Virtual summer theatre programming for kids

 Unfortunately, all theatres are closed for the time being and I can only imagine what that is doing to their revenue.   While stages are quiet and seats empty, the show must go on. Some organizations have created online programming that is phenomenal. Some have a cost, others are free but

Tearing Up With the Cast and Director of Cry Baby

 First they attacked with man-eating plants in Little Shop of Horrors. Then they decided to bring Shakespeare into the American Civil War with Othello. Now Theatre Kraken is falling back into the “waters” of cult cinema to unleash a campy John Waters flick turned hit Broadway musical. No, not Hairspray,

Shakespeare in Gettysburg? Theatre Kraken Places Othello in the Civil War

 Don Fex loves a challenge. I mean, last year he helped transform The Gladstone into a Little Shop of Horrors complete with writhing plants stems seemingly attacking patrons where they sat. In the theatre, however, nothing may be more daunting then trying to put a fresh slant on the Bard.

Crazy for the Fools

 Ottawa Life’s Festival City Series is back! We'll provide a unique look at some of your favourite events. We’ll go beyond the music with artist interviews, volunteer profiles, concert reviews and spotlights on the tastes, sights and sounds of the festival season.  Your city! Your festivals and events! Like a good sunscreen,

Something Wonderfully Wicked This Way Comes as City Lawyers Enter the Court of Macbeth

 Photos by Andrew Alexander In Henry VI, Shakespeare penned one of his most quoted lines referring to the vilest of deeds that could be done to any bar association: “The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.” Actor Woody Harrelson was much more lenient when he said that in

Romeo and Juliet Redux at the Gladstone

 Photos and poster art supplied by production. There is always something magical that happens when you hear the first words uttered in a Shakespeare play. You are transported into a whole other world, one that requires your thought, attention and full focus. The rhythm of his language, the cadence and

Christopher Plummer’s Mastery of Shakespeare and Music

 As the crowd stood and applauded, Plummer was handed a bouquet of roses, some of which he shared with orchestral stage mates, the crowd, and one with the charm true to Plummer, he placed cheekily between his teeth, bowed, and then walked off the stage. A couple sat talking in

The Ottawa Improv Festival: Making It up as They Go Along

 Quest of the Dragon King. All photos courtesy of the Ottawa Improv Festival.  Before we had the movies, Broadway, opera, Shakespeare and even the ability to write scripts, our early ancestors were thespians of perhaps our oldest form of entertainment, improvisational theatre. It may surprise you that the first documented

Chatting with the NAC’s Jillian Keiley

 Photo credit: David Leclerc If the federal election already has you wanting to look elsewhere for theatrics, cast your eye to the National Arts Centre. Have you wondered how the plays at the NAC are chosen? I have so I jumped at the chance to ask the NAC’s English Theatre

Get Lost in Shipwrecked with the Company of Fools

 Photo courtesy of Andrew Alexander Clever and funny are what you expect from the Company of Fools and its latest creation, Pomme and ‘Restes: Shipwrecked! On the Tempestuous Lost Island of Never, is no exception. It is currently running at the Great Canadian Theatre Company. Photo courtesy of Andrew Alexander Characters

Fake It Til You Make It: Perfecting Life’s Performances

 Self-help books are sold on the promise that they can fill the gaps between who we are and who we want to be. Who are we really, though, but actors?  If “all the world is a stage,” as Shakespeare famously wrote, then stage fright can be a real problem. This

Acting: The Craft of Deceit to Get to the Truth

 Acting and poetry saved my sanity as a teen. At 13, I auditioned for the role of  Juliet – Shakespeare’s daughter. I was in grade nine, and I was up against grade 13 gals. I'd never taken an acting lesson, but I got the part. Getting up on that stage

Shakespeare in Ottawa’s Great Outdoors

 Every summer, local theatre enthusiasts gather in parks around the city to experience productions by A Company of Fools. As part of Torchlight Shakespeare, the company has presented an outdoor production during the summer season since 2003. Scott Florence is the artistic director of A Company of Fools, which is