Review: (Montreal) Untitled Sam Mullins Project (Fringe: MONTREAL, WINNIPEG, EDMONTON, VANCOUVER)

The Approachable Storyteller
by Élaine Charlebois

Sam Mullins is a good storyteller, no doubt about it. In his most recent piece, he tells his audience four stories that revolve around four truths about himself. One particularly well-crafted and amusing story is about his struggle to manage the perpetual state of panic, later diagnosed as a panic disorder, which used to loom over his life. In this story, Mullins takes us through his early acting days when he was cast in a major role in a play, only to be overcome by panic as his turn came to step onto the stage. Telling this story with great self-awareness and humour, Mullins highlights the ways in which seemingly uncontrollable difficulties can take over our lives unless we decide to play an active part in our own self-improvement.

Review: (Montreal) Wolves > Boys (Fringe)

Looping the Loup
by Élaine Charlebois

In Wolves > Boys, we first meet Lawrence (Cory Thibert) who is waiting to surprise his long-time friend Isaac (Tony Adams) whom he hasn’t seen in a long time. The piece starts off with an awkward reunion of the two – it is clear their friendship has changed since the last time they saw each other. After an uncomfortable hello, the show really begins.Through a series of cleverly performed flashbacks and the recounting of an old camp tale about ghost wolves, writers/performers Thibert and Adams expose us to the realness of male friendship.

Review: (Montreal / Theatre) James Mullinger Is Living the Dream (Fringe)

Oh! Those embarrassing relics!
by Élaine Charlebois

In this one man show, James Mullinger delivers a highly energetic and charismatic performance. In his charming, self-deprecating manner, Mullinger invites us to laugh whole-heartedly at his life stories. Focusing mainly on his awkward and difficult formative years, the comedian guides us through his life-long attempt – and failure - to “live the dream”. 

Sharing embarrassing relics from his teenage-hood and early career as an interviewer to the stars, Mullinger allows us to openly cringe at his failures. One particularly hilarious segment was when the showman projected drawings from his schoolboy years onto the screen of the MainLine Theatre. Reminiscent of a scene from the movie Superbad, Mullinger’s art work consisted primarily of drawing large penises which were attached to misshapen human figures. This display of hand-drawn images was then interspersed with passages from the comedian’s diary from when he was a teenager, namely those pertaining to his desperate desire to lose his virginity. 

Review: (Montreal / Dance) So Blue

 (photo by: André Cornellier)

Nothing Cavalier
by Élaine Charlebois

There is no wonder why Louise Lecavalier recently won Le Grand Prix du Conseil des Arts de Montréal. From the moment the artist steps onto the Usine C stage, the audience is already sucked in. In So Blue, a piece choreographed by the dancer herself, this petite ball of strength fully indulges us with her amazing talent, inviting us into her awesome creative world.

Review: (Montreal / Dance) Miss; Mange-Moi

Photo by Svetlana Atanasova

Women's Bodies
by Élaine Charlebois

This past Thursday night, Monument National hosted two short performance pieces by Tangente. First came MISS, a piece created by Jade Marquis and performed by Joannie Douville, which follows a dancer searching to establish her persona as a performer while maintaining a sense of female empowerment. Douville does well to fully use the intimate space of the venue, travelling slowly through the audience as she delivers an interesting take on the nature of the dance scene. While my choice to sit in the balcony section of the venue hindered my visual experience of the piece, causing me to lean over the railing in order to get a shot of Douville entering the room from under me, the piece nevertheless had its effect. MISS managed to raise questions regarding our notions of the female image in dance culture while at the same time displaying the various personas females can take on when performing. Although I did not grasp the meaning surrounding all of the projected images accompanying Douville’s performance, the piece as a whole was intriguing and at times thought-provoking.

Review: (Montreal / Theatre) Le Dernier Rôle

Photo by Danny Girouard-Taillon

When is a role not a role?
by Élaine Charlebois 

In Le dernier rôle, writer, performer, director Mohsen El Gharbi plays an actor preparing for a role that will make or break his career; a role that no one else is willing to undertake. He is asked to play a mass murderer named Mark Taylor who was responsible for killing 17 female students from Anchorage Institute of Technology in Alaska. 

Drawing on the tragic shooting of 14 women that occurred at l’École polytechnique here in Montreal on December 6, 1989, El Gharbi explores the grim process that takes place in transforming an everyday man into a cruel assassin. Having subjected himself to 18 months of brutal research on the subject of serial murder, the actor successfully brings out the feelings of torment and fear that his character must experience in order to become murderer Mark Taylor. 

Review: (Montreal) Coming and Going

Siren's Call
by Élaine Charlebois

In Stéphanie Morin-Robert’s piece Coming and Going presented by Tangente at Théâtre Prospero,  female contemporary dancers inhabit the stage as the voice and music of poet Ian Ferrier fill the room, adding a narrative nature to the piece. Although there is no clear-cut storyline to Coming and Going, the combination of Ferrier’s beautiful words and the fluid performance of the dancers allowed a feeling of nostalgia to sink in. The poetry and sound allowed the audience to be swayed by the images that were conjured by Ferrier’s words and expressed so wonderfully the comforting yet melancholy mood that is characteristic of sea-port towns. His voice was so soft yet so full of emotion, enriching the piece as it unfolded. 

Review: (Montreal) Marie Tudor

(photo by Robert Etcheverry)

All About Le Breton
by Élaine Charlebois

Marie Tudor, a romantic drama authored by Victor Hugo and directed by Claude Poissant, tells the story of a woman experiencing a deep internal struggle. As queen of England, Marie must wrestle with both her responsibilities as ruler of a people and the struggles she faces in her personal life, namely the discovery that her lover Fabiano Fabiani has slept with another woman. Having discovered that the other woman is none other than Jane, the orphaned daughter of Lord Talbot and rightful heiress to the throne, Marie, with the help of Jane’s commoner fiancée Gilbert, devises a vengeful plan to punish Fabiani for his betrayal. Hardship and anguish ensue, leaving the all-powerful queen alone in her struggle for love and political respect. 

Review: (Montreal) Contes urbains

Hubert Lemire                   Photo Courtesy Urbi et Orbi

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...
by Élaine Charlebois

This year’s edition of Contes urbains indulged its spectators with a series of six holiday stories that reflected the mindset of our generation. Belonging to the same generation, each writer and actor brought great energy and dedication to each piece, keeping the La Licorne audience delighted from beginning to end. 

Review: (Montreal) 2013 - Revue et Corrigée

                                                     (photo by François Laplante Delagrave)
Politically Corrected
by Élaine Charlebois

In this year’s edition of Revue et Corrigée, cast members took on the hot topics of this past year in Quebec, from the controversy surrounding the mayor of Huntingdon to, of course, the provincial government’s proposed Charter of Quebec Values. 

Though I may not be as well-versed in francophone pop culture as I would like to be (therefore missing a few of the references from time to time) I still got a huge kick out of the show. Among other wild impersonations, a Hairspray-inspired sketch featuring newly elected Montreal mayor Denis Coderre ended in a particularly entertaining manner when the man himself stood up to receive the audience’s laughter after the song and dance was over. Other highlights included Véronique Claveau’s uncanny impersonation of Céline Dion and Marc St-Martin’s recurring appearance as TV personality Julie Snyder.

Review: (Montreal) II (Deux)

Elkhana Talbi, Marc Dalpé (photo by Mathieu Girard)

Home Fronts in The War on Terror
by Élaine Charlebois

In  II (Deux), Mercier (Jean-Marc Dalpé),  an experienced police officer whose trust of his Muslim wife Maha,  (Elkahna Talbi), begins to waver with the advent of the War on Terror era. The simplistic set is meant to emulate two separate interrogation rooms in which each character takes turns revealing their story and how their relationship became poisoned by the crippling xenophobia that emerged in the wake of 9/11. Infected by the collective paranoia that led many to fear and doubt the intentions of Muslims around the world, Mercier begins to suspect that his wife is somehow involved with terrorists due to her multiple work trips outside of the country. Though Maha does in fact have something to hide from her husband, it is not at all related to his irrational assumptions. 

Review: (Montreal) Le paradis à la fin de vos jours

Returning to Nana
by Élaine Charlebois

In Le paradis à la fin de vos jours, Rita Lafontaine plays Rhéauna ‘Nana’ Rathier, a character inspired by the mother of beloved Quebec playwright Michel Tremblay. In this piece, Nana finds herself in paradise where she must spend the rest of eternity surrounded by her deceased family members, namely her boisterous mother and critical mother-in-law. 

As Nana, Lafontaine gives us a heartwarming and simultaneously heartbreaking performance. Having been Tremblay’s muse since 1968 when she took on the role of Lise Paquette in the classic Les Belles-Soeurs, and having embodied Nana on stage more than 175 times in Encore une fois, si vous permettez, Lafontaine shows awesome confidence and control in her performance. Throughout her monologue, the actress so perfectly captures the essence and wit of French Canadian culture in Quebec. Banalities are described in hilarious detail, turning everyday occurrences into great stories to be told. 

Review: (Montreal) Ain't Misbehavin'

(photo by Andrée Lanthier)

This Joint is Jumpin'
by Élaine Charlebois

If you’re looking for a laid back yet highly entertaining night out at the theatre, Ain’t Misbehavin’ is the show to see. Starring the extraordinarily talented Kim Richardson, this tribute to the works of jazz legend Fats Waller is packed from beginning to end with amazing musicality and humorous banter. In spite of the absence of an actual storyline, each musical number became its own story, effortlessly capturing the mood of the 1930s American jazz scene. 

Review: (Montreal) La preuve ontologique de mon existence

Into Darkness
by Élaine Charlebois

In the opening scene of La preuve ontologique de mon existence, a piece inspired by the works of great American author Joyce Carol Oates, we find a tormented Shelley (Nora Guerch) trapped in a dingy basement room of a condemned building. Having been put there by her abusive lover and captor Peter V. (Frédéric Lavallée), Shelley has become the object of his manipulation and violence. She is caught up in a twisted feeling of loyalty and fear of Peter, and thus fails to escape her prison. And although her tormentor has decided to marry her off to a creepy stranger named Martin Raven, Shelley remains under Peter’s spell, hypnotized by his rhetoric that her existence is irrelevant and worthless. 

Review: (Fringe) Borderlamd (Montreal)

Failure to Engage

by Élaine Charlebois

Borderland tells the story of a young Navid, a gay Iranian man who has fled his home country in search of a safe place where he can be himself without fear. Along his journey, he meets Zia, the man in charge of getting him safely to his hiding place in Borderland, and Leila, the woman who takes him into her home. Each of these characters is played by Etemadi.

Review: (Montreal) They Call Me Q (Fringe)

13 Characters

by Élaine Charlebois

In “They Call Me Q!”, Qurrat Ann Kadwani treats us to a very personal and compelling account of her coming of age as an Indian woman living in the United states. Taking on the persona of 13 different people from various ethnic and social backgrounds who have in one way or another shaped her identity, Kadwani shows her awesome ability to fully embody a diversity of roles. The actress seamlessly shifted from one character to another and did so with such presence and conviction, making the people she was impersonating come alive on stage. With only a few simple props, Kadwani successfully captured the personality of each individual featured in her piece, rendering each character real and believable. 

Review: (Montreal) Teaching Shakespeare (Fringe)

Crippled by Idolatry

by Élaine Charlebois

In his one-man show, Keir Cutler takes on the role of a professor whose obsession with William Shakespeare consumes his ability to teach a coherent class.  Throughout the piece, Cutler moves swiftly from teaching insightful literary theory to subjecting the class to his utterly incomprehensible tangents. In an instance where the professor reads aloud the supposedly anonymous teacher evaluations which highlight his lack of organization, his inability to get through the Shakespearean scene assigned for that day’s course, and his overall ineptitude as an educator, the audience soon discovers that this professor is in fact progressively becoming unhinged. One example is the character’s attempt to guilt-trip his students by suggesting that their comments compromised his shot at tenure and ruined his marriage. 

Review: (Montreal) Third Person (Fringe)

On existence
by Élaine Charlebois

In Brandon Wicke’s piece Third Person, a banal setting is used to address and explore the experience of existential crisis. While on a camping trip, George (Kevin Ray) and Byron (Nic Turcotte) discover something quite strange. A stream of writing appears out of thin air revealing itself to be the “Third Person”, an omnipresence which claims to know what the campers will do before they do it. This presence asserts that the outcome of their decisions and actions are predetermined, leaving George and Byron to question the meaning and purpose of life. More specifically, the piece seeks to explore the idea of agency and the power of the individual in the determination of his/her own future. 

Review: (Montreal) Good Housekeeping (Fringe)

Sex, Kink...but No Windows
by Élaine Charlebois

In Good Housekeeping, Kelly Craig plays Audrey, a middle-aged woman who is searching for a housekeeper to take meticulous care of the mansion she shares with her politician husband. From the onset of the play, we discover that Audrey and her husband enjoy engaging in wild sexual activities and thus require a housekeeper who can keep mum about their sex life. After interviewing and hiring Bethany (Emily Tognet), a young theatre student who desperately needs a job to pay her bills, Audrey demands that the candidate sign a contract binding her to full secrecy. From that scene on, the show plunges further into zaniness, making for a highly entertaining show.