may not be much character development or narrative going on but it’s an entertaining show with a language, pace, and style that kept me interested and laughing.Read the full review.

What good is sitting alone in your room? Come see Carleton Musical Theatre Society’s Cabaret.

Set in 1930s Germany where anti-Jewish and pro-Nazi sentiment is starting to escalate, Cabaret is a dark story of hiding away from your troubles and avoiding the increasing difficulties of the real world in favour of a world of parties, booze, and carefree ignorance. Our entry point into 1930s Berlin and the Kit Kat Klub, is Clifford Bradshaw, an American author on the road to write his next novel and drawn to Berlin to teach English. Cliff quickly becomes embroiled in a love affair with the star of the club’s cabaret, Sally Bowles, as well as some illegal political posturing, both of which increasingly make his life of escapism harder to drown himself in.

Cabaret is the first production from Carleton Musical Theatre Society, a new student company operating out of Carleton University. As a brand new student theatre company (sort of, they do have roots with Carleton’s other student company, Sock ‘n Buskin), they aren’t equipped with the talent pool, reputation, or resources of say, Orpheus (Ottawa’s resident community musical experts), but the upstart company has managed to make the most of what they did have to do an overall good job tackling an ambitious musical. One that doesn’t suffer from any loss of production value with a great live orchestra, strong design and many of their costumes, particularly the risque ones, donated by Wicked Wanda’s.Read the full review.

A Little Fire sparked by questions of faith and desire to more clearly see a path forward.

Aithne is a child prodigy, a natural born artist from a very young age, who paints images based on stories told to her by God. Until one day, God stops sharing, sparking a crisis of faith. Aithne is left with no faith in herself or her abilities independent of God’s direct inspiration and she doesn’t know what to do with herself if she isn’t God’s little artist. When she’s arrested and thrown in lock-up, she finds a surprising kindred spirit in her cell neighbour, going through his own crisis of faith in his chosen career.

A Little Fire is a mixed bag. The prison scenes and connection between Aithne and Roy were well-realized and engaging, but those between Aithne and her father felt stilted and chichéd without adding much to move the story forward in a way that justified their length. The scenes with the homeless woman were more affecting than those with the father, they at least felt more important to Aithne learning about herself (and not just the audience learning about her), but it was still the scenes in the prison and those interactions and storytelling that were the most compelling and left me feeling: more of this please. Read the full review.

Dear Ottawa Audiences, Love Letters demonstrates the power of the written word

Love Letters, Presented by Plosive Productions

On a stage furnished simply with two desks, the story of Andrew and Melissa’s relationship unravels through a series of letters read aloud. At face value, Love Letters doesn’t sound especially exciting but thanks to the talents of stars Lucy van Oldenbarnveld and Pierre Brault, it’s an engaging piece of theater. These brilliant actors fire up our imagination with vivid characterizations and a stirring portrayal of complex emotions from start to end.

Twelfth Night is a 400 year old classic that is still full of life and fun as presented by the National Arts Centre.

After the curtain call on Saturday night, the woman sitting next to me said to her companion, “That was so cool.” She wasn’t the only one to think so as the walking line back to the (mercifully indoor) parking lot was abuzz with audiences raving about the things they loved in the National Arts Centre’s production of Twelfth Night. In comparison to that, anything else I could tell you is far secondary.

It starts, as in The Tempest, with a stormy night at sea. Viola washes up far from home on the shores of Illyria and, presenting herself as a man called Cesario, scores a sweet gig in the court of Duke Orsino. Orsino has convinced himself that he is deeply in love with the perpetually mourning and refusing to take suitors Countess Olivia and he sends Cesario to be his wingman, with an order not to be refused. In quick fashion, Olivia falls in love with Cesario and makes repeat excuses to see him again. Not knowing, of course, that Cesario is really Viola or knowing that Viola herself has fallen in love with Duke Orsino. Remember, Orsino also thinks Viola a man. Everything and everybody gets even more confused when Viola’s presumed drowned (on that same stormy night) fraternal twin brother Sebastian shows up and is constantly mistaken for Cesario.

Matchstick burns a folksy fairy tale fire sure to leave audiences thoroughly entertained.

Born an undesirable girl in an Undesirable Country, Marina has a tough childhood, her only peace coming from tending her ungrowing garden planted in frozen soil. Eventually managing to move in with her status-driven uncle, Marina re-invents herself as Matchstick and soon becomes involved in a fairy tale romance with a charming foreigner from the Land of Freedom and Opportunity. But her fairy tale quickly takes a steep drop towards hard reality and her now husband turns out to be quite different from who she (and we) thought he was.

Coming to Ottawa all the way from Saskatoon, Matchstick first premiered here at the 2013 Ottawa Fringe Festival, which is where it gained the attention of GCTC Artistic Director Eric Coates. Having seen and enjoyed the show then, I was quite looking forward to seeing it again at this end of its development and I was the farthest thing from disappointed – enjoying it even more this time, even knowing the big reveal.

Jack Charles v. The Crown: A tale of humanity where reconciliation become more important than the tragedy

By Matthew Champ

Jack Charles v. The Crown is definitely an experience, to say the least. It’s a tale of heart ache, pain and suffering that holds a hope and resilience that is just as relevant today as it was when the injustices took place. Jack Charles is an actor from Australia, but it’s hard to define Jack Charles by that one title. He is also an Australian Indigenous Tribal Elder, drug addict, survivor of physical and sexual abuse, thief and homosexual. Jack Charles is way too complex to fit into one category and way too unique to just fit into the labels listed above, but they all helped define the person he has become today.Read the full review.

Open the door to The Murder Room for a whodunit full of guffaws

The Murder Room, Presented by Ottawa Little Theater

Like any good crime drama, The Murder Room starts off with someone being, predictably enough, murdered. The culprit cleverly spends the next few scenes diverting the attention of law enforcement officers before realizing the perfect crime wasn’t nearly as perfect as planned. Act two is more mystery than procedural with end revelations that are as dizzying as they are far-fetched. The story is satisfyingly silly and strange making for an excellent start to 2016.

“Drawer-dropping” comedy in Theatre Kraken’s The Underpants

Louise and Theo (as played by Chelsey Cowan and Chris Lucas)

Bored of the daily humdrum of keeping house in 1910 Germany, Louise is thrilled to have a chance to see the king on parade. However, the crowds see more than they bargained for when, just as the king passes by, the knot holding up Louise’s underpants comes undone, letting them drop for all to see!

This silken scandal is soon the talk of the town, much to her husband Theo’s consternation. While Louise dismisses Theo’s complaints, she begins to second-guess herself when two suspicious boarders come to enquire about the room Theo is renting, after seeing a certain “magnificent display” that morning.