Black Sheep Theatre

In short, The Gladstone is the busiest theatre in Ottawa. Resident companies and guests will produce 12 shows for their 2017–18 season.

It is easy to think of A Christmas Carol as a seasonal classic – a traditional piece cast in amber, comfortable like an old sweater. But in the right hands, a contemporary production can give us new insights into an old text.

Barb Popel: “Let’s hope we see Beddoe, Scott, Richards, Adams and especially Lefebvre cast in other plays soon.”

By Julia Bueneman 65 minutes | Drama, Solo | PG Following a multitude of very different, very real characters, Jayson Mcdonald has created an absolute masterpiece. Flicking through half a dozen personas — both loveable and beautifully hatable — Mcdonald portrays each with a convincing newness, leaving all the various characters completely unique and individual […]

Comedy is difficult to do well. Bouffon is even more difficult. Bouffon is a style of theatre whose main focus is the art of mockery. According to Wikipedia, bouffon performance techniques include “burlesque, commedia dell’arte, farce, gallows humour, parody, satire and slapstick”. Any of these are tough to master; to master all of them requires […]

The nine theatre companies which are sharing The Gladstone Theatre are offering a wide variety of plays for the 2014-15 season – everything from gentle family fare to head-banging punk rock.  Lots of traditional theatrical classics, too, from Moliere to Tennessee Williams to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Well, the latter IS a tradition, or […]

Review by Christine Burton 60mins/Comedy-Drama/PG You’d be hard-pressed to find a more hapless gaggle of losers than Dick, Ricky and Paco, some of the characters in Paco V Put to Sleep. All of them are lurching towards a Darwin Award-winning future – either that, or an Oscar for best comedic facial expressions (Dicky Dick, I’m talking to […]

The 1950s were a time when it was easy to despair. To despair for the future, which seemed doomed to nuclear holocaust. The atrocities and horrors of WWII made it easy to despair about humanity. The McCarthy era trampled on hard-won liberties. That despair led some young people to unrest and dissatisfaction, which needed to […]