Capital Critics Circle Awards Announced!

Gotta love alliteration.

These awards celebrate the best of English theatre presented in Ottawa over the past year, as determined by a handful of critics in the capital region. And the winners are…

Peter Hinton

Best professional production: The National Arts Centre English Theatre/SoulPepper Theatre production of THE WAY OF THE WORLD by William Congreve, directed by Peter Hinton.

Best community theatre production: The Kanata Theatre production of THE SEAGULL by Anton Chekhov, directed by Jim Holmes.

Joël Beddows looking thrilled

Best director (professional): JOËL BEDDOWS for his direction of the Third Wall Theatre Company/The Empire Builders Collective production of Empire Builders by Boris Vian.

Best director (community): MICHAEL GAREAU for the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society production of the Lynn Ahrens/Alan Menken musical version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Best actor: ROGER FORBES for the title role in the National Arts Centre English Theatre/ Old Castle Group, Stratford, in association with Richard Jordan Productions, U.K., production of Falstaff, adapted from the Robert Nye novel.

Best actor (community): DAVID HOLTON for his performance as Sidney in the Tara Players production of Smash by Jeffrey Hatcher.

Lynn Cox (not posed at all)

Best design (professional): LYNN COX for her lighting design of Empire Builders.

Best design (community): DAVID MAGLADRY for his lighting design of the Ottawa Little Theatre production of The Woman in Black by Stephen Mallatratt (from the novel by Susan Hill).

The Audrey Ashley Award for a major contribution to theatre: PETER HINTON, for an outstanding body of imaginative and challenging work.

***

Patrick Langston, one of our capital critics

I was super pleased that Jo ël Beddows and Lynn Cox received awards for their work, partly because I was involved with that Third Wall production, and partly because Empire Builders was a really amazing team-effort. And also because some of our local professional actors were actually recognized.

The thing about Ottawa is that we have a major “presenter city,” which means we bring lots of shows from out of town. Shows that sometimes don’t even feature local artists. Roger Forbes, for example, is from the United Kingdom! While he is certainly a talented actor, I’m not quite sure why these “capital” awards are celebrating artistic accomplishment from across the ocean. Just saying.

I think Peter Hinton was an obvious choice for the Audrey Ashley Award. Clearly the National Arts Centre has changed since he arrived in Ottawa not even 3 years ago. Programming an all-Canadian season was a really big deal. I’m not sure if it has necessarily helped or hindered the reputation of the NAC with Ottawa audiences, but it has certainly made things more interesting. Either way, I really loved their most recent production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuring an all-Indian cast. Absolutely fantastic – it will provoke all kinds of discussion.

Ottawa Little Theatre sparks discussion

Nancy Kenny and Michele Fansett (recently in Rabbit Hole at The Gladstone)

Tim Ginley and Chantale Plante

***

In other news, I managed to see a number of local productions in the past week couple of weeks: Brecht on Brecht at the University of Ottawa, Anne and Gilbert from GOYA Theatre, and Timothy Findley’s The Wars at the Canadian War Museum. All these productions had relatively short runs, so I think they are closed by now, but stay tuned for more work from these venues in the coming months!

Still running for another week is Pierre Brault‘s latest one-man spectacular at The Gladstone. Directed by John P. Kelly, Catalpa is a fantastical true story about one of the extraordinary prison escapes of all time. You’re in for a great ride.

I also attended the Great Canadian Theatre Company‘s Celebrity Hors d’Oeuvres, a fundraiser for the GCTC and a great way to promote delicious local restaurants. Photos coming soon!