Points of View (Canada's National Arts Centre)

In this Points of View, around the presentation of Crow’s Theatre and Talk is Free Theatre’s production of The Wedding Party, NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley hosts a discussion with special guests, Lisa Levia, Catering Sales Manager for NAC Food & Beverage and Kraig-Paul Proulx, Wedding & Special Events Designer & Coordinator, about the challenges, changes and beautiful moments go into planning weddings and receptions. The Wedding Party ran in the NAC Theatre January 30 – February 9.

In this Points of View, NAC English Theatre Associate Artistic Director Sarah Garton Stanley hosts a discussion with three special guests, Pityu Kenderes and Judd Palmer of The Old Trout Puppet Workshop, and University of Ottawa Theatre Professor Kathryn Prince, on the making of this production of Twelfth Night and other imaginative interpretations of Shakespeare.

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Twelfth Night Act 3, Scene 4

Full of visual surprises, this production brings together the 2015/16 Ensemble with an inventive design from Calgary’s Old Trout Puppet Workshop. It’s an animated interpretation of Shakespeare as you’ve never seen it before! One of the Bard’s most popular comedies explores passion and the pain of trying to keep it a secret, raising the curtain on a mad scramble of misdirected desire, cross-dressing and a provocative love triangle. This unique take on the timeless Twelfth Night features pop music alongside Shakespeare’s buoyant wordplay and some of his wittiest love scenes.

Artistic Director of the NAC's English Theatre, Jillian Keiley, sits down with the director of The Glace Bay Miners' Museum, Mary Vingoe, to discuss the play, Cape Breton culture, and Ceili dancing.

In this Points of View, we turn the tables as Associate Artistic Director Sarah Garton Stanley interviews Jillian Keiley, the director of Tartuffe, along with Rev. Trisha Elliot about the Newfoundland influence and religious thoughts behind Tartuffe. Tartuffe ran in the NAC Theatre October 15 – November 2.

In this Points of View Podcast Associate Artistic Director Sarah Garton Stanley interviews director David Ferry and Rosemary Thompson for Stuff Happens.

“Stuff happens… and it’s untidy, and freedom’s untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.” ~ U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on April 11, 2003, following the looting and pillaging of Baghdad

History in the making. Stuff Happens is dramatic dynamite, a provocative political drama starring a president, a prime minister, and a crowd of high-level decision-makers. Should the U.S. lead a war against Iraq? Are there indeed weapons of mass destruction or just words of mass distraction? A spellbinding blend of documented details, public-record information, and theatrical invention, Hare’s fusing of historical narrative with human drama exposes the relentless politicking behind the 2003 invasion.

Stuff Happens is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, INC.

Did you know?
Stuff Happens premiered at the National Theatre in London in 2004 and has subsequently been performed across the globe, including in Washington, DC.

Experience this English Theatre production through an encounter with Artistic Director Jillian Keiley as she interviews two special guests who offer unique perspectives on the piece: Annabel Soutar, Playwright, and Trish Jordan, Director of Industry and Public Affairs for Monsanto Canada.

In this Points of View, around the holiday presentation of the Segal Centre For Performing Arts from Montreal’s The Hockey Sweater: A Musical, NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley hosts a discussion with special guests, Author Roch Carrier on the history and creation of the story, leading to the musical, and a surprise visit from CSA Astronaut Robert Thirsk, who chats about reading the story in space. The Hockey Sweater: A Musical ran in the NAC Theatre December 5 - 23.

Incendiary Canadian playwright Brad Fraser (Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love) makes his long-awaited return to the NAC with Kill Me Now, a gritty black comedy leavened with profound humanity. Widower Jake Sturdy cares for his severely disabled teenage son Joey until unexpected news leads to an astonishing role reversal. Devastatingly funny and defiantly unsentimental, Kill Me Now finds hard truths and irreverent laughter in every limb, joint and thought in the hopelessly fragile human body.

“Funny and brutal and honest. But it is also moving, deeply emotional, and ultimately harrowing.”
STAGE REVIEW (LONDON, UK)

In this Points of View, NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley hosts a discussion with two special guests, Anne & Gilbert Co-Composer and Lyricist Nancy White and Campbell Webster, Original Producer of Anne & Gilbert, about the evolution of this Canadian musical and the enduring appeal of Anne Shirley of Avonlea.

A grown-up Anne of Green Gables is in love - and so are we. On idyllic Prince Edward Island, Anne Shirley is now an ambitious young woman about to begin her first teaching job. Romantic complications abound when childhood sweetheart Gilbert Blythe proposes marriage – but he's not her only suitor. Can Anne find true happiness? East Coast Music Award-winning songs and classic, well-loved characters make this sophisticated made-in-Canada musical perfect for our national stage this holiday season!

"Sure to become a classic."

-The Ottawa Citizen

"Delightful... utterly charming."

-Variety

Based on the novel by Ottawa’s beloved Brian Doyle, Up to Low is the magical and mystical tale of a young boy’s journey to manhood. Twelve-year-old Tommy is on the road with his father and volatile family friend Frank, heading back to the cabin they haven’t visited since Tommy’s mother died. But Tommy also remembers Bridget, whose eyes are the deep green of the Gatineau Hills. Filled with deserted farms, smoky taverns and midnight rows upriver, Up to Low captures 1950s Ottawa Valley in a way that is both familiar and brand new.

By
Brian Doyle

Adapted for the stage and directed by
Janet Irwin

In this edition of Salon Saturdays, Jillian Keiley speaks with ornithologist Michael Runtz and playwright Dionne Brand about the NAC English Theatre production of, "Thirsty".

Aboriginal. Actor. Addict. Residential School Survivor. Cat Burglar. Homosexual. Jack Charles is an Australian tribal Elder and a living legend. This highly entertaining and autobiographical presentation, which includes a three-piece band, runs the gamut of a life lived to its utmost, spanning Charles’ career as an actor/musician, a lifetime of political activism, and a terrifying descent into heroin addiction and petty crime. His experience as a stolen child echoes the plight of Canada’s own Indigenous people – and his heart-warming presence, generous spirit and unswerving optimism make his journey one of resilience and reconnection. Jack Charles is a theatrical marvel.

Jillian Keiley speaks with Dennis Garnhum, Artistic Director for Theatre Calgary and Director of Pride and Prejudice about the creation of the production. She also speaks with production Dramaturg Sherry Wattling, who leads the studio audience in a trivia game about Jane Austen.

This Southern Gothic chronicles a family's odyssey to bury their matriarch. The Bundrens must do battle with floods, fire and their private demons as calamity and chaos haunt their 40-mile funeral procession across Mississippi. Touching and darkly humorous, it's proof that the power of humanity to create good is undiminished. This vibrantly theatrical adaptation of one of the finest 20th century novels features multiple narrators on a bare stage, a supremely versatile cast, and powerful movement-based physical theatre devised by Canada’s masters of the genre, Theatre Smith-Gilmour.

In this exhilaratingly original, multimedia one-man show, actor / comedian / radio broadcaster Tetsuro Shigematsu tells the dynamic story of an emotionally distant father whose legacy is felt beyond his lifetime.

From the ashes of Hiroshima to swinging 1960s London, Akira’s incredible personal history continues to influence two generations. Separated by language, culture and history, what truly keeps father and son apart are their similarities. Empire of the Son is a funny, emotional and deeply thoughtful portrayal of parent/ child relationships.

Empire of the Son was recently nominated for five Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, including Outstanding Production, Actor and Direction.

“I couldn’t help but hear the incredible amount of talk this work generated after its sold out debut in Vancouver last year. West of the Rockies, it was on the top of the reviewers’ year-end lists and when you see it, you’ll know why. In Empire of the Son, the personal becomes magic.” – Jillian Keiley, Artistic director, NAC English Theatre

In this Points of View, guest host NAC English Theatre Artist in Residence Corey Payette chats with two special guests, Alice Through the Looking-Glass Assistant Director Christine Brubaker and Alice aficionado and collector Amanda Lewis, about the enduring fascination of Alice and the creation of this unique production. English Theatre’s production of Alice Through the Looking-Glass ran in the NAC Theatre December 9 – January 3.

Jillian Keiley chats with Kim’s Convenience Actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Korean Teacher Yunsook Lee about the creation of Kim’s Convenience and the experience of Korean immigrants in Canada.

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley invites English Theatre patrons to join her and Metamorphoses Set and Costume Designer Bretta Gerecke, as they discuss the creation of the play’s unusual set.

The ghosts of the Donnellys return to tell their side of things. A raucous, wall-of-sound rock opera, Vigilante tells the explosive true tale of a ruthless Irish immigrant family and an entire town bent on revenge. Based on the unsolved 1880 massacre of Ontario’s notorious Donnelly family, Vigilante is a stomping, swaggering and compulsively watchable story about frontier justice. This outlaw offspring of Sweeney Todd and The Threepenny Opera walks the razor’s edge – aggressively inventive, visually stunning and absolutely electrifying. Vigilante marks the return of Edmonton’s astonishing Catalyst Theatre (Nevermore), following major tours to London and New York.

“I saw this piece twice: once in Fort McMurray, and again in Edmonton after Catalyst had returned from the off-Broadway run of their original production Nevermore. I loved both iterations but the steampunk style and pulsing fury of the music was deep in my bones by the second viewing. Now to see it again will satisfy a craving that I’ve had ever since.” – Jillian Keiley, Artistic director, NAC English Theatre

“History — Canadian history! — doesn’t just rock, it comes at you with an aggressive and explosive energy in the thrilling new rock ‘musical’ from Catalyst Theatre.” - THE EDMONTON JOURNAL

In this Points of View, Assistant Director Brad Long hosts a discussion with two special guests, The December Man (L’homme de décembre) Director Sarah Garton Stanley and Paul Donison, Senior Priest, St. Peter and St. Paul’s Anglican Church and bereavement counsellor, about collective grieving for violence against women, and the creation of this production.

In the aftermath of the 1989 Montreal Massacre, Benoît and Kathleen try to help their beloved son Jean deal with the guilt of surviving what so many women did not. Seething with self-loathing, rage and powerlessness, Jean's life has come unglued. With humour, empathy and the routine of everyday life, the narrative moves backwards in time to the fateful day when Jean survived. With devastating honesty and scalpel-like precision, this searing drama explores the nature of courage and the private shadows cast by public violence.

“...no (one) should miss the chance to see this.”
- VANCOUVER SUN

The cynical, skeptical daughter of a theoretical physicist and a composer, Sarah Jean’s clinical approach to love meets with little success. In this absorbing drama infused with science and classical music, three exceptional minds collide like charged particles in an accelerator. Sarah Jean’s hugely talented yet severely dysfunctional family will learn that love and time itself are connected in unimaginable ways. Infinity is the highly-anticipated NAC debut of Ottawa-raised Hannah Moscovitch, one of Canada’s most exciting playwrights.

“Infinity is one of those wonderful plays that make you feel smarter. The writing is clever and the performances are profound. And, having a pre-schooler at the time I saw the show, Sarah Jean’s epic little girl tantrum made me cringe with delight!” – Jillian Keiley, Artistic director, NAC English Theatre

Mabel Hubbard Bell was a strong, self-assured woman – bright, passionate, and a complete original. Despite a near-fatal case of childhood scarlet fever that cost her the ability to hear, she learned to talk and lip-read in multiple languages. At 19, she married a young inventor named Alexander Graham Bell and became the most significant influence in his life.

Silence is Mabel’s story, offering the unique perspective of a woman whose remarkable life was overshadowed by her famous husband. Deftly directed by former NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton, Silence recounts how Mabel communicated with the man who invented the most powerful communication tool ever conceived.

Get back to your roots! “If you want to know a black woman, you touch her hair,” says Novelette of the clients in her Toronto hair salon. ‘da Kink is raw, energetic theatre, showcasing eight fascinating, multi-faceted women. With riffs on sexuality, families and inner lives, this theatrical kaleidoscope is accompanied by live rhythm-and-blues and gospel music.
A joyous and triumphant hit, this hugely popular work by writer/ performer Trey Anthony kicks off the English Theatre season with style.

“‘da Kink was a revolution when it sprang from the Toronto Fringe to land on the main stage of the Mirvish season in 2005. The script is so entertaining and so moving I jumped at the opportunity to work with Theatre Calgary to bring this beloved work back to Canadian audiences.”
– Jillian Keiley, Artistic director, NAC English Theatre

Centred around the cataclysmic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami Carried Away on the Crest of a Wave illustrates how world events link us all together. From two brothers in Malaysia trying to save their house from sinking, a Canadian radio-show host angered by disaster-relief efforts, a grieving Japanese father, to a lonely woman in Utah baking a pie, the play explores humanity in times of disaster.

Winner of the 2015 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama and directed by Siminovitch Prize laureate Kim Collier, carried away on the crest of a wave shows that despite our differences, we are all connected through serendipity, loss and love.

The stellar cast includes John Ng from CBC TV’s Kim’s Convenience, Zaib Shaikh, star of CBC TV’s Little Mosque on the Prairie, Adrienne Wong, a frequent director at the GCTC, Kayvon Khoshkam from NAC's productions of Twelfth Night and The December Man (L’homme de décembre) and Jenny Young from the NAC’s productions of Innocence Lost: A Play about Steven Truscott and The Penelopiad.

Coming out to yourself can be as hard as sharing it with others. Tawiah M’Carthy’s captivating hero is caught between worlds – gay and straight, black and white, African and North American. Through storytelling, dance, and live music, Obaaberima (“girlboy”) chronicles young Agyeman’s journey from confused childhood in Ghana to mature Canadian adulthood. M'Carthy explores sexuality and socialization in his uniquely layered world, morphing effortlessly into the many characters he encounters. Obaaberima is a fulfilling and well-rounded emotional experience – funny, serious, sad, and extremely moving.

In this Points of View episode, Special Guest Host, 2014-15 Ensemble member Amy Matysio chats with two guests – Do You Want What I Have Got? cast member Dmitry Chepovetsky and e-commerce guru Kiersten Hanly – about the vagaries and quirks of buying and selling in the online world and the production of Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata.

A sweeping drama of personal and political ambition follows soon-to-be Premier Joey Smallwood – the self-described “Last Father of Confederation” – as he propels the Dominion of Newfoundland into union with Canada in 1949. Both saint and sinner, the charismatic, controversial Smallwood is hounded every step of the way by witty, booze-soaked reporter Sheilagh Fielding – his intellectual equal and lifelong nemesis.

With a crackling narrative, sultry jazz score and a cast of forty characters, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is an epic and expansive retelling of a defining Canadian story.

“My collaborator Robert Chafe started working on Wayne Johnston’s epic in 2009. It was a nearly impossible task – a story spanning 25 years with the most unlikely hero and villain combined in one man as ever landed in our collective history. This production debuted in January 2015 and I’m really proud to bring it to our national stage.” – Jillian Keiley, Artistic director, NAC English Theatre

“Artistic Fraud is one of the most innovative and exciting theatre companies in Canada. The set design and staging were kinetic, memorable, elemental. Desks, chairs, walls, and actors slid and curved into place like perfectly thrown curling stones – like the stage floor was made of smooth ice. I found myself wishing that Colony of Unrequited Dreams could be made into a mini-series.” - NFLDTXT.COM

An Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland (St. John’s) production in collaboration with Canada’s National Arts Centre.

Something happened at the Concord Floral greenhouse. Nobody talks about it – until two girls uncover the horrifying secret. Now havoc has been unleashed, forcing ten teenagers to flee a mysterious plague they’ve brought upon themselves. Featuring ten young Ottawa actors, Concord Floral is a supernatural cellphone thriller with alternating kicks of conscience, cruelty, denial and morality. One of Canada’s fastest-rising artists, Governor General’s Award-winning playwright Jordan Tannahill takes us to a surreal and gothic suburbia. This new work is a highly entertaining Canadian tale.

Learn More!

“…masterfully blends naturalistic dialogue, poetic lyricism and magic realism. Concord Floral is an ensemble choral piece that packs a theatrical and emotional punch.”
NOW TORONTO

Concord Floral - March 29 - April 9, 2016 - NAC STUDIO

In this Salon Saturday podcast, NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley speaks with Big Mama! The Willie Mae Thornton Story Director John Cooper about the creation of the play and working with star Jackie Richardson, and CKCU Radio host John Tackaberry, about the history of the blues and influence of Willie Mae Thornton. Big Mama! The Willie Mae Thornton Story ran in the NAC Theatre April 24 – May 11.

An anxious government clerk meets a strange lookalike who is daring, romantic, and brash – a success at everything the clerk fumbles. Is it really his double, or could he just be paranoid? An ingenious Molotov cocktail comedy filled with laughter, obsession, and original live music, this Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning dark satire features the dazzling prose of Dostoëvsky, over-the-top physical comedy, and outrageously entertaining performances by a brilliant cast of three.

An outlandish riff on the eternal search for personal identity and social status, The Double will make you cringe with compassion…as you double over with laughter.

It’s mid-rehearsal, and two actors playing Lauren and Larry deliver their lines. All is well until the real Larry wanders onstage. When the real Lauren – who, it seems, is also the playwright – leaps up from the audience, chaos ensues. Throw in some rogue spectators, a corrupt senator, lion dancers, ghostly ancestors, and a few firecrackers, and you have King of the Yees, an unapologetic and hilarious take on Chinese culture and tradition in North America. From stage to backstage to audience and back on stage again, this play within a play bulldozes the fourth wall in an epic joyride through Chinatown.

A Gateway Theatre (Richmond, BC) production

In this final Points of View of the 2015/16 season, Artistic Director Jillian Keiley hosts a discussion with two special guests, Belles Soeurs Producer Allan Sandler and Joël Beddows, Outgoing Director, Department of Theatre, University of Ottawa / Incoming Artistic Director, Théâtre français de Toronto, about the impact of Michel Tremblay’s Les Belles-Soeurs on the development of Quebec theatre, and the creation of this English-language musical production.

Belles Soeurs: The Musical is now clearly a musical in the Broadway sense. The jokes remain hilarious. The result is a highly entertaining show. No musical lover should miss this historic production.”– Montreal Gazette

Experience this English Theatre production through an encounter with Associate Artistic Director Sarah Garton Stanley as she interviews two special guests who offer unique perspectives on the piece: Robert Chafe, Playwright, Oil and Water and Laurell Brault, Captain, United States Navy, Retired.

In this Points of View, Jillian Keiley chats with Brenda Lawrence of Lawrence and Associates, Offline Executive Introductions, and 2014-15 Ensemble member David Warburton, offering unique perspectives on Oscar Wilde’s classic tale The Importance of Being Earnest. English Theatre’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest ran in the NAC Theatre October 21 – November 8, 2014.

BOOM chronologically documents a historical period stretching from that first ‘boom’ of the Atomic Bomb in 1945 all the way to the Apollo 11 landing the first human beings on the Moon in 1969. These two iconic moments span 25 of the most tumultuous years in modern history, fuelled by a generation of children with incredible influence due to their numbers, and to the advances of technology and communication.

Award-winning writer, director and legendary solo-performer Rick Miller brings to life dozens of politicians, writers, activists and entertainers, effortlessly recreating each one.

"Technology and the way we used it was key not only to the execution of it but also the themes" explains Miller. BOOM allows the audience to experience the global events as they unfold – the Cold War, McCarthyism, Beatlemania, Trudeaumania, JFK, MLK, Mao, Vietnam and several others. The various stories spiral into the “The Summer of Love”, and BOOM ends as it began – with a new generation born into a new world order.

In this Salon Saturday podcast, Artistic Director Jillian Keiley speaks with playwright Beverley Cooper, about the creation of her play, Innocence Lost: A Play About Steven Truscott and Superior Court Justice Colin McKinnon, about the miscarriage of justice surrounding the Steven Truscott case.

In this Points of View Podcast, NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley chats with The Sound of Music Choreographer Dayna Tekatch and Ottawa Musical Artist Nicole Milne about the production and the magic of musicals.

In this Points of View podcast, Associate Artistic Director Sarah Garton Stanley speaks with Elizabeth Kantor, Designer and Producer of Huff, and Rob Chief, Aboriginal Youth Worker.

Evgeni Onegin is a charismatic and bored bad boy who makes ruinous choices at every turn, leaving devastation in his wake. Based on Alexander Pushkin’s serial poem about unrequited love in 19th century Russia, this sweeping and romantic story for the ages gets a hip and acclaimed new theatrical treatment. With inventive choreography and a sharp, 21st century sensibility, Onegin is as fresh today as it was nearly two centuries ago. From the creators of Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata, including a raucous and uplifting score by creators Veda Hille and Amiel Gladstone, this is the very definition of passion. Lubov!

Produced by The Musical Stage Company (Toronto, ON) in collaboration with NAC English Theatre.

Celebrated theatre-maker Robert Lepage returns to the NAC with an autobiographical journey through his childhood in a Quebec just beginning to awaken to its own promise. Unable to memorize a poem he must recite, Lepage uses the “memory palace” technique, assigning stanzas to the familiar rooms of his childhood home. But re-opening the doors to each room reveals more inside than just the poem he put there. With stagecraft that will take your breath away, 887 recreates the world of a young boy growing up in 1960s Quebec.

In Victorian London, bitter, selfish Ebenezer Scrooge spends Christmas Eve counting his money. But unexpected visits by the ghost of his former partner Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come change his life forever. This heart-warming classic tale of redemption and the true meaning of the season is a unique, stylish new production designed by the acclaimed Bretta Gerecke and showcasing dazzling guest artists from the NAC’s worlds of theatre, music and dance. Join the Cratchit family in a perfect holiday treat for the entire family!

“I’m always looking for a Canadian angle to things, even when they're written by the most iconic of Brits. This Christmas Carol is built around the stars featured in NAC seasons across the disciplines. It’s a perfect opportunity to see the wonderful array of Canada’s best, in one of the world’s best holiday stories.” – Jillian Keiley, Artistic director, NAC English Theatre

In this Points of View episode, Artistic Director Jillian Keiley chats with HAMLET (solo) Director Robert Ross Parker, along with his and HAMLET (solo) star Raoul Bhaneja’s mothers, Marie Bhaneja, and Elizabeth Parker, about the production and its journey to the NAC. HAMLET (solo) ran in the NAC Studio November 12 – 23, 2013.

In Negro Creek, Ontario, Rainey Johnson is a powerful figure. Grieving for her daughter, she survives with cynical wit, superior intellect and superhuman strength. She wants answers, true meaning, purpose and maybe even spiritual salvation. Created by Governor General's Literary Award-winning playwright Djanet Sears, Adventures is a potent and profoundly emotional story of living, dying and the power of forgiveness. Dynamic movement and music and a superb cast of 22 bring this extraordinary world to vibrant life onstage.