Roz and Guild: What Shakespeare Missed... BIG TIME

Soulpepper has begun their 2013 season with a brilliant play by Tom Stoppard. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966) is the piece of Hamlet Shakespeare missed. It's a comic masterpiece that follows Roz and Guild, two minor characters in Hamlet, as they wait to be summoned to the Danish court and then later this English King. It's intellectual writing weaves wonderfully through the pitiful story we know as Hamlet.

But the great this is, YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HAMLET! I personally haven't cracked open my copy of Hamlet for five years, so I was relying on my Lion King knowledge to help me out; and I understood and followed the story perfectly. It's because Stoppard detracted the importance on Hamlet to Roz and Guild, so really it's a whole new story for audiences whether they are Hamlet fanatics or not. 

Joseph Ziegler's direction of this piece of theatre was evident with his wonderful style. Ziegler lead the the ship of this creation splendidly. Ted Dykstra and Jordan Pettle played the leading men. These actors played such great opposites with one being a bit more intellectual than the other and one being a little more carefree than the other. Dykstra played such an open role and was a pleasure to watch even when he was just listening to the craziness of the other characters. Pettle seemed like he approached his role the way his character naturally is, intellectually and dynamically. He was open and pleasure to listen to. Is was also great to be in the presence of Nancy Palk and Diego Matamoros once again, as they played Gertrude and Claudius. Kenneth Welsh and his group of traveling gypsy actor were the party of the show and added such a great tone to the performance. 

The stage was in the round and the set was mobile, allowing for me to feel as if I was part of Roz and Guild's world which had a reminisces feel of Beckett's Waiting for Godot. 

Speaking of Waiting for Godot, the play had that existential quality to it, dealing with the fate of these poor laughable characters, along with the confusion and oddity. 

If you want to get tickets, please do because it is a must see! Soulpepper has added three new performances, extending the run for your viewing pleasure!

Soulpepper

Website http://www.soulpepper.ca/performances/13_season/rosencrantz_and_guildenstern_are_dead.aspx

Twitter https://twitter.com/Soulpepper

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SoulpepperTheatre?fref=ts

If you have seen it, comment here to tell me how you enjoyed it! :)

With love, 

Lisa

Someone Else

Kristen Thomson is probably one of the true Canadian gems we have in theatre at this point and time; acting and writing some really pivotal pieces. Her recent play Someone Else, directed by Crow's Theatre's very own Chris Abraham, was mounted at Berkeley Street theatre as part of CanStage's season.

Kristen Thomson allowed the audience to marvel at the different extremes people react when in moments of turmoil and crisis. Above all, Thomson gave the opportunity to the audience to laugh at the turmoil and crisis, as well as cry, grimace, and question.

The play centred around a middle aged couple, played by Thomson and Tom Rooney, who find themselves in a bit of rut. Peter (Rooney) finally finds something/someone to release all the guilt, frustration, and confusion he has held for over 20 years. With a teenaged daughter and Cathy's (Thomson) fallen stand-up career, the play is full of complexity and conflict. I basically just wanted to jump up from my second row seat and hug these characters that these artist were creating before my eyes. Performances by Damien Atkins and Bahia Watson were absolutely delightful and spectacular to watch because of their keen sense to detail in the complexity of their characters.

The tech and design complimented the piece to a 'T', especially Julie Fox's wonderful dry walled and cardboard box set. The production side of things brought out the tone and colour of the piece.

The run is over now but I'm sure we will be seeing this play around very soon... or at least I hope so because I want to thank Thomson, Abraham and their team for this beautiful piece of art I was able to witness.

CanStage
Website https://www.canadianstage.com/online/default.asp
Twitter https://twitter.com/canadianstage

Crow's Theatre
Website http://www.crowstheatre.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/crowstheatre

Chris Abraham
Twitter https://twitter.com/chrisjabraham

With love,

Lisa Alves

Please Help Yourself

Last month I went to see a wonderful production that won Best of Fringe this past summer at The Red Sandcastle Theatre. Help Yourself is best described as HBO on stage.

This show belongs to the wonderful theatre company Theatre Brouhaha with the amazing talent of Kat Sandler behind the writing of such a hilariously dark comedy.

The two main men Daniel Pagett as Donny and Tim Walker as Ted, started with such high energy and I was afraid they wouldn't be able to go anywhere else with it, BUT OH THEY DID! The two me were nicely complimented by the wonderful talent of Tosha Doiron as Samantha, with her real and witty portrayal of her character. The three cast ensemble did a wonderful job helping the audience unlock the mystery behind the piece Kat Sandler wrote.

Now the Red Sandcastle Theatre space is quite small so you could imagine how bad I felt laughing practically in the actors faces, but hey! The play was so damn funny!

The run is now over, but maybe they'll do a remount? I sure hope they do because this play, like many of the critics have said, can really go places. 

Theatre Brouhaha
Tweet https://twitter.com/TheatreBrouhaha
Website http://theatrebrouhaha.com

Also Tosha Doiron is the Principle at Stage Coach Theatre Arts School in Oakville. I as well also work there, so indeed she is my employer and a grand one she is. So if you have children or know people with children get them enrolled! http://www.stagecoachschools.ca

WIth love, 

Lisa Alves