The Two shows I’m Most Looking Forward to At Undercurrents

Last year, the Undercurrents festival launched at the GCTC and was one of the theatrical highlights of the year. The festival’s aim is to promote independent boundary pushing theatre or “theatre below the main stream.”  Last year’s line up was terrific and I saw every show.  Undercurrents 2012, opened yesterday and I’m once again looking forward to seeing more independent theatre!

In fact, I’m on record, and have been quoted in marketing material, saying this about last year’s festival:

“I hope this festival becomes a regular feature of the Ottawa theatre scene and that the GCTC will sponsor even more independent theatre productions in the future.” 

As a strong supporter of this festival, I thought I would take some time to tell you about two of the shows I am particularly looking forward to this year. I think I would be remiss if I also didn’t tell you about the one show I feel should not have been included this year and why, but I will save that for another blog post.

Here are two recommendations!:

At the 2011 Ottawa Fringe Festival, Luna Allison premiered Falling Open in a very original venue (her bedroom.) Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to catch this one at Fringe. Her home was a little off the beaten path and, to be completely honest, the play’s subject matter (one family’s experience of sexual abuse) scared me off a little too. That being said, those who saw it raved about this show. I’m told Allison treats the subject matter with appropriate sensitivity and puts in a powerful performance. While I’m sure this one will be challenging, Falling Open is top of my list to see at Undercurrents 2012.

Highway 63: the Fort Mac Show, looks like an interesting piece of verbatim/documentary theatre, bringing to life the stories of the people who live in Fort Mac, Alberta. I love when communities use theatre to tell their stories. I’m also a fan of the verbatim movement so I’ll definitely be checking this one out.

So if you don’t know what to see, those are the two shows in the festival that I am most excited about. Get your tickets soon!

Sleeping Dog Theatre’s Blood on the Moon

Pierre Brault as Whelan- photo by Lydia Pawelak

Last Thursday, I set off to see Sleeping Dog Theatre’s (in association with the National Arts Centre English Theatre) Blood on the Moon  at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre (GCTC).  Written by Pierre Brault, this show was selected as a last-minute replacement for You Fancy Yourself by Maja Ardal cancelled due to Ardal’s severe illness.  Blood on the Moon features Brault as the ghost of James Patrick Whelan, an Irish  immigrant who was found guilty of assassinating D’arcy McGee, retelling the story of his trial. Those who are familiar with Brault’s work will not be surprised that this is a one man show with Brault playing all the characters.  Brault has built his reputation with these kinds of performances and once again does an admirable job juggling all the roles.

I am always pleased when local writers make an effort to tell Ottawa’s stories and Brault has done a nice job of telling Whelan’s story in Blood on the Moon. I particularly enjoyed the way he weaves in modern local references that Ottawa residents will relate to along with the historical facts of the trial.

Martin Conboy’s lighting design is also quite effective. The various scenes in the play from jail cell, to courthouse, and finally the gallows are all depicted through the use of clever lighting techniques.

Blood on the Moon is a local story skillfully told. It’s a show definitely worth seeing.

It’s important to remember that this show started 13 years ago as an Ottawa Fringe Festival show before touring Canada and Ireland extensively.                                                                      

This is not surprising, in fact, with so few opportunities to catch independent theatre on main stages, the theatre festivals have become the breeding grounds for the best of independent theatre in the country.

On that note, I’m very pleased that the GCTC is once again offering the Undercurrents festival in February. It’s a perfect opportunity to check out more independent Canadian theatre. Perhaps, some of the shows featured here will move on to main stages or, like Blood on the Moon, tour internationally.

For more information on show times and ticket prices for Blood on the Moon click here

Oliver! at the National Arts Centre

Cast of Oliver! photo by Andree Lanthier

Friday, December 9, I set off to the National Arts Centre (NAC) to check out the opening night of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! Ticket sales have  been doing very well and, I’m told, many performances have already sold out in advance.  This kid friendly musical adaptation of Dickens’ Oliver Twist was certainly a good choice from a marketing perspective and audiences are  buying tickets based on the title alone.

In one key way I’m sure many will be disappointed. This version of Oliver! has cast an adult (Thomas Olajide) in the title role of Oliver Twist.  Unfortunately, much of the pathos of this particular story comes from the fact that the audience is meant to sympathize with a tiny child left alone in a harsh, well Dickensian, world.  A tall adult actor simply cannot evoke this kind of sympathy the way a child actor can. More importantly, the vocal parts are clearly well out of Olajide’s vocal range. On opening night he was quite often off-key.

While Olajide’s lack of singing ability stood out, there were others in the cast who clearly were not professionally trained singers either. This is clearly problematic for a professional musical production.

That being said, there were many moments that worked in this version and some fine performances as well.  Jennifer Waiser does a nice job as the “Artful Dodger.” Julie Tamiko Manning (Nancy) has a particularly strong voice. In fact, her microphone failed on opening night and yet her voice rang true. I also enjoyed Joey Tremblay as “Fagin” and Kris Joseph as “Mr. Sowerberry.”

If you can get past a few uneven vocal performances and the unfortunate casting of the title role, there is much to like in the NAC’s version. I’m sure that many will be reasonably entertained, but I can’t help but feel an opportunity has been lost for the NAC and professional theatre in Ottawa in general. Large audiences are being attracted to this show;however, with a mediocre product on stage will they go on to see more theatre in Ottawa?

For show dates and ticket prices click here

Returning to Reviewing With a Decent Pair of Boots!

This Friday, I’ll be setting off to the opening night of Oliver! at the National Arts Centre. That’s right; my month away from theatre criticism has come to an end. I’m in the mood for something light and while I have seen the film version of this musical, I have never seen this musical staged. I’m hoping it will be a winner.  Oliver! certainly seems like a much stronger choice than last year’s Nativity by Peter Anderson, which, to be honest, was a rather lack lustre production. My hopes are high and I am really curious to see how the audience responds to  Oliver!. Will expectations be met? Or will this be another theatrical disappointment? Check out my review next week and find out.

In other news, I have finally got around to buying a quality pair of dress boots. I am fond of wearing a suit and tie to opening nights, but for the last couple of years I’ve never really had the winter footwear to match.  I am now the proud owner of these, which I purchased on sale at Wolf and Zed (519 Sussex): http://www.johnvarvatos.com/Sid_Side_Zip_Boot/pd/np/13334/p/3503.html

Looks like I will be going to this show in style!

Played Out

I’ve decided to take a month, or two, away from reviewing theatre. In all honesty, I haven’t really been blown away by a production since The Ottawa Fringe and Magnetic North theatre festivals. I always enjoy the theatre festivals. Perhaps, if I had been equally inspired by the product on the main stages in town, I wouldn’t need this break.

Unfortunately, I’ve hit a saturation point where I no longer feel like writing about theatre and, as you can probably tell from my latest review, even the experience of watching plays has been less than enjoyable recently. In short, it’s just not doing it for me and it’s time for a break.

Outside of the arts world, my life is also busy these days. I’ve secured a full-time writing gig with a government department for a few months and I’ve got a few small freelance editing jobs that I’ve taken on the side.

I still have lots to keep me occupied in the arts world. In fact, I plan to check out more music events (improvisational jazz, indie rock, DJs). I will also be poking around in galleries and pursuing my personal creative writing projects. I will also continue to update this blog.  Life is good.

Thanks for reading!

The World Premier of Dreams of Whales by New Theatre of Ottawa

Ruth (Mary Ellis) and Walter (John Koensgen) photo by Richard Ellis

Last Thursday, I set off to Arts Court to check out New Theatre Ottawa’s (NTO) production of Dreams of Whales by Dean Hawes.  NTO’s mandate is near to my heart. They aim to produce plays by local playwrights, starring local actors, with production design by Ottawa talent as well.  In my view, this is the best way to nurture the talent that already exists in this city.  Local writers, in particular, are underused in this town. This is why  I was eager to see a script written by a playwright who lives and works in my community, rather than an import from America, Toronto, or elsewhere.

Hawes script tells the story of Walter, a retired lonely dentist, who has returned to his hometown to pursue his childhood sweetheart Ruth (recently widowed). There a few structural issues in Hawes’ script. Part of the story is told through Walter’s monologues (taking place in a dream) and the rest is told in real time.  The dream sequences seem kind of unnecessary, as very little key information is conveyed that isn’t already presented in the rest of the narrative.  Overall, I enjoyed Hawes’ story and the characters of Walter and Ruth are compelling to watch.

John Koensgen (Walter) and Mary Ellis (Ruth) carry the show.  In fact, this is one of Mary Ellis’ strongest performances in recent memory. I found the characters of George (Brad Long) and Susan (Shannon Donnelly) much less interesting, due to uneven performances,  and the directorial choices by Koensgen and Janet Irwin (assistant director). Unlike Ruth and Walter, these characters came off as two dimensional whiny brats. The evidence in the script suggests that there is more depth to these two than was witnessed on the stage.

I think Dreams of Whales is very much worth seeing and I applaud NTO for taking a risk by producing a new play by a local writer. I plan to attend the rest of their season to discover what theatrical treasures they can unearth from Ottawa artists.

Speed The Plow at the Gladstone

Well, it’s been a ridiculously busy couple of weeks for me. I’ve wrapped up one writing contract with Parks Canada and I am in the process of lining up another contract with a different government department. Combined with Thanksgiving, I’ve gotten behind in my reviewing. Here is a much delayed review of Plosive Productions latest show:

Last Wednesday, I saw Speed The Plow at the Gladstone by David Mamet. Mamet is an iconic American playwright and the majority of his work has a very dark tone.   Mamet assaults his audience with his language and the characters often have a pessimistic view of human nature in general and women in particular.  Speed the Plow is no exception.  The script, punctuated with the “f word”, tells the story of Hollywood executive, Bobby Gould (John Muggleton), a self described corporate whore.  Bobby is at the height of his career and desires to find a woman who will not be drawn to his power but his true self.  His colleague Charlie Fox (Chris Ralph) believes the only women attracted to a man like Bobby are either dumb or manipulatively ambitious. Enter the temp. Karen (Kayla Gray) somewhat naive, but definitely not dumb. A bet is made. Will Bobby be able to seduce her?

Those familiar with Mamet’s other work will not be surprised by the conclusion of the play;nonetheless, I found myself in an intense post-theatre conversation,that went very late into the evening, about the themes of the piece and well misogyny in general.

I would have liked to see Bobby Gould played with a bit more of an edge. I think the artistic choices made by Muggleton and director Teri Lorretto-Valentik resulted in Bobby coming off as a nice guy. The evidence in the script,however,  suggests that there is absolutely nothing redeeming about this character. He is a misogynist, which underlines and influences all the action on the stage.

Overall though, I enjoyed Plosive Production of Speed The Plow and I recommend seeing it.

I especially liked the way that Loretto-Valentik reached out to audiences before and after the show.  Building relationships with audiences is key to a theatre’s (or any business for that matter) success.  Loretto-Valentik excels at this,  others would be wise to imitate her.

For more information on show dates and ticket prices click here.

Confessions Of A Karaoke Addict

Here’s something that some of you may not know, in the last three years I’ve totally become a karaoke addict. I regularly go (at least once a month and often more) to belt out a tune or two. So how did this happen and what’s the appeal?

Well, like many things in my life, it happened largely by accident. A friend of mine was back in town and a group of us decided to meet at Puzzles (one of our old haunts from back in the day.) As it turned out, there was karaoke going on that night. We weren’t sure if we wanted to stay at first, but ultimately decided it might be fun to watch. None of us had any intention of actually taking the microphone and participating.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the diversity of the crowd really surprised me. There were people of all ages there (19-70) and their musical selections were equally diverse. Hip Hop, rock, show tunes, punk, country, jazz numbers were all represented that night. It was fun to watch, especially when the song choice seemed to conflict with “the look” of the performer.  We all enjoyed watching a huge biker dude belting out a Britney Spears song, for example.

It was only a matter of time before a few jugs of beer were consumed and my friends were daring me to perform. After a few beers, I have difficulty resisting these kinds of things, so I accepted the challenge.  I decided to go with the first song that came into my head: Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World.” This was a song I used to try to imitate as a 12 year old (complete with gravelly voice).  I’m not sure why that popped into my head, but before I knew it, I had filled out the song slip and one of my friends (I think it was Jay) eagerly handed it to the karaoke host.  There would be no backing down now.

I would like to say, I felt confident and eagerly awaited my chance to win over the crowd, but the truth is, I was actually quite nervous; verging on terrified. Even though we had seen performers of all levels of singing ability being supported by the crowd, my inner critic was telling me “if you’re going to do this, you  better not settle for anything less than perfection. It doesn’t matter if the crowd is friendly and just here to drink beer and have fun. That’s not good enough. YOU have to be better than that! Don’t suck!” Yep, my inner critic can be a total asshole.

My apprehension grew as the night progressed, made worse by a string of performers that if they were in any other city would probably be singing professionally, but in Ottawa they were bureaucrats by day and karaoke superstars at night! Finally my name was called and I went up to perform. The song went over well. My friends loved it and cheered  from their table. The rest of the bar also responded with the support they had shown all evening for anyone brave enough to take the microphone.

The applause of the crowd was addictive and I did enjoy the feeling of community and support of the bar. The host, “Stray,” personified this vibe. She was, and still is, extremely inclusive and friendly by nature, which helped to set the mood for a great night. I had fun but I hadn’t completely silenced my inner critic. The smiling faces of my friends did not stop my keen awareness of everything I did wrong, rather than focusing on what I did right; however, I was able to recognize that karaoke could help me towards the goal of eventually turning off the critic. By continually putting myself onstage, supported by my friends and the crowd, I could do battle with myself and force myself to just enjoy the moment. More importantly, I would also be having fun in a social setting and enjoying a few drinks. I became a regular and, fortunately for me, many of my friends (like Nadine and Sterling) also became regulars as well. While I have gone alone, it’s much more fun to go with friends. Aside from the camaraderie, it’s also really great to see a friend hit one out of the park and win over the crowd.

Puzzles has closed and we have moved on to Woody’s on Elgin now, but the vibe is the same and after many turns at the microphone (at various levels of intoxication) I have become much better at being in the moment and being less ends focussed. Guess what? By being less concerned with the end result I have also become a better singer. I think there is a lesson there for any activity. More importantly, by taking risks and trying songs way outside of my normal repertoire I am able to push myself out of comfort zone and do battle with my inner critic. I’ve had a couple of successes on occasions where I’ve failed completely at a song, but been largely OK with it. I’m proud of that.

Best of all, I’ve been able to do all this while making new friends, enjoying the company of old ones, and revelling in (and longing for) the roar of the crowd.

That’s Provocative?

I’ve had many reviews that I thought were going to provoke people. Because I was so sure that I was going to stir up some controversy with what I wrote, I ended up taking twice as long to write them. Take this review of Syringa Tree, I chose my words very carefully as I brought up this key point:

“While Fagan’s exaggerated movements serve to differentiate the characters admirably for much of the play, a white actress playing the roles of black characters in this exaggerated fashion is also somewhat troubling, for the performance can occasionally descend into caricature.  This is especially unfortunate for a play dealing with the history of apartheid, because these exaggerations come very close to reinforcing racial stereotypes, rather than challenging them.”

I waited for the fallout. Nothing. No dissenting comments on my blog or at (Cult)ure, no in person objections.  In fact, I was so prepared to defend myself, and my opinions, from the controversial storm that I was sure to come, I ended up over-reacting a little to a friend’s comment who suggested I was too gentle.

It was a similar story with a couple other reviews. I would agonize over my words, often filtered through a post-colonialist or feminist lens, to point out serious failings with a given production, then I would wait, expecting a backlash. It never happened. If anything, overwhelming, audiences agreed with me. (This does make me wonder why the artists themselves were not sensitive to these concerns when they were recognized by their audiences.)

Then finally, it happened. A whole slew of negative comments both in person and in writing on (Cult)ure and my blog from a review I had written. I was prepared for this. After all, I had written this about blood.claat:

“Narratives are powerful things, but, in d’bi’s play, the mythological stories told of the past are equally violent and hold little hope for an escape from the cycle of violence/abuse. While there is power (the power to endure) in that mythology, there is ultimately no empowerment. That is nothing less than tragic. At the end of blood.claat I was profoundly moved and also very depressed as no solutions are offered to break the cycle of violence. There is very little hope here; the mistakes of the past are repeated in the present. Women are forced to find strength in their ability to endure their victimization rather than prevent it.”

However, this is what my readers reacted so strongly against:

“I found the choice to include nudity at all in the beginning of the show a little puzzling as later on in the show it is dropped as Mudgu mimes washing her nightgown. The nudity feels gratuitous and pointless, perhaps left over from an earlier incarnation of the script.”

For me this was just a throw away line pointing out a fairly minor inconsistency with the staging of the play. Funnily enough, it was that line that pissed people off.

The most angry commenter said this:

“blood.claat” begins with a ritual – as the entire piece is built around the ritual of storytelling. To even point out ‘the nudity’ and try to make an issue of it – is incredibly narrow minded. I am sad that as a reviewer you felt you even had to point it out. It reveals more about your own insecurities than it does about this production.”

Wow! So I condemn the play, and by extension the playwright (who is very liberal and political), through a feminist lens, and call her play disempowering. None of this offended anyone, but I bring up a consistency issue with costuming/nudity and people are incensed. This was a complete and total shocker! Needless to say, that after this reaction, I came to the conclusion, that you can never tell what will provoke people and I stopped agonizing so much about my critiques.

It’s worth noting, that the writer/performer of blood.claat would later actually change the ending of her play to address the political concerns, raised by myself, and a few others. I consider that the sincerest form of flattery.

Thanks for reading.

Rock Star’s Girl

L.A. novelist Jennifer Farwell (AKA J.F. Kristin)

Last week, I had a very cool editing contract. I spent my days in coffee shops, and my evenings on my balcony, editing Jennifer Farwell’s (AKA J.F. Kristin’s) latest novel: Rock Star’s Girl. 

There is nothing I like better than immersing myself in a text and trying to find ways to improve it. Editing Jennifer’s latest work was particularly fun, because the text she sent me to work with was virtually free of typographical errors. This left me free to focus on what I like doing best: eliminating commas, shortening sentences, and looking for ways to improve flow and clarity. For an editor, working with a writer who has put so much effort, energy, and heart into her work is a rare pleasure.

Who is Jennifer Farwell? Farwell currently makes her home in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, where she leads an interesting life writing novels, taking in the vibrant L.A. music scene, and working as the managing editor for the Yahoo! Store Blog.

She has been a writer virtually her whole life. In fact, at the age of 7, she participated in her first Young Author’s conference. When she was 11, she was published, for the first time, in The Chronicle Journal (Thunder Bay, Ontario). At 18, her love of music inspired her to start her own music magazine titled Sound Check.

As a teenager, she also began to experiment with Web design and created her own Web site playfully named the Society for Preventing Parents From Naming Their Children Jennifer, or the SPPNTCJ for short. During it’s four year run, the SPPNTCJ would receive over 2 million visitors and attracted attention and coverage from  Yahoo! Internet Lifemagazine, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Thunder Bay Television News, 580 CKPR radio, and California State University (Chico). Not bad for a teenager living in Thunder Bay, Ontario eh?

I met Jennifer in graduate school at Carleton University where we were both enrolled in the English literature M.A. program. Jennifer and I shared a love for Michael Ondaatje novels and an ambivalence for 18th century literature.

She particularly impressed me, then, because not only was she able to hold down a full-time gov’t job while attending graduate school full-time, but also found the energy to hang out with the Mike’s Place (grad pub) crowd of which I was a regular member.

Here’s a little known fact about Jennifer: after a margarita, she is also willing to brave a karaoke microphone to belt out a rendition of Britney Spears’ “Baby, One More Time.” Impressive!

Her novel Rock Star’s Girl will be available in late July. It tells the story of Emily Watts, the owner and sole writer of a “snark-fashion” Web site, called Zeeked, who becomes caught, overnight, in a web of media scandal and instant celebrity. To save the Web site, and the writing career she’s made her life and dream, Emily must go from being a pawn in the Hollywood headline game to becoming a media mastermind.  For a preview click here