Wellington Oracle

– photo by Richard Ellis

Would it be a pointless tautology, especially in light of Pinter’s own discomfort with the term, to call Third Wall Theatre’s production of Old Times Pinteresque?’

Pinter once famously distinguished between two kinds of silence, one characterized by the absence of speech and one characterized by its obscuring presence, and what makes director James Richardson’s staging Pinteresque is its power to make both kinds of silence speak… with startling force.

The play relentlessly interrogates the relationship between recollection and invention, history and authority. It features only three characters – the married couple Deeley and Kate, and their dinner-guest Anna, and each is persuasively acted (by Richard Gelinas, Kristina Watt and Sophie Goulet respectively). In a couple of instances during Friday night’s performance, both Watts and Goulet fumbled the delivery of their lines, but both recovered adeptly, Goulet in particular able to weave her halting speech into Anna’s mercurial characterization. (more…)

-Theatre review by Michelle Desbarats

Can a floor painted to resemble parched ground transform into the earth and dust of South Africa? Can an illusion of sky become the actual fabric over another place? Can a swing suspended from a branch of only belief be a doorway? As the audience settles into their seats for the opening night of The Syringa Tree, the first play of the GCTC’s 2009/10 season, Robin Fischer’s set design waits, stark and silent with promise.

The award-winning play was inspired by the playwright’s childhood in Johannesburg during the apartheid era. At the heart of the play is the connection between a white child and her black nanny. Because Pamela Gien, the author, has given so deeply of her heart, it is a moving and wondrous piece. (more…)

Photo by Don Chow

Ottawa food reviewer Don Chow has begun to bring his expert palate to points west in the last few months, and reviews of Hintonburg and West Wellington eateries can now be found on his foodiePrints.com blog.

Oracle readers will enjoy the detailed approach Don brings to his reviews; from deconstructing the barbeque sauce of a popular Holland Avenue “chicken and ribs” joint to assessing the quality of the sandwich bread at one of Wellington Street’s best-known cafés, very little escapes Don’s notice.

In one of our favourite recent features, foodiePrints takes to Wellington street to put together the perfect Food Day Canada meal including sticky rolls from Three Tarts, hamburger buns from Harvest Loaf, and fresh corn and tomatoes from the Rochon Farms stall in the Parkdale Market.

Oracle book reviewer Gus Monet reviews “The Amulet of Samarkand” by  Jonathan Stroud, Part 1 of the Bartimaeus trilogy.

Imagine a world of magic. Imagine a world of hate, fear, murder, rebellion, cowardice, greed, and sarcastic djinn with sharp tongues and smart-mouth comments. Imagine Nathaniel’s world, which actually happens to be in modern day downtown London. This fantasy work has a magic/mystery plot with an “Arabian nights” feel to it. This book is the first in the Bartimaeus trilogy, and is a fun and intelligent read. (more…)

Since the demise of the late-but-not lamented Galaxy Diner the breakfast options east of Parkdale have alternated between “slim” and “none”. Since then, most early-morning diners from Hintonburg have had to either walk as far as Fil’s Diner — nearly in Wellington Village — or make do with a “breakfast sandwich” from a take-out restaurant, which is hardly the same thing.

Right on Parkdale itself there is a place that works hard to fill that gap. Not technically a diner, the Carleton Tavern still takes pride in offering a fair-priced traditional breakfast, as often as not cooked by the famous Sam of the now-closed Carleton Restaurant adjacent to the tavern.

The Oracle popped in to sample the over-easy with bacon this morning, and coming as it does with “real” home fries — the kind that clearly came from actual potatoes, not processed “home-fry shapes” – it was good value at $4.50 with coffee, taxes included.

Review: Third Wall Theatre’s Henry V

By Sean Moreland

Third Wall Theatre’s production of Henry V marks both their first production of a Shakespeare play, and their first production on the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre’s main stage. The play is an appropriate inaugural choice in light of the popularly-ascribed belief that it was also the first to be performed at the newly constructed Globe theatre in the spring of 1599. As McFarland’s temporally displaced adaptation (perhaps inspired by the 2003 Royal National Theatre production, which grounds itself firmly in the Iraq Invasion?) suggests, Henry V is also an apt choice for the times in light of the play’s often ambivalent treatment of the mingled glories, horrors, and absurdities of war. Nevertheless, while there are many ingenious and striking innovations in the production, there are also many flaws which are equally difficult to overlook. (more…)

By Jessica Ruano

The title reminds me of one of those modern poets who refuses to use capital letters, or even much punctuation in his writing, as it takes away from the flow of the phrases. You wonder why that poet is being so particular, why he chooses that certain style: is it art, or merely pretentiousness?

Thematically, this fits quite nicely with Evolution Theatre’s first production at the Irving Greenberg Studio Theatre. Thanks to the Great Canadian Theatre Company’s Theatre Creators’ Reserve Grant that funds new theatre creation, the four-year-old company is able to dissect this unusual piece of theatre by playwright Mark Ravenhill. Directed by Christopher Bedford and featuring Bedford, Jerome Bourgault, Kel Parsons, and Kate Smith, this production of pool (no water) is a Canadian premiere. (more…)

Review by Michelle Desbarats

“The Net” is the sixth and final play of the GCTC “Stages” season at the Irving Greenberg. Written in French by Marcel-Romain Thériault and translated by Maureen Labonté and Don Hannah, this production is the world premiere of the English translation.

The setting is the interior of a home in New Brunswick. The characters are three generations of an Acadian family. Anthime is the aging grandfather. Leo is his second born son. Etienne is the son of Anthime’s firstborn deceased son.

Before the characters arrive, the set waits, almost like an unknown character itself. Unformed as yet by any story, the living room, dining room and small kitchen are quiet. One can imagine meals being cooked and eaten. A framed photograph of a woman rests on the kitchen counter. A sofa offers a place to sit. There is a maritime feeling of a family that, for generations, has earned a living from the sea. There is an aura of tradition, of expected continuance. (more…)

Third Wall’s Theatre’s production of Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen plays the studio theatre of the Irving Greenbertg Theatre Centre until March 21. Contact GCTC box office 613.236.5196 for tickets and showtimes.

Review by Lesley Buxton

The first time I ever heard of Peer Gynt was in the film Educating Rita when Rita, the main character suggests, rather too honestly the best way to avoid the pitfalls of mounting the production was to “Do it on the radio.” I was seventeen at the time and like Rita, desperate to learn about the arts. Today as I contemplated my review I found myself thinking about that film and what it has to say about education and the arts. I believe the main function of theatre is to entertain as well as to elicit feeling for the characters and that really great theatre has a universality that appeals to audiences of all classes. (more…)

On February 26, 2009 at the GCTC, the award winning play “The Drawer Boy” by Michael Healey opened, and time went back to the 1970’s. The play begins with revealing the everyday life of Morgan and Angus, two long time friends and bachelors who, since the end of World War ll, have lived together on a farm in rural Ontario. The scene starts with Angus quietly and carefully making the first of many sandwiches which will be made during the play. (more…)