Wellington Oracle

Buoyed from its successful campaign to have foie gras taken off the menu of Beckta restaurant, the Ottawa Animal Defense League  has Holland Avenue’s Canvas Resto-Bar in its sights as the next establishment  it hopes to shame into a goose-liver ban.

As the clip above will show, ADL activists have taken to greeting the dinner hour patrons of Canvas with graphic picket signs and brochures graphically detailing the force-feeding of ducks and geese by foie gras producers. Video highlights include ADL member Jason Halvorson ( seen here in the Ottawa Citizen) getting a strange case of “camera-shy” — he is the one trying to conceal himself behind the banner ( Editor’s note: see comments below) — and other members warning that other west-end restaurants are “on the list”.

But if the ADL’s plan is to rattle Canvas owner Charles Beauregard, it may not be working. In fact, Beauregard sounds almost positive about the protests outside his bistro; listen here for his serene reaction to the latest demonstration.

A couple of years ago, Richard Levis and Carroll Holland, neighbours on adjacent blocks in Champlain Park, created an audio guide to the Canadian War Museum (along with producer Bob Acton). It’s called Thinking About War and Peace.

That’s what both of them are still doing, along with hundreds of other Ottawa residents who are gearing up for peaceful protests on both May 27 and 28 to coincide with the Arms Bazaar planned for Lansdowne Park on those dates. People may also sign an on-line petition. (more…)

Click the image to download May’s edition of the wonderful Champlain Speaker, the voice of Champlain Park.

Read about entire houses disappearing from Daniel Street, find out how you can fight OC Transpo’s plans to cut bus service to the neighbourhood, and learn from Amy Kempster’s wealth of experience on how to get yourself heard on the planning issues that affect the district.

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…)

By Debra Huron

Pressing the rewind button can be therapeutic and fun for both the people who make up Playback Theatre and for the folks who attend their events.

On Friday May 8, the seven members of Ottawa’s Phoenix Playback Theatre will offer a free evening that highlights the group’s unique approach to improvisational theatre. With Mothers Day as the theme, the action begins at 7 p.m. at the Champlain Park fieldhouse (149 Cowley Avenue).  All are welcome.

“Unlike other improv, Playback can be comedic but it can also be quite dramatic,” says Joe Fairholm, a member of the troupe. “Often, it touches not only the person telling the story but many other people in the audience.”

Jane Keeler, who acts as the group’s Conductor, felt the power of performance when she first saw one of her own stories being played back to her. “In our lives, we tend to tell our personal stories very few times,” she adds. “This is a place where stories are shared and there’s a sense of belongingness in a whole community.”

The video clip (see above) features Joe Fairholm, Phyllis Danu, and Marlene Neufeld in a rendition of “so much to do, not enough time.”