Picture this: You are sitting in The Gladstone  with your father watching a play about the early history of the vibrator.  Do you: a) feel awkward; b)  laugh at the unusual situation; or c) become captivated by the delightful show in front of you. After viewing the very funny and intriguing production of In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), I can report that, yes, a play about vibrators can be great theatre, as well as being a fun evening out with a parent. Written by U.S.-born playwright Sarah Ruhl, In the... | Continue reading article

It’s been a season of labour unrest in Canada; first the teachers in Ontario, and then the prison guards in Alberta. Now the Ottawa Stilts Union is threatening to cause some ruckus. Yes, Ottawa has a Stilt Union, a theatre group that uses stilts, acrobatics and other forms of extreme physical action to tell their stories. They are planning their first fundraiser raiser, Karnival de Kleo, for this weekend. A number of subversive activities and planned, including stilt try-outs, acrobatics try-outs, a music station, a crafts table, a kissing booth, and a cash bar.... | Continue reading article

Looking for something to do tonight? As a part of the launch of Northern Scene, a handful of galleries in Ottawa and Gatineau will be hosting events, exhibition openings and performances by some of the best talent coming from the North. Billed as “the largest gathering of artists from Yukon, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Nunavik and Nunatsiavut”, the festival will showcase more than 250 artists over ten days. SWARM starts with a gallery crawl at 6pm — to get around the city you can walk, bike or take a ride... | Continue reading article

Opera Lyra Ottawa’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata opened last night at the NAC. It was a wonderful performance, but for those of you thinking about trying out an opera for the first time, this may not be the show for you. OLO’s version of La Traviata was a concert presentation, which means no sets or costumes and minimal acting, although the full score was performed. While a fully staged operatic creation makes a magical evening, a concert presentation is more like a radio play than a television soap opera –... | Continue reading article

Telling people I love opera often results in curious, funny looks – then again, if you’ve never been to the opera, you might be one of those people giving me a funny look. For some reason, people think the adoration of opera is a pretention: that opera is snobby, elitist and aristocratic, and those who claim to enjoy it are just trying to seem cool.  For those of you who’ve never been, operas are beautiful and exciting and dramatic – they’re essentially the soap operas of the classical music world.... | Continue reading article

Wrapping up at the NAC this past weekend was Mary Zimmerman’s Tony-Award winning play, Metamorphoses.  The piece, which took place in a pool of water, is a playfully anachronistic take on Ovid’s classic tales. Zimmerman uses these classic myths to critique our contemporary world. Erysichthon’s tale of black comedy warns of the dangers of overconsumption. Baucis and Philemon’s story shows the importance of charity and humility.  The play weaves together poignant, humourous, and tragic tales to delight the audience. The staging of this production is inventively done through the use of two... | Continue reading article

Tuesday evening marked the beginning of Ottawa’s third annual undercurrents festival at the Great Canadian Theatre Company (1233 Wellington Street West). Festival Director Pat Gauthier’s  showcase of six theatre productions includes a mix of local and national creations that highlight some of the best cutting-edge theatre in the country. With each show lasting about an hour at the most, very reasonable ticket prices, multiple performances, and productions you might not normally get to see—or know about until after the fact — the festival is one of the most accessible theatre available.... | Continue reading article

This Saturday, Toronto’s Les Coquettes will bring their style of burlesque cabaret to Centrepointe theatre for their first ever “soft-seat” show. The troupe has been gigging in and around the Greater Toronto Area for the last nine years, so local burlesque fans are in for a real treat. To sweeten the deal, Toronto’s infamous and vivacious Coco Framboise will be along for the ride. Even better, you can read more about how to get free tickets to the show through Apartment613 at the bottom of this post. Les Coquettes co-founder... | Continue reading article

Post by Laura Freitag In the middle of Carmen Aguirre’s Blue Box she advises, “When one is on an adventure, one must see it through to the end.”  Aguirre has not simply lived her adventures; she compelled them into existence. Blue Box is an hour and a half long one-woman show performed by a revolutionary-witch-lover-prophet-comedienne, Carmen Aguirre. The autobiographical play takes the form of interwoven tales. The several stories centre upon participating in the resistance movement against Pinochet in Chile and falling in love with a real Chicano Hollywood actor who has “a really... | Continue reading article

It’s back to being chilly, which has all of the skaters in the city crossing their fingers and hoping that the canal will open soon… For those of you needing a bit of extra warmth, while Winternude sounds like a very cold activity, it’s gonna be hot. Local band Good2Go will be at the Atomic Rooster tomorrow night, while down at Raw Sugar there’s a fundraiser/party for the Ottawa Rock Lottery, featuring Zoo Legacy, a screening of the ORL documentary, and a DJ dance party. Also in fundraisers, the Carleton... | Continue reading article