What is going on? Ravenscroft (Walterdale) and Les Blues des Oubliées (L'Uni Theatre)

This week I saw two very different plays.  One, Ravenscroft, was a mystery where the truth was slowly unraveled as lies and exaggerations were discarded.  The other, Les Blues des Oubliées, was a french-langueage play with sur-titles. So in both,I had to work hard to figure out what was going on!

Ravenscroft, currently running at Walterdale Theatre until October 24th, is a who-dun-it with a surprise twist at the end. Inspector Ruffing (Dan Fessenden) interrogates the 5 women of Ravenscroft Manor to try to discover exactly what happened the night the footman was killed.  It's a clever play with juicy characters set in an English Manor in the early 1900s.  I did the props for the show and due to my busy schedule this was first opportunity to see if the worked.  They did! It was great to see the show up on it's feet. The cast does a nice job creating the world and for me it was great to see 5 of the 6 cast members are newcomers to Walterdale. I also liked that they each were clearly defined characters - the beautiful and icy Governess, Marcy (Melanie Bahniuk); the silly and imaginative daughter of the house, Gillian (Sohpie Healey); the not-so-bright and clumsy housemaid, Dolly (Brittany Hinse); the stern and disciplined cook, Mrs. French (Rebecca Bissonnette); and the naughty but imperious Lady of the house, Mrs. Ravenscroft (Catherine Wenschlag). The whole cast works well together, but highlights are the hysterical and saucy Wenschlag and Bissonnette has some absolutely terrific dead-pan moments. They are all supported by a marvelous set (Leland Stelck) and to-die-for costumes (Geri Dittrich).  I was glad to see my few little props measure up.

Last night, I took in my first ever french language play,  Les Blues des Oubliées (The Blue of Forgetting), at L'Uni Theatre.  It was a very cool experience.  Like with Opera or Shakespeare, it took me a few minutes to adjust to reading the surtitles and adapting my brain to deal with the language differently than I do normally, but once I settled in, it was very interesting.  The play is more of a performed poem with dance and song, as a woman recalls her own life and the life of her grandmother.  One theme of the piece explores language as it comments on being a French speaker in Alberta, as well as how that language translates when visiting other French speaking provinces and countries.  That section was very meta for me, being an English speaker in the audience with all those layers of translation.  Other themes were motherhood, childbearing, religion, and culture.  It was non-linear and fragmented and beautifully augmented with projections and dance, as well as sound created by a live musician sitting amidst the audience.  Les Blues des Oubliées runs at La Cite until October 24th.

Teatro closes their season with warmth and humour in The Hot House Prince

I never know quite what to expect with Teatro la Quindicina.  That's a good thing.  I've learned to go into their shows with a spirit of "let's see what happens" because you never quite know what their show will be about.  The Hot House Prince was certainly that for me.  With references to Three Sisters (all played by the delightful and multi-faceted Kendra O'Connor) the play takes us to Russia during the revolution and a young Prince Dmitri Romanov-Orsk (Luc Tellier) must find a way to survive by fleeing the country.  It's a cautionary tale about entitlement and how that doesn't prepare us for the real world, but it tells it's story in a charming, humour-filled way. What saves Dmitri is his irrepressible hope and willingness to adapt and work hard.  The Hot House Prince left me feeling all warm inside!  The cast is terrific, led by the charming Tellier. I found the cast refreshing and engaging, and highlights for me were Jayce MacKenzie as Dmitri's doomed sister, and Evan Hall and Mari Chartier as the funny-speaking Canadians. Overall though, the cast was a tight ensemble that deftly created the crazy world that Dmitri must negotiate.

The Hot House Prince runs until October 17th at the Backstage Theatre.

Reflections on Bone Cage, Theatre Yes...

I admit it. I had reservations about Bone Cage before I saw it. This was heightened when I read the Director's Notes which indicted the Oil Sands industry and it's toxic sludge of tailings ponds and the suggestion that if we really thought about what we were doing to make a living we would be sickened by it.  I've heard that rhetoric before and having spent most of my life in Fort McMurray I couldn't help but bristle a bit, but I was determined to view the play with an open mind.

I was expecting a rhetoric laden piece about the environment, with blame laid here and there... but that's not what I saw.  Instead, I didn't see much of the environmental message earned. It was there, but it felt pasted on as a convenient scapegoat for the unhappiness of the people in the play. What played out was that these people were screwed up because of past tragedies - a lost son/brother, a wayward mother, a missing father, bad parenting, poor choices in school, or general immaturity. Do people stay in jobs that they don't like because of the money - yes - but people do that all the time. I know former teacher colleagues who I could tell hated teaching, but they would never leave the field because the money was good. I know friends who don't leave jobs they dislike (because they have no passion for it) because they are scared of not knowing what else is out there. This is not something unique to resource industries.  I think Jaime, played with intensity by Neil Kuefler, tries to blame the work for his unhappiness, but he'd still be destroying ecosystems if he got his dream job in B.C. He'd just thinks he'd be happier if he was piloting a helicopter.  It is not the environment he cares for. He just wants something outside himself to blame for why he's unhappy, but really he has a myriad of things to blame for that.  With all the characters, the solution would be to take responsibility and change themselves, but no one seems to keen to actually do that. Their personal inaction and lack of true communication with each other gets somewhat irritating.  Why don't they just leave? I don't know how many times I asked myself that question...

New Projects... I think I have a problem with Down Time...

Back in the spring of this year, I got a phone call from Elizabeth Bowering.  I had heard of Elizabeth because she had been quite busy at Walterdale over the years, but I had never met her. She explained to me that we had a mutual friend, David Kirshner Sr., and that she and David suffered from the same illness, MSA (Multiple System Atrophy).  I remembered when David was diagnosed and this terrible illness swept into his and his family's life.  A once vibrant and active man was suddenly stilled. Elizabeth was in the same boat. She went on to explain that she wanted to produce one of her plays, Wind in Her Sails, as a fundraiser and awareness project for MSA and she wondered if I might consider directing it. So I asked her to send me the script so that I might read it.  I read it and I was immediately in. It's a beautiful piece in tribute to her grandmother telling a story on a trip on a 60 ft. schooner in the early 1900s full of East Coast music.

Well, now it's fall and the show has been cast and we have started rehearsals.  The cast is terrific:

Narrator/Fiddler - Larissa Pohoreski
Mavis - Halee Pierog
Captain - Morgan Smith
Pike - Kris Loranger
Purdy -Murray Farnell*

No doubt I will regale you with more stories from rehearsal.  So far we have been having fun singing Lukey's Boat and learning a few other East Coast songs (Feller From Fortune, Killgrew's Soiree), as well as embracing the accent! As a former resident of Fort McMurray, it is fun to be surrounded by the accents of the rock and the script is peppered with the Newfoundland sense of humour I love. Whether you are an aficionado of all things from Newfoundland and the East Coast or whether you want to support this terrific cause, I hope to see you out!

The show runs November 12-21st at the PCL Theatre at the Arts Barns. Tickets can be purchased through Tix on the Square online or by phone 780.420.1757.

* appears with permission of Equity

September was a Two #yegbookclub Month! Next up in October...

Like last summer, I picked two #yegbookclub books to read other the summer and then we discussed them on twitter over two consecutive weeks in September.  So this was a 2 #yegbookclub month! I worked hard to get the books read (or at least started) early so that I wouldn't be caught up after the crazy Fringe-filled summer I had.

First up, on September 14th, we talked about Every Blade of Grass by Thomas Wharton.  The novel follows, primarily through the exchange of letters, a relationship between Martha and James.  It was my first foray into Eco-fiction (except, someone said that Atwood's Oryx & Crake is eco-fiction, but I through that was more speculative fiction... I don't know the categories... ). This book took place in the past moving up to the early 2000s. A romance, but a subtle one, with environmental topics woven through the letters, along with a growing intimacy as their relationship evolves. Themes of death, loss and friendship are also explored. Here are a few tweets!

Then on September 21st, we talked about Love Letters From the Angel of Death by Jennifer Quist. Without planning it, I happened to select two books with similar themes of letters, love, death and loss.  They also both mention Fort McMurray which for me as a former long-time resident was a surprise. Here are a few tweets!

Next up for the #yegbookclub is Winterkill by Kate Boorman.  We'll be talking about it on Monday, October 26th from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. Edmonton time! Use the hashtags #yegbookclub and #Winterkill to follow the discussion or follow me (@smeep22003) and I will retweet all the tweets!

I picked Winterkill up this summer and after I read it I simply HAD to put it on the list for #yegbookclub! The sequel, Darkthaw, is also coming out on October 13th so if you like it you'll be able to pick up the next in the series right away! 

A Fabulous and Frenetic Week with the Kick off to the Citadel's 50th Anniversary Season, Nuit Blanche, The HeART Beat Party, and BOOM!

September has been a bit of a blur for me.  We've been working extra hard to get ready for the Opening of the Citadel's 50th Anniversary Season,  It's been very cool looking back through the archive photos over the last 50 years and seeing who has been on the various Citadel Stages.  These will be coming out on throwback Thursday throughout the season.  I've by no means planned all of them so... if you have a favorite show you'd like to see pictures from, let me know!

Most of what we've been working hard on in terms of events this month happened this last week.  We opened the season on Thursday night with BOOM. Prior to the show, we we treated to speeches from various dignitaries, including the Lt. Governor, representatives from Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments, sponsors, the Board, Penny Ritco, Bob Baker and Kayla and Marshall Shoctor. I think Kayla Shoctor's speech was my favorite as there was something about it that spoke to the magic of the creation of the Citadel 50 years ago, and I also really liked Bob Baker's speech as it really addressed that what we have is due in large part to the artists that create.  Following the speeches the audience was surprised by a flash mob consisting of local theatre artists and led in song (The Impossible Dream) by Susan Gilmour.  This was truly magical and I got all teared up as it happened all around me.  And then the show - BOOM - which was tremendous!  An artistic marathon for solo-performer Rick Miller wrapped up in technical magic.  It traversed the Baby Boom years from Hiroshima (1945) to the Moon Landing (1969) through events personal, historical, political and cultural with a distinctly Canadian flavour.  I liked it so much that I went back to see it again on Sunday evening with the husband and son #2! Following the performance there was a fantastic party in the Shoctor lobby complete with live band, champagne and delightful treats!  It was still going when I left at midnight!

The other major kick-off event this weekend was The HeART BEAT Indoor Street Party in celebration of the mile-stone anniversaries of the three resident companies in the Citadel Theatre: the Citadel (50 years), Rapid Fire Theatre (35 years) and Catalyst Theatre (20 years).  This coincided with Nuit Blanche happening on and around Sir Winston Churchill Square all evening.  First a large group of people gathered at 7:30 p.m. to HUG THE CITADEL.  It was amazing to see all those people surrounding the building and banging their Boom Sticks! Following the HUG, the husband and I took the boys to see Chimprov at Rapid Fire Theatre.  It was Doctor Whom and we're big fans, plus the kids love improv and they've never gone to a RFT show before so it was about time!  They had a blast and I know we will be heading back for more!  There was even a Tardis in the lobby that you could go in and/or take pictures with!

After the show we came out into the streets of the Citadel to the HeART Beat Party!  All three shows in the building let out at the same time so it was packed.  Plus there were lots of people coming in from Nuit Blanche to check out what was going on!  I think the security counted approximately 4,000 people coming into the building! Live bands (Scenic Route to Alaska, and Fast Romantics) as well as Thomas Culture provided music.  There were Food Trucks lined up outside.  There was a very cool interactive guest book provided by Catalyst Theatre.  I think I saw a lot of people who perhaps had never been in the building before.  Truly a terrific time!

We also spent some time taking in the installations for Nuit Blanche.  It was really fun to see so many people taking in downtown on a Saturday night.  I am not sure if it was the art, but it was all rather civilized and fun!

Now, if that wasn't the right way to spend Alberta Culture Days, I am not sure what would be!

Did a Show... Caught a Show! Love Letters...

Today we had our 2nd SOLD OUT show for Double Double: The Musical.  It was so much fun.  It's weird because we still have 3 shows left but it also feels like Fringe is almost over! Three more for Double Double and only one more for Shout! (which is already almost Sold Out).  So, this has certainly been a terrific Fringe! And now for a little watching...

Love Letters - This was a wonderful piece about two people corresponding from elementary school to late adulthood.  The correspondence between Melissa (Holly Turner) and Andy (Brian Dooley) is charming, funny and in some places heart-breaking.  It was a delightful piece of theatre with terrific acting.  You know they are good when you are completely captivated and they are just sitting there reading letters.

That's all I could manage.  With the 2 show schedule I have to take it easy (and it's killing me a little bit!).