Theatre keeps moving to stay warm in the winter
In 2011, the venerable Arts Court becomes residence to a trio of small companies, giving them a permanent place to hang their hats. Créations In Vivo, Evolution Theatre and the New Theatre of Ottawa all have a new home for 2011.
Créations In Vivo starts 2011 with Légendes boréales, a show mixing theatre, acrobatics and music (Jan. 13). Evolution Theatre begins the year with Little Martyrs at the Arts Court (Feb. 9). It tells the story of two preteen murderers who meet up a decade after their crime. Festive! Third Wall Theatre takes up the challenge of Antigone (March 22). Ottawa Little Theatre presents Trying until Jan. 22, followed by the Norm Foster comedy The Long Weekend (Feb. 8). Trying is swimming in good reviews from local reviewers, but then again that’s pretty much status quo for good old, polite, smiley-face Ottawa.
The GCTC begins their new year with Strawberries (Jan. 25), described as a “fizzy, delightful comedy about four romantically challenged singletons.” I’m looking forward to this one – I’m a fan of art with no specific gimmick and a love of people. The Undercurrents series (Jan. 26) is six independent productions playing over two weeks. A sample of the featured shows, Bifurcate Me, is about “why humans fall.” Set in a science lab in 1972 with characters who don’t understand why they are there, the synopsis references “chaos theory,” “strange attractors” and a bunch of loose-sounding ideas that work hard to murder my desire to see it. This Is a Recording – Kelly Rigole and Simon Bradshaw’s two-handed pastiche of recorded life stories – is another success story plucked from last summer’s Fringe Festival. Veteran Ottawa actor Pierre Brault’s The Shadow Cutter (March finishes the winter season.
The NAC begin their year with The Year of Magical Thinking (Jan. 11), based on the ubiquitous Joan Didion book of the same name. Agowke (Feb. 1), Tales of the Moon (Feb. 20) and then the compelling-sounding Saint Carmen of the Main (March 16) round out their spring.
