What is the Canterbury Children’s Theatre Festival?

Every year is different, says Rory O’Driscoll, one of this year’s producers, and it depends what the students want to do, “Last year, for example, the students did Charlotte’s Web. This year they are all student written plays.” Hunter Delorme, director for William Wallaby the Water Waster, said they picked their script because it looked like it would be fun for both the kids and the actors, “This script had things we can like as well; we are legitimately having fun too.” Alecks Charron, director for Dr. David Allen Stern’s Correctional Academy for the Institutionalization of Unnaturally Odd Children, picked it not only because it had the longest title known to man, but because she could relate to the idea behind it, “[...] that it’s okay to be strange. Kids shouldn’t be afraid to be different.”

For more information on the festival, I was told to track down the tallest guy in the school, David Scott, who is the supervising teacher this year. Track him down I did, and he gave me the low down, “It’s a lot of fun and energy to see the kids put this together. [...] Students need to know working with children is unlike any other audience they will ever work with. Usually you don’t have the audience stand up and yell, but you may with children. There’s a huge X factor. The actors must be on their toes at all times, they have to be aware and acknowledge their audience and work accordingly.”

The students agree that doing a children’s production is very different than other genres of theatre. Delorme thought it an interesting adventure, “For most shows, if things get off track, that’s considered a mistake or a mess up but with a kids’ show the whole point is we take what the children are saying and go with it. As long as we can keep the basis of the blocks going forward.” Actor, Tia Belle-Isle enjoyed the variety that came with every show, “It all depends on how the kids react.”

The added benefit of doing a project dedicated to children is that the students are introduced to a genre that is one of Canada’s true job options for actors. As Scott explains, “Many students have dreams of being in Broadway or the movies but that’s not always realistic. [...] Children’s theatre is a very big part of our theatre community.” When I asked students if they would consider working in children’s theatre, many said they would consider it.

The best part of Canterbury’s Children’s Theatre Festival is that the shows are free. You are invited to make a donation but you’ll easily make it back with the fun you’ll be having with your kids. Not to mention the memories and conversations you’ll have long after. To be honest, I was a little saddened that there were not more children on Saturday, but fortunately the students were able to spend the week leading up to Saturday performing for various other schools who came to Canterbury to check out the plays. My message for the parents of children three to eleven: Next year. Be there. It is well worth it. Nice job, Canterbury.

Check out our video preview to hear about the 2012 plays from the Grade 11′s themselves.

REVIEW: William Wallaby the Water Waster

Sadly, due to other work commitments, we were only able to get people – me – out to see one of the three plays put on for the festival this year: William Wallaby the Water Waster.

Director Hunter Delorme said they picked this play because there was a lot of opportunity for colour and energy to captivate the children. The colour and stage design gives the sense that you are near water, starting with two huge blue tarps hanging as curtains (shower curtains) which are pulled apart to reveal a great set of blue, green, and yellow, with a cool boat and other elements showing us we’re on a shore or underwater.

Editor’s note: If anybody wants to tell us how the other plays went (or even add their two cents about the Water Waster), we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Lead actor Dan Johnston has great energy and charm as William Wallaby and has comedic timing similar to Jerry Lewis in the 1970’s. His portrayal instantly grabs your attention. Another strong actor is Marguerite Hanna as Christina Catfish. Her facial expressions, body language and interaction with the audience are charming and fun to watch. Tia Belle-Isle’s character, the Turtle butler, is slow moving and deliberate but it wasn’t until half way through the play that this became noticeable as funny. What cut the joke short was that the turtle only had a short distance to walk and is almost hidden way at the back of the stage. If she had to walk a bit farther, it would have built to a funnier punch line and would have given the cast a lot of opportunity to improvise impatient pantomimes while they waited.

There were a lot of funny moments in William Wallaby the Water Waster and a good energy overall. Standout moments included a vaudeville-style chase scene, a musical number and some fancy accents; a British accent employed by Eamonn Cueboy, “At first I wasn’t sure about an accent but with the wardrobe and character it made became an easy choice,” and a festive Spanish accent by Samantha Memedoska the Wise old Crab.

For the most part the play is great, the sets, the characters and music all worked really well together. There were several times I felt some of the funny was rushed and easy to miss if you weren’t paying attention, but the cast’s energy was great and performances top notch. I’m going with three and a half starfish out of five but I’m betting all the kids in the audience – the target market after all – left happy.

What did you think? Did you get out to see Canterbury’s Children’s Theatre Festival, or were you involved with it? Tell us your experience in the comments below.

Also, you know, come and visit us on Facebook.

All photos in this article were taken by Ken McDavitt.

Ambition: a one man play written by Adam Pierre, which is the story of a young man who escapes the streets of New York with dreams of becoming an actor. The performance is solid and got you rooting for the main character.

Just Desserts: written by Kelley Tish Baker, puts a cook who prepares the last meals for inmates on death row in conflict with a human resources inspector who doesn’t see the merit in it. It’s a debate about what rights and privileges should be afforded to the most violent criminals. Not only does the conflict between the characters escalates quickly, the play is well executed… no pun intended.

Vicious: Personalities collide in this play by David O’Meara, when Socrates meets with Sid Vicious in the afterlife and discuss philosophy. The writing could perhaps have been tighter, but it is a cool idea held up by the intriguing and well-acted characters.

Happy: written by Tina Prud’homme, is about two would-criminals who hold a hamster for ransom. The characters are a bit flat but still likable, and the story is good enough to hold them.

Late: by Lawrence Aronovitch, tells of two women, old friends and former lovers, who meet for lunch and reminisce about their past. The writing is solid and the performances incredible.

The Bridge: by Jessica Anderson is an absurdly hilarious confrontation between a man and woman, both ready to jump off a bridge to their death and end up fighting over who should go first. The show is funny and hits all its marks beautifully, making it a highlight of the night.

Float like a Butterfly: a story about an everyday schmuck who finds his calling in the boxing ring. A one man monologue written by Kevin and James Smith, its story is simple and charming.

The Dog, The Cat, and the Fish: written by Andrea Connell, this is a warning about the dangers of online dating and the potential for disaster. The play has a few structural issues, especially towards the end, but is a good idea saved by solid performances.

The Orerry: written by Pierre Brault, is a portrait of an astrophysicist reminiscing about his wife undergoing treatment for cancer. Solid chemistry and writing make it a heartwarming story.

You Win: is the quirky story of an incredibly tense and neurotic man who feels compelled to walk in to a specific Tim Hortons for what turn out to be grand and cosmic reasons. The exaggerated performances suited the style of the show well.

When the World Blew Away: The night wraps up on a sombre note with this play by Geoff McBride, telling the story of a soldier trying to save a woman trapped in a collapsed house. With an emotional story and powerful performances, the show wraps up the night with the bang is deserves.

The Extremely Short Play Festival is like a smorgasbord of theatre. You get a little taste of everything. And since, technically, it’s eleven plays, you get a real bang for your buck. Now I turn it over to Production Ottawa’s editor-in-chief, Allan Mackey, for the wrap-up:

Overall, the performers of the Extremely Short Play Festival did an outstanding job, especially considering the many different roles they all took on. It feels like Brian Stewart was in almost every play and he brought a nice characterization to each ensuring that he felt fresh every time. Kristina Watt was also a star running the gamut from playing the stoned – and male -British rocker, Sid Vicious to a woman on the verge of death after her house was at hit by the 1916 Halifax Explosion.

The playwrights, too, did themselves proud for the fest. While one or two weren’t for me, all were worthy of the evening and contributed to a varied experience from comedy to tragedy to thought-provoking to outright silly. Standouts of the night were easily Jessica Anderson’s dark and slightly absurdist comedy “The Bridge”, Pierre Brault’s extremely well-written and heart touching “The Orrery”, and “When the World Blew Away” which was – literally – a show stopping drama from Geoff McBride.

As both director of the plays and originator of the fest here in Ottawa, John Koensgen earns the acclaim and can be proud of a fun and entertaining night. He was able to do a lot with a little on many different levels. Here’s looking forward to next year’s Extremely Short Play Festival.

– Allan Mackey

So, did you manage to get out to the Extremely Short Play Festival? Which play or actor stood out the most to you? Let us know in the comments below.

Having trouble with the video? Watch it on YouTube instead.

What did you think? Was Dr. Miranda more than meets the eye? What should Paulina have done? Tell us in the comments below.

Death and the Maiden runs at the Gladstone until May 19th. Full list of show times and how to buy tickets at http://thegladstone.ca

And if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the link off to our preview video for Death and the Maiden featuring cast interviews and a peek at a few scenes from the show: http://productionottawa/deathandthemaiden

For lovers of the written word, here’s the review script in print form:

Death and the Maiden, written by Argentine-Chilean playwright, Ariel Dorfman, explores the idea of what it’s like to have absolute power over someone’s life.

The play is set in 1990, fifteen years after the Maiden of the play, Paulina Salas, had been kidnapped, raped and tortured during the Pinochet regime. Played with real heart by Geneviève Sirois, Paulina now spends most of her time home alone, never having been able to move forward with her life. That is, until her husband, Gerardo brings home the good Samaritan who helped him when he was stranded on the side of the road and Paulina recognizes the voice of one of the men who tortured her all those years back.

Joining Sirois on stage are Chris Ralph as her devoted and trying hard to cope with what’s going on husband, and Paul Rainville as the did he or didn’t he good Samaritan, Dr. Miranda. All three characters have strongly opposing positions during the play and each of the actors plays the conflict to great effect.

In the first few scenes, Death and the Maiden does peter along as it tries to find its momentum. There were times when it felt like the actors were wandering aimlessly around the set.

But the story and play hit its really hit its stride once Paulina holds Miranda at gun point and ties him up. You’re never sure if Paulina will shoot the doctor or not. You’re never sure whether Miranda did it or not. And you’re never sure what Gerardo — who doesn’t want to see a man murdered in cold blood by his wife in his kitchen — can do about any of it. And all this leaves you on the edge of your seat. The show benefits from a really quick pacing from this point on. All the dialogue clips along nicely and the show never slows down. There are even some moments of black comedy during it all.

The play asks questions about the essence of cruelty and what a woman, or even country, needs to move on from such a tragedy. How do we end the cycle of violence? But the real draw of the show is the suspense from not knowing who’s right and who’s wrong. Whether Miranda is lying, or Paulina has gone off the deep edge. With an engaging story, beautiful set and great performances, Death and the Maiden is definitely worth seeing.

Show producer: Allan Mackey
Reviewer: Kurt Shantz
Show produced by Valley Wind Productions for Production Ottawa

Having trouble watching the video? Watch it directly on YouTube.

What did you think? Did Beyond a Joke have you laughing in the aisles? What’s your favourite British farce? Tell us in the comments below.

Beyond a Joke runs at the Ottawa Little Theatre until May 19th. Full show times and how to buy tickets online can be found at http://ottawalittletheatre.com

And if you haven’t seen our preview yet, check it out and see interviews from the cast of Beyond a Joke as well as a sneak peek at the show: http://productionottawa.com/beyondajoke

For lovers of the written word, here’s the review script in print form:

In Derek Benfield’s British farce, Beyond a Joke, Jane and Andrew are an upper-class couple with a beautiful estate. But to their misfortune, their house is, shall we say, accident prone and has already claimed a small handful of lives. One fine weekend, the dumb-as-a-post boyfriend of their daughter overhears Jane and Andrew discussing the previous deaths and the upcoming and potentially life-threatening visit from the new town Vicar. This causes the poor boy, who didn’t know of the house’s history, to think his future parents-in-law are serial killers. In step with most good British Farce — and this *IS* good British Farce — the miscommunication plays itself over the course of the play, people often run frantically from scene to scene, there’s a couple of dead bodies, a lot of surprises and mini-twists and a *LOT* of great laughs.

Going in, from what we’d seen in our preview video, the expectation was for that dumb-as-a-post boyfriend, played by Seamus O’Brien to come across as a bit over the top. Happily, we can say that our concern was misplaced and O’Brien was great as the poor, confused and vastly prone to grand overreactions Geoff. Not only that, his strong physical presence and his ability to use it to hilarious result made for a lot of the fun in Beyond a Joke. Especially his early scenes with the Vicar who – don’t forget – he thinks is about to be murdered.

While the rest of the main cast, particularly Jane Morris as Jane, and Sarah Hearn as Andrew’s sister Sarah, were strong in their roles, the actor who really elevated Beyond a Joke, even more than O’Brien did, was Mike Kennedy as Andrew. Watching him play out the various emotional states, from confusion over how strange Geoff — who he never really liked anyway — has been acting, to him just trying to keep everything from coming apart, was a joy and a pleasure.

Laughs aside — and it would take a while to actually move all the laughs aside — one other cool aspect of the play is the duality of the set which has a garden taking up one side of the stage and the interior taking on the other side. This creates a neat illusion of two different sets, sometimes, both in use at once, where there’s really only one.

So if you need some laughter in your life — and, really, who doesn’t – get out to see The Ottawa Little Theatre’s presentation of Beyond a Joke.

Disclosure: Reviewer, Matthew Champ was unable to attend Beyond a Joke. The review was written by Allan Mackey, who left the on camera presentation to the professionals.

Show producer: Allan Mackey
Review by: Allan Mackey
On camera presentation: Matthew Champ
Show produced by Valley Wind Productions for Production Ottawa

THE EXTREMELY SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL

Write a play no longer than ten minutes, featuring no more than four characters, using minimal set and prop elements…oh, and still tell an engaging story. That was the call to action that brought about the New Theatre of Ottawa’s Extremely Short Play Festival.

The challenge was open to all and saw forty entries from five cities in North America. After an adjudication by local theatre professionals, those forty were narrowed down to the eleven best – covering a wide range of style, content, and subject matter – and it’s those eleven that make up the evening’s entertainment for The Extremely Short Play Festival.

Ottawa has never seen an evening of theatre like this; it’s unique. You’ll find yourself all over the place physically and emotionally every ten minutes. It’s an evening of brilliant writing, inspired and hilarious performances and theatrical invention. It’s your chance to experience entertainment that will delight you. Don’t miss the event that you will want to tell your friends about.
– John Koensgen,  Artistic Director of the New Theatre of Ottawa

The cast for The Extremely Short Play Festival. (Photo by Andrew Alexander)

All eleven plays run every night now until Saturday May 12th at Arts Court Theatre (2 Daly Avenue) on a $30 ticket. That’s only about $2.75 per play when you work it out. Go math!

Here’s the full list of the plays, which include work from both budding playwrights as well as local veterans whose names you might already be familiar with. (Yes, all the chosen plays turned out to from be local stock.)

• Experience the surprising emotional aftershocks of the 1916 Halifax Explosion in When the World Fell Awayby Geoff McBride
• Learn how the formula for extraterrestrial solar illuminance and love are connected in The Orrery by Pierre Brault
• Feel the euphoria of an average working guy as he steps into a boxing ring in Float like a Butterfly by Kevin and James Smith
• Meet a Walmart greeter and an English professor as they push each other to the edge in The Bridge by Jessica Anderson
• Marvel at an unlikely encounter between Socrates and Sid Vicious in the afterlife in Vicious by David O’Meara
• Join two ex-lovers for a simple lunch date that becomes anything but in Late by Lawrence Aronovitch
• Cheer on a kid from the violent slums of New York in his struggle to become an actor in Ambition by Adam Pierre
• Find out how much ransom you should ask the next time you kidnap a hamster in Happy by Tina Prud’homme
• Hear how the guy who makes the last meal for Death Row prisoners feels about his job in Just Desserts by Kelley Tish Baker
• Find out what can go wrong when you let your mother write your dating website profile in The Dog, The Cat, and The Fish by Andrea Connell
• Discover the cosmic secrets hidden in a Tim Horton’s cup in You Win by Geoff McBride

This festival is an amazing opportunity for emerging playwrights like myself, to not only get our work produced professionally but also to hone our skills by having to create under such strict parameters.  I’d never written a ten-minute play before, but this experience has inspired to write more of them. I’ve fallen in love with the form and its possibilities. Paradoxically, there is freedom in limitation.
– Kelley Tish Baker, Playwright of Just Desserts.

More information can be found on the New Ottawa Theatre home page or the event page for The Extremely Short Play Festival.

THE CANTERBURY HIGH SCHOOL CHILDREN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL 2012

This may not immediately appeal to you as a way to spend a Saturday, but if you have a little somebody in your life, what better way to show you care – or at least to get them out of the house for a fun day of theatrical entertainment – than by taking them out to see Canterbury High School’s Children’s Theatre Festival on Saturday, May 12th.

The cast of The Mechanicals at Canterbury's Children's Theatre Festival

Produced by students, for students, the Children’s Festival sees Canterbury’s grade eleven drama class put together three plays targeted for children aged three to ten, all written by Canterbury students or Alumni. They will be running the shows all week for local schools and opening their work to the public for one day only this Saturday. The purpose of the assignment is to teach the students how to think on their feet and try to entertain the harshest audience a theatre actor can face: children.

Each of the three plays runs at 10:00AM, 11:30AM, and 1:00PM at Canterbury High School (900 Canterbury Avenue) so you can choose which order you want to see them in or even just watch one of the plays three times. The best part is that all shows are completely FREE, which makes this an even better bargain per play than the last event we talked about. How do you divide free by three anyway? Plus they’ll have a series of games and events taking place throughout the day between shows making this the perfect event for you to spend time with any and all of the little kids in your life.

Synopses of the three plays are included below, but we had the opportunity to head out to Canterbury earlier this week to get a bit of a preview and, as always, we wanted to share that with you. Here’s the official Production Ottawa video preview for Canterbury’s Children’s Theatre Festival:

Having trouble with the video? Watch directly on YouTube instead.

The cast and director of William Wallaby the Water Waster at Canterbury's Children's Theatre Festival

William Wallaby the Water Waster: William Wallaby is a really bad water waster. His sister, Lily, tells him that he is taking too many showers, but he does not listen! When all of the water disappears, both of them get sucked down the drain into an underwater world, and have to figure out who the water thief is. They get separated on their journey, but luckily they meet new friends that help them find their way back to each other. Throughout their exciting underwater sea adventure, William and Lily’s new friends teach them not to waste so much water, and to try their best to save it. (Written by Katie Hammoud and directed by Hunter Delorme)

The Mechanicals: The Mechanicals is about five friends who embark on a mission to create the Best Play Ever Made! When things don’t go the way they want it to, and one of the mechanicals leaves the group, the other four must find him before the auditions start. Will this group of friends come together in time, or will they miss their chance to be a part of the Best Play Ever Made? Come and see the Mechanicals to find out! (Written and directed by Sultanna Krispil)

Dr. David Allen Stern’s Correctional Academy for the Institutionalization of Unnaturally Odd Children: Anabelle Edwards is sent to Dr. David Allen Stern’s Correctional Academy for the Institutionalization of Unnaturally Odd Children because she is incurably odd. There she meets Stella and Ella (twins) and the evil Dr. David Allen Stern (along with his dim witted assistant, Charles). While polishing the doctor’s desk one night, Anabelle discovers a letter proving that Dr. David Allen Stern isn’t a real doctor after all. In the end they call the police but the doctor escapes and everyone learns its not so bad to be different after all. (Written by Wade Borget-O’Brien and directed by Alecks Charron)

More information can be found on the Facebook event for the Children’s Theatre Festival.

SUBDEVISION

Whether we saved the best for last will depend on your likes (and whether you’re in one of these events), but we definitely saved the most unique for last.

MiCasa Theatre presents HIDE at SubDevision (Photo by Matthew Parsons)

Here’s what I think happened. Members from eight of Ottawa’s top independent theatre companies were hanging out in a church – no, I can’t explain why they were hanging out in a church, they’re theatre-type people – when suddenly they realized somebody had locked them in. Faced with the prospect of no escape and the dawning realization that they soon might have to battle one another to the death, Hunger Games-style, for the limited resources at their disposal, each company retreated to a different area of the church – sanctuary, closet, kitchen – and prepared. In the morning, the caretaker of the church was surprised when he opened the doors and found them all there, but he agreed not to say anything if they didn’t because he didn’t want to be fired for locking people in the church. The theatre companies? Well rather than plan how to hunt each other like they were supposed to, they each devised short performance pieces specifically to take advantage of the territory they’d eked out. And now with all these great performance pieces in tow, they decided to rent the church for a couple of evenings so they could present them to an audience and just throw an all out party.

Okay. So that probably isn’t how it happened at all. But here’s the main fact to get out of that tale: eight of Ottawa’s top independent theatre companies have put together the most unique theatrical event you’re likely to find happening this year and it runs for only three nights – Thursday May 10 through Saturday May 12.

Taking place in St. Paul’s Eastern United Church, the companies have each devised performance pieces specifically for the part of the space they’ve taken over, often blurring the lines between audience and artist.  On top of it all, they’re throwing a massive party, complete with DJ and licensed bar. (update: SubDevision will be alcohol free until the after-party, details in the comments below)

It’s a “celebration of site-specific, innovative, boundary-pushing theatre” for “an audience that appreciates theatrical innovation and wants to be challenged beyond the traditional boundaries that separate audience from artists.”

Devised theatre is theatre that is created by non-traditional methods. Rather than rehearsing and performing a pre-written script, devising is a process by which a company experiments in the rehearsal hall. Through trial and error, the project is “written” on its feet – some experiments are successful and go on to make it into the final product, others are less successful and scrapped.  The devising process can take months or years to complete, is often painful, but can result in innovative, mold-breaking, exciting live theatre!

Over the past few years, devised theatre companies have begun popping up all over Ottawa and our city is beginning to be nationally recognized as a growing hub for innovative theatre creation – hence the reason we thought it was about time to celebrate with an event like SubDevision!
– Catriona Leger, Associate Producer for SubDevision

The way it will go down is as follows. Each of seven shows will run concurrently three times an hour (two shows use the same space, one before sunset, the other after). As an audience member, your choice is what to see, when, and how many times. You can go show-to-show in alphabetical order to satisfy your OCD, or you can spend all night in the kitchen.

Two Little Birds presents Conversations With Strangers at SubDevision

Inspired by the fact that people tend to gather in the kitchen at parties, Kiersten Hanly, Sara Duplancic and [Sarah Conn] are hosting a party in St Paul’s kitchen called Conversations with Strangers. There will be delicious food (care of Patrick O’Neil, chef extraordinaire!), great music, drinks, and maybe one or two party games. But there’s an elephant in the room that will need to be addressed sooner or later.
– Sarah Conn, Two Little Birds

Or, you can just hang out in the bar and hear about all the good times people are having watching the performances. The important thing is that the choice is entirely yours.

That’s St. Paul’s Eastern United Church (473 Cumberland Street), May 10 through May 12. Tickets are $20 and how that breaks down per show depends what you see. Drinks are extra. More info, including breakdowns of all eight shows, can be found on the Facebook event for SubDevision.

And that’s the three things you probably want to be doing this weekend. Spring cleaning will just have to wait. We’ll have reps out to all three and will recap them for you next week. No matter which of them you get out to, please come back and tell us what you thought in the comments below. What worked for you and what didn’t?  And please, share this article around if even one of these events sounds interesting to you whether you plan to go or not. Support your local theatre community by helping spread the word.

PS – Speaking of sharing, did you know we’re on Facebook now?

Having trouble with the video? Watch it directly on YouTube.

Death and the Maiden runs at the Gladstone theatre until May 19th, 2012. Visit TheGladstone.ca for full details.

Here’s a bonus clip from our interviews where Chris Ralph talks about why Death and the Maiden makes a great thriller.

And now, here’s a few photos from the production, all taken by Production Ottawa photographer, David Pasho. For an expanded gallery of photos from Death and the Maiden, come and visit us on Facebook.

Having trouble with the video? Watch it directly on YouTube.

Beyond a Joke runs at the Ottawa Little Theatre until May 19th, 2012. Visit ottawalittletheatre.com for full details.

Here’s a bonus clip from our interviews where set designer, Paul Gardner talks about the set for Beyond a Joke.

And now, here’s a few photos from the production, all taken by Production Ottawa photographer, David Pasho. For an expanded gallery of photos from Beyond a Joke, come and visit us on Facebook.

Having trouble with the video? Watch directly on Youtube instead.
Still not convinced? Why not check out our video and photo preview to help you make up your mind?

What did you think of these shows? Join the discussion and tell us in the comments below.

And for lovers of the written word, here’s the review script in print form:

An immortal Mary Magdalene, homeless and drunk, crashes her way into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting to try and clean up her act? Yep. That’s the set-up for Mary Magdalene and Adventures in Sobriety. Like you’d expect, the play includes a lot of religious allegory telling the story of the only female disciple and in some circles the secret wife of Jesus Christ. But to put your mind at ease, the allegory, and the play wasn’t written in a way to parody, poke fun or otherwise blaspheme against the church. Whether you’re Catholic, Atheist or anywhere else on the spiritual spectrum, you’ll be able to relate to what’s really a very human story about a woman trying to cope.

The only character in the play, unless you count Malchus the house plant, is Mary M herself and one woman shows are especially hard. The full weight falls upon one actor, not only to be on stage for an hour plus, but to fully keep an audience’s attention for the duration. Fortunately, in this case, that responsibility falls to Nancy Kenny – who happens to be one of the most talented, passionate, and endearing actors straddling two cities (she divides her time these days between Ottawa and Toronto).

Kenny becomes Magdalene, carrying you through both the playfulness and the angst of a woman tormented even this 2,000 years later by the events surrounding the Son of God’s death. She’s taken to drink and stumbles into an AA meeting, which is where she meets Betty -12 years sober- who might be her last chance for salvation.

The play itself, is kind of theatre in the round in reverse with the show taking place on all sides of the audience on or between four mini-stages set up in the lobby of Arts Court Theatre. In that way, the audience serves the play as the other members of the alcoholics anonymous group and a real part of Mary’s story.

And we move on. Sadly, on the night we were there, [boxhead] ended up cancelled so we can’t exactly review it and give you a first hand but we will see it and we will review it and we will post it right here when we do!

UPDATE: Sadly, each time we tried to get out to [boxhead] was an evening that it was cancelled. The run was a shorter one that expected because of health concerns for one of the actors. We wish him the speediest of recoveries.

Produced for Production Ottawa by Valley Wind Productions.
Show Producer: Allan Mackey
Reviewer: Allan Mackey
On-Camera Presentation: Matthew Champ

Disclosure: On-camera reviewer, Matthew Champ, was not able to attend Evolution Theatre’s Double Bill. The review was written by Allan Mackey who left the on camera delivery to the professionals.

If the video above isn’t working properly, here’s the link directly to YouTube.

Evolution Theatre’s double bill of Mary Magdalene and Adventures in Sobriety and [boxhead] runs at Arts Court Theatre until April 28th. Full details, including online ticket purchase, at http://evolutiontheatre.ca.

UPDATE: Here’s our official review for Mary Magdalene and Adventures in Sobriety and [boxhead].

Here’s a few photos from the shows, all taken by Production Ottawa photographer, David Pasho. For an extended gallery of photos (32!) from Mary Magdalene and Adventures in Sobriety and [boxhead], come and visit us on Facebook.

Having trouble watching the video? Watch it directly on YouTube instead?
Learn a bit more about The Communication Cord here in our early look at the show.
For official show details including showtimes, hit up the Gladstone’s official website.

What did you think? Who had you laughing the hardest during The Communication Cord? Tell us in the comments below.

And for those who prefer to take things in in print form, here’s the review script:

Brian Friel’s farce, The Communication Cord starts with a simple enough set-up. Jack has a home and property in a small Irish village that’s been in his family forever. To help his buddy Tim earn favour with his girlfriend Susan’s history-loving and country-life enamored father, Jack agrees to “lend” Tim his house for an hour when Susan and her dad are passing through the area on their way to a big social function. Like I said, simple.

Except that Tim’s a high-strung academic who’s nervous and not really comfortable about going through with the plan of pretending the house is his. So from the moment Susan and her father show up, things spiral hilariously out of control as Tim starts feeding everybody a different story, and then fights to keep his deception from unraveling completely.

SevenThirty Production’s presentation of The Communication Cord at The Gladstone is a lot of fun. When it’s in its groove, it’s laugh upon laugh upon laugh. While this is a big chunk of the play, there are a couple scenes, particularly the opening, that were slow and even a bit plodding compared to the rest. It’s these scenes that keep The Communication Cord from being beginning to end hilarious and to be honest, almost every one of the scenes that didn’t work featured the character of Jack, played by Tim Oberholzer. His acting wasn’t bad per se, but the characterization felt off.

The other cast members ranged from fine to good but where things get awesome starts with Michelle Leblanc as Claire. Claire is an old flame to Tim who’s been staying in Jack’s house — the one Tim is pretending is his — and in Leblanc’s super-talented hands, she was perfectly convincing and a joy to watch almost every second she was playfully tormenting Tim on stage.

But it was Steve Martin, playing the role of the German and barely English speaking Barney the Banks who stole the show. Every movement he made, every word out of his mouth — even a complete lack of either in one scene — was laugh out loud funny.

Taking on the lead role of Tim is David Whitely. Whitely is a talented actor and despite a slow opening scene — a scene with the Jack character — Whitely does a great job bringing frantic Tim to life and it was fun to watch his mental state slowly and then quickly unravel along with his deceptions.

The laughs, many and many of them, are there in SevenThirty Production’s presentation of the Communication Cord. You can see it at the Gladstone until April 15th.

Produced for Production Ottawa by Valley Wind Productions
Show Producer: Allan Mackey
Reviewer: Allan Mackey
On Camera Presentation: Meghan Murphy

Disclosure: On camera reviewer, Meghan Murphy, was not able to attend The Communication Cord. The review was written by Allan Mackey who left the on camera presentation to a professional.