Originally included in Guerilla Magazine
Winter 2008-09
The Fools and the super sleuths keep on trouping
As we approach the New Year, we start to wonder where all the days have gone: how did the year pass so quickly? Has anything changed? What have we accomplished? This reflective thinking reminded me of two local theatre companies that have been around about as long as I have. Ottawa’s rag-tag Shakespeare troupe, A Company of Fools (www.fools.ca) is reaching for its 20th year of existence, while Eddie May Murder Mysteries (www.eddiemay.com)—dinner theatre to die for—is approaching its 25th year. At a time when new arts companies are struggling for financial viability and popularity with theatre audiences, I find it amazing that these two have thrived for so long. To mark these achievements, I thought I should take a look at how these companies came to be and share their plans for the New Year.
A Company of Fools was created in 1990 by University of Ottawa graduates Margo MacDonald and Heather Jopling. The pair had decided to take Shakespeare to the streets and make it accessible for everyone. As they expanded, the Fools began the popular Torchlight Shakespeare Series performed in parks around Ottawa.
Currently led by the Biggest Fool (Artistic Director Scott Florence), the Fools stage an average of two productions per year, in addition to participating in festivals, offering in-school workshops, and delivering sonnets to loved ones on Valentine’s Day.
According to Florence: “The Fools have performed from Coast to Coast to Coast, taken the show as far away as China, created more new works than I can count in the time it takes me to finish writing this sentence, and entertained tens of thousands of people of all ages!”
A Company of Fools Michel Dozois photo
The Fools in 2009: Every year, the troupe hosts the Twelfth Night Celebrations at the NAC 4th Stage, where theatre companies from around Ottawa compete for the grand Rubber Chicken Prize by presenting collectively created skits and bribing the judges. You can catch the Fools and their fellow thespians in action on January 5.
From February 4 to 21, the Fools will be performing a new creation, A Midwinter Dream’s Tale at The Gladestone. Set in a frozen world of magic and monsters, Scott Florence and Margo MacDonald reprise their roles as the beloved clown duo, Pomme Frite and Restes. Follow these clowns on their quest for ice cream as they battle the Abominable Snowman, care for a newborn baby, and evade a vengeful Queen. The show combines Shakespeare’s text, Foolish text, music, and movement to create a visual and aural spectacle.
The Gladstone (www.thegladstone.ca) opened in September and is one Ottawa’s classiest theatres. If you’re itching for some great theatre before February, check out two stunning plays from SevenThirty Productions and directed by the award-winning John P. Kelly: The Kings of the Kilburn Highroad (originally presented in Ottawa’s The Auld Dubliner in the Byward Market) runs from December 16 to January 3, and The Lieutenant of Inishmore runs from January 7 to 24.
Eddie May Murder Mysteries Jessica Ruano photo
And now for something completely different! Eddie May Murder Mysteries began its life of crime 25 years ago and is still going strong, thanks in large part to the guy-in-charge, Noel Counsil. The company offers a full evening of luxury with Scarlett’s Dinner Theatre: a three-course meal at the Velvet Room in the Byward Market, an interactive performance with some of Ottawa’s funniest actors, and post-show entertainment with the duelling pianos at Fat Tuesdays. Eddie May also does private parties.
Counsil is thrilled that “for a quarter of a century the troupe has been offering a mix of hair-raising suspense and hilarious improv comedy.”
When I attended my first Eddie May show a few months ago, I had an interesting realization: dinner theatre attracts an entirely different crowd than does regular theatre. Many people seemed to be there on dates or celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. They were not the regular theatre-going crowd, and yet they were completely willing to be immersed in this unpredictable production. Perhaps the idea of eating while watching makes dinner theatre more accessible, more enjoyable, and much less intimidating. Whatever Eddie May is doing to attract audiences, it seems to work!
Eddie May has two shows going on over the next few months—attend either one and you just may have the crime of your life. My apologies. I love puns.
At the Velvet Room until New Year’s Eve is Psych-Ho-Ho-Ho, a delightful story about a darling little family enjoying the holidays together. Or not. In actuality, squabbling siblings wait for their mother to die so they can have a chance at the substantial inheritance. But who is included in the will? And why are all these people being viciously murdered? Enjoy ridiculous characters and hilarious musical numbers as sleuth Eddie May and you (the audience) solve the mystery.
Next up: Without a Clue, a spoof of the popular board game by Eddie May regular Stewart Matthews, featuring time-honoured characters such as Colonel Mustard, Mrs. Peacock, and Mr. Green, joined here by renowned Ottawa detective Eddie May. Originally produced for this year’s Ottawa Fringe Festival where it took a Best of Venue award, this interactive romp features all manner of murder and mayhem, from January through Easter.
Jessica Ruano is the creator and writer of the Ottawa Arts Newsletter, a personalized arts e-mail-out that is received by close to 1000 subscribers monthly. Read it on Facebook and at www.jessicaruano.wordpress.com.
[...] some very fine suggestions for theatre goers and arts lovers well in to the new year. Read up here on Jessica’s blog, or check it out at Guerrilla [...]