Joe Szek reviews 'Oh, What a Lovely War' at Hart House Theatre

By Joe Szek

John Monahan, Warden of Hart House, wrote in the latest theatre program that the current Hart House Strategic Plan is called “Delight in Discovery”. There were a couple of facts the other night I had either discovered or had re-kindled about my love affair with our ‘Cradle of Canadian Theatre’ on the University of Toronto campus.

I had completely forgotten that the Hart House stage is named after one of Canada’s influential film makers – Norman Jewison. After last night’s curtain call of the current production, ‘Oh, What a Lovely War!” I had re-discovered the theatre itself during the First World War was used as a rifle range for a musketry school under Vincent Massey’s command. I knew there was a military connection, but I couldn’t recall exactly what it was.

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Joe Szek reviews 'Chicago, The Musical' at Port Hope's Capitol Theatre

By Joe Szek

In watching the opening night performance of Northumberland Players’ highly anticipated production of ‘Chicago’, I couldn’t help but make two connections – what it’s like to be a child and an adult on Christmas morning waiting to open gifts.

When you’re a child, the gift is perfect no matter how it may look. I was far more interested on what was inside. As an adult now looking back, something has changed. It’s not the gift that I recall but it’s the love, the contentment, the appreciation and the thanksgiving behind Christmas and the giving of that gift.

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Joe Szek reviews 'Disgraced' by The Papermill Theatre at Todmorden Mills

By Joe Szek

Recently I attended a non-Equity performance of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ where a community theatre proudly displayed the quality work possible when the cast and crew just clicked with each other.

The East Side Players matched par on par this same task of creating highly dramatic and emotional intensity as well with their production of Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize winning 2013 ‘Disgraced’ now onstage at The Papermill Theatre at Todmorden Mills. Director Mario D’Alimonte wrote in his Programme Note that he hoped audiences will find this story entertaining above all.

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Break a leg! Borelians Community Theatre Presents 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' - review by Paul Love

By Paul Love
Guest Reviewer

The plays of Tennessee Williams are as iconic as the man himself. These literary works are so well renowned that they elicit immediate familiarity with even non-theatregoers. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which premiered in 1955, is one of Williams’s most successful plays, garnering four Tony nominations, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This monumental play is currently being staged by the Borelians Community Theatre group in Port Perry.

(L-R): Howard Linscott, Carolyn Goff, Kelly Whitehorse (on balcony), Ruth Smith (chair), Colin Murphy, Marlo Alcock, Vannetta Tustian, photo by Jonathan van Bilsen

Set in the mid-1950s on a plantation in the Mississippi Delta, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof tells the story of the well-to-do Pollitt family, led by cotton tycoon Big Daddy Pollitt (Bill Baker). Despite their wealth, the Pollitts are in turmoil: Big Daddy and his wife, Big Momma (Marlo Alcock), are always at odds with one another; their son Brick (Kelly Whitehorse) has turned to alcohol and become indifferent to his wife, Maggie (Carolyn Goff); Big Daddy and Big Momma’s other son, Gooper (Colin Murphy), and his wife, Mae (Vannetta Tustian), are always plotting and scheming to bilk Big Daddy out of his fortune. The worst of it all is that Big Daddy has terminal cancer, but he doesn’t know it because Gooper, Mae, and Maggie have decided to give Big Daddy false results from a recent medical exam, so as not to spoil his 65th birthday celebration, which is underway as the show opens. Throughout the play we discover that most of the characters are lying to each other about something.

The play begins in Brick and Maggie’s bedroom, with Brick sitting alone, nursing a drink, while struggling to be comfortable with the cast that is a memento of some silly, drunken behaviour the night before. Hearing Maggie approach, Brick races into the bathroom to hide. Maggie enters in a rage, annoyed by the antics of Gooper and Mae’s children. Once Brick reappears, Maggie launches into a high-energy, one-sided conversation about everything and everyone. Ms. Goff gives a mesmerizing performance as Maggie. She moves seamlessly from loud to quiet, intense to melancholic, sultry to coquettish — all while absolutely nailing the southern drawl. It is a character Ms. Goff was born to play. As Brick, Mr. Whitehorse gives a nicely understated performance, showing us a very inward-facing character who is disgusted by the world around him, and who is seeking solace at the bottom of whatever bottle he’s drinking from. Mr. Whitehorse says much with few words, allowing his complex facial expressions and body language speak volumes. Mr. Baker was clearly undaunted at the prospect of tackling the larger-than-life role of Big Daddy. He commands the stage whenever he walks onto it (as Big Daddy should), giving us a character who is so stoic that he could have been carved out of solid mahogany, but who is clearly thoughtful, intelligent, and even forward-thinking in some ways. Mr. Baker’s Big Daddy is a marvel to watch. As the very warm and gregarious Big Momma, Ms. Alcock is very enjoyable to watch. Big Momma is desperate to make sure everyone is happy and cared for, and we really get a strong sense of that in Ms. Alcock’s performance. Mr. Murphy and Ms. Tustian give great performances as the conniving Gooper and Mae. Ms. Tustian particularly shines in the scenes where Mae and Maggie engage in infinitely entertaining verbal sparring. Although they don’t have much time onstage, the rest of the cast — Ruth Smith as the doctor who shares the real medical results, Howard Linscott as the nervous Reverend Tooker, and Olivia Da Costa as Gooper and Mae’s troublemaking daughter, Dixie — all add nice moments to an excellent show.

(L-R): Bill Baker, Kelly Whitehorse, photo by Jonathan van Bilsen

Kudos to Director Kyle Brough for having his characters move about the stage naturally yet purposefully. Particularly mention must be made about the moments where there are groupings of characters in separate conversations, and Mr. Brough directs our attention from one to the other by having the volume of the conversation drop with one group as it rises with another. Shelley Martin’s set instantly calls back to a southern plantation-style home—French doors, curved windows, big balconies, and everything in white. The detailing with the only partially seen bathroom is a great touch. Costume Designer Kim Blanusa has chosen costumes that are perfect for the period but also say a lot about, or enhance, the characters themselves: Big Daddy’s brown palette adds to the deeply rooted, salt-of-the-earth feel of his character; having Gooper and Mae in similar tones to Big Daddy gives a subtle sense of their attempts to curry favour with him; Maggie’s blue dress is perhaps a signal of the skyward-gazing dreamer that she is, and it also adds a contrast to the clothes of Brick’s family, reminding us that she is very different from the family she married into; Brick’s silk pyjamas seem at home on a lethargic man who desperately seeks to be comfortable in his own skin, and the mint green colour is evocative of the mint juleps his family has probably sipped on the veranda throughout his life.

I highly recommend heading to Port Perry to experience this top-notch show performed by the Borelians.

Performances are at the Town Hall Theatre, 302 Queen St., Port Perry. Remaining performances are February 20, 21, and 22, at 8 pm, with an additional 2 pm matinee on February 22. Tickets are available by visiting the website.

Ajax Community Theatre Presents 'A Few Good Men'

By Paul Love

Guest Reviewer

A Few Good Men, which premiered on Broadway in 1989, is a story of murder and intrigue (based on true events) amid the world of the US military. It was written by award-winning playwright Aaron Sorkin, who didn’t waste any time writing a film version, which arrived in theatres a mere three years later. Ajax Community Theatre is currently presenting the stage version at the St. Francis Centre in Ajax.

Two marines stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been charged with the murder of a fellow marine. Daniel Kaffee (Robert Magee), a young hotshot lawyer, is chosen as the counsel for the accused because he is known for effectively making plea deals. Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway (Marisa King), an ambitious attorney, has studied the case and believes that the accused are not the murderers they are made out to be, and that they were, in fact, following orders from further up the chain of command.

The real challenge for the production team was effectively presenting substantial set pieces and a cast of 19 on St. Francis’s intimate stage. I will admit that this concern was in the back of my mind as the show was about to start; however, this concern was quickly forgotten. Kudos to all those involved in the creation of a set that fit comfortably on the St. Francis stage and allowed the actors to move about seemingly unrestricted. Special credit to Director and Set Designer Michael McFarland for designing a set that evoked the settings of the play (the courtroom in particular), and having his cast use it sensibly throughout the show.

Ms. King gives a heartfelt and passionate performance as Commander Galloway, garnering the audience’s support almost instantly. There is an earnestness to her character that would no doubt be required of a woman fighting for respect in the male-dominated US military. Mr. Magee gives a very expressive performance as Lieutenant Kaffee, mixing wisecracks with moments of frustration and deep concern. Chris Coculuzzi gives a strong performance as Lieutenant Colonel Jessep, the powerful, quick-tempered head honcho of the US Marines stationed in Guantanamo. Mr. Coculuzzi creates a character who does not swagger or boast —he is simply in charge, and he does his job however he sees fit because he is “in the business of saving lives.” There are many actors who, when taking on the role of Jessep, would be unable to avoid the influence of Jack Nicholson’s performance in the film version; fortunately, Mr. Coculuzzi is not one of them. Some powerful moments occur between Mr. Coculuzzi and Mr. Magee during their courtroom showdown. Lincoln Trudeau, as Kaffee and Galloway’s co-counsel, Lieutentant Weinberg, uses great dry-wit delivery to inject some nice humour into his scenes. Kai Novak does a great job in his performance as the prosecuting attorney, Lieutenant Ross. Matt Walker gives a memorable performance as the scarily intense Lieutenant Kendrick. Kudos also to Kevin Shaver in his performance as Jessep’s second-in-command, Captain Markinson, particularly for the emotionally powerful scene in which he writes a letter to the parents of the deceased. Adeptly taking on the roles of the two accused marines are Jason Abdool as Lance Corporal Dawson, and Reid Pierson as PFC Louden Downey. Mr. Abdool portrays Dawson as a strong, self-assured marine with a good heart, who is coming to terms with the fact that he has no choice but to allow the US military machine to grind him up in its gears. Reid Pierson, who would not allow a nasty cold to defeat him, portrayed Downey as a simple, well-meaning young soul lost in the chaos surrounding him.

If you’re in the mood for intense courtroom drama mixed with some great humour, check out Ajax Community Theatre’s production of A Few Good Men.

Performances are at the St. Francis Centre, 78 Church St. S., in Ajax. Remaining performances are February 13-15, at 8 pm. Tickets are available on the website.

(L-R): Chris Coculuzzi, Kevin Shaver, Matt Walker, photo by Dave Edwards

Jul 8 2020 - Editor’s note - The previous header image has been removed at the request of Jason Abdool who appeared in it.