What’s Happening In Ottawa:
The Ottawa Fringe Festival 2013: Preview!
Something special happens later this week in Ottawa. Thursday marks the official open of Ottawa’s largest theatre festival — The Ottawa Fringe Festival — and possibly the best time of year for theatre lovers in the nation’s capital. This year, there are 54 shows running at more than a dozen venues throughout the ten days of the festival. Artists will be here from all over the world to show their talents. On top of that there are even more performances going on on the courtyard (read: beer tent) stage every night meaning more entertainment than you can shake a stick at. (They did the math, it’s just not possible to shake enough sticks.) And it all starts on June 20th so I hope you’ve booked the time off work. Learn more about Ottawa Fringe 2013, including photos and video.
Festival St-Ambroise Fringe Montreal/St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival
This weekend, Production Ottawa reviewer Matthew Champ is hitting the road and checking out the St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival. If you’re already out that way, or planning on taking in some Fringe yourself the week before things get underway in Ottawa, make sure to check back here throughout the weekend to get ideas of what you should be checking out, and what you should be avoiding! Here’s the full list of what he saw:
REVIEW: Steel Magnolias
Number eight of ten in Ottawa Little Theatre’s 100th anniversary celebration is another play that was turned into a movie shortly after. Steel Magnolias, last produced by OLT in the 80s, is a comedy/drama by Robert Harling. Should you see it?
REVIEW: Like Wolves
Like Wolves is a play about choice and regret. Closing out the GCTC’s 2012/2013 season (the last programmed by former Artistic Director Lise Ann Johnson), it is a world premiere written by local playwright, Rosa Laborde. Should you see it?
The Great Canadian Theatre Company presents Like Wolves
Rounding out The Great Canadian Theatre Company’s 2012/2013 season is the world premiere of Like Wolves, by local playwright Rosa Laborde. Learn more about Like Wolves, including photos and video.
REVIEW: Carousel
For Orpheus Musical Theatre Society’s third production this year, they’ve chosen Rodgers & Hammerstien’s Carousel about a carousel barker named Billy Bigelow. Can Carousel match up to the success of Footloose and The Drowsy Chaperone from earlier this season? Should you see it?
Ottawa Little Theatre presents Steel Magnolias
Ottawa Little Theatre continues celebrating their 100th season with ten plays from ten decades. Up now, from the 80s, Steel Magnolias, a comedy-drama by Robert Harling. Learn more about Steel Magnolias
REVIEW: In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play
Same Day Theatre’s In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play, running at The Gladstone through June 1, is gaining a lot of buzz and hype from its title and risque subject matter. Set in a Victorian-era town, at the dawn of the age electricity, the show is about the invention of the vibrator as a treatment of hysteria and about the people receiving the treatment. Should you see it?
Same Day Theatre presents In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play
It’s the dawn of the age of electricity and doctors are finding all sorts of uses for it, including using a vibrator (in the traditionally considered use of the device) to treat the catch all ailment, hysteria. That’s the set-up behind Same Day Theatre’s In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play, running at the Gladstone now through June 1st. Learn more about In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play, including photos and video.
Ottawa Little Theatre presents Come Blow Your Horn
Ottawa Little Theatre’s centennial continues with Neil Simon’s classic 1961 comedy, Come Blow Your Horn. Come Blow Your Horn is back on stage as part of Ottawa Little Theatre’s ten plays from ten decades after being last produced in 1965. Learn more about Come Blow Your Horn
Canterbury High School presents Schoolhouse and Ten Lost Years
This week, May 1st through May 4th, the graduating students in Canterbury High School’s drama program present two Canadian, community-themed plays straight from the 30s. We’ve got a detailed look at this double header produced by what are bound to be some of Ottawa’s (and Canada’s) next generation of performers. Learn more about Schoolhouse and Ten Lost Years, with photo and video.
Bear & Co. presents The Taming of the Shrew
One of William Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, this play focuses on the battle of the sexes, this time with a twist: True to the original period, the Bears have opted to make this an all-male production. Learn more about The Taming of the Shrew