Wellington Oracle

For up-to-date reviews of every show at this year’s Ottawa Fringe Festival check our coverage at FullyFringed.ca – a co-production of the Wellington Oracle and Apartment613.

We’re really proud of the site; it’s the first time such ambitious coverage of Ottawa’s premier theatre festival has been attempted by anyone, and we’re thrilled to be the first media outlet giving full coverage to what we believe is the most creative annual event in the nation’s capital.

Theatre review by Jared Davidson

A suicide of a friend, rampant paranoia and loneliness punctuated by naughty comments from dirty old men – make no mistake, Heroes is a comedy. But there is more than a quick laugh to be had at Lise Ann Johnson’s production of this translated French play. At its core, the play contemplates suffering, life and death. It follows three old men as they attempt to escape their veteran’s group home while dealing with the consequences of the first world war and their growing disconnection from the world.

At the same time, it delivers some of the best laughs available anywhere. Truly, the effective delivery of such a funny script is an achievement in itself, but Peter Froehlich, John Koensgen and Paul Rainville go above and beyond in their interpretation of the characters. Each of them wonderfully portrays a different portion of the spectrum of aging. They never resort to stereotypes; their characters are well-rounded, realistic old men. It is their performances that make the play as engaging and hilarious as it is. Their control of the audience is remarkable; they skilfully guide the audience through the quick turns in the emotion of the play so that the play moves fluidly from laughter to sorrow and back again, which would be jarring were it not done so well. (more…)

According to Judi Varga-Toth, her Credible Edibles café just may offer the “greenest lunch” in Ottawa. Already known for its use of locally-sourced organic ingredients, the café has recently teamed up with Gary Watson Cycling Courier to deliver school lunches to Turnbull School on Fisher Avenue.

Though her café just passed its first anniversary, it’s not the first green partnership for Varga-Toth’s young business. Since last summer, Credible has been a leader in the Green Buildings and Workplaces Challenge, a program run by local non-profit group Ecology Ottawa. The café has a reputation for putting the environment front and centre in its business practices, so much so that Jess Wells of Ecology Ottawa calls it a “shining example of a workplace committed to minimizing its ecological footprint however possible.”

Bike courier Gary Watson is a long-time courier who has been using pedal power to make deliveries since the 1980s, and recently added a cargo bike (shown above making a delivery on Wellington Street) to his fleet, enabling the kind bulk of delivery service needed by food service clients.

Business owners along the Wellington strip may be able to take advantage of Watson’s routing now that he has customers in the area. Delivery runs coming from Centretown to outlets like Herb and Spice currently see him returning empty to his Bank Street base “but we’d love to offer our east-bound capacity to Hintonburg and West Wellington businesses with customers downtown”, Watson says.

Close-up views of the cargo bike’s features can be seen here.

By Heather Marie Scheerschmidt

For most of us, the subject of airport security is all too familiar: the little plastic bags for liquids and gels, the ever-changing rules about carry-on luggage, lining up to go through metal detectors, being questioned by stern looking security officers, having bags opened and inspected, and these days, even full body scans. Hardly a week goes by without an airport security issue in the news. And the fear those stories produce means we put up with delays and inconveniences because we understand the system is in place to protect us.

But are we actually any safer?

That is the question raised in “Airport Security”, a new play from indie theatre company Gruppo Rubato.

Hot on the heels of his RBC Emerging Artist of the Year Award, Patrick Gauthier wears the playwright, producer, and director hats on this project. The last show he directed, “Countries Shaped Like Stars” for Mi Casa Theatre, recently took home “Outstanding Fringe Production” and “Outstanding New Creation” at the third annual Les Prix Rideau Awards. “What’s beautiful about using the topic of airports and airport security” Patrick tells me, “is that everybody has a story connected to it…so you can draw on that energy in the rehearsal hall but you can also then draw on that energy from the audience. Everyone has a story, and everyone’s interested in it.”

Gruppo Rubato is a company Patrick founded with Tania Levy and Gavriella Silverstone in 2002. Local actor Kris Joseph joined the company in 2004, and to date they have produced seven original shows – including 2007’s Fringe Festival hit, “Churchill Protocol” which won the Rideau Award that year for “Best New Creation”. The idea for “Airport Security” came during that tour, when they were spending a lot of time in airports, dealing with all of the inconveniences of air travel and watching the experiences of travellers around them. “Airport security is designed to do two things,” Patrick states, “it’s designed to actually make us safer, but I think it’s primary design is to make us feel safer; which I call the pageantry of security.” (more…)

photo: (L-R) John Koensgen, Kris Joseph and Sam Kalilieh star in "Facts" by Arthur Milner; directed by Patrick MacDonald. Costumes designed by Sarah Waghorn. Set and lighting design by Martin Conboy; with associate set designer, Yvan Cazabon. Photo by Steve Boyton of Paul Toogood Photography.

Theatre Review by Sterling Lynch

Arthur Milner’s latest play, Facts, begins as an engaging, intelligent, and character-driven murder mystery. Then, it jumps its narrative rails and careens into a sudden and unresolved ending. Watching this Great Canadian Theatre Company / New Theatre of Ottawa co-production is seventy minutes well-spent but the script probably needs seventy more minutes to finish the engaging journey Milner starts but does not finish.

In the early-going, Facts isn’t a play about the West Bank, even if it happens to be set in the West Bank. Instead, Milner expertly reveals to us what West Bank life is like, by letting us watch an Israeli detective and a Palestinian inspector discuss the unsolved murder of an American archaeologist. (more…)

d'bi.young anitafrika, playwright & performer of "blood.claat: one oomaan story - photo by Steve Boyton

Feature story by Heather Marie Scheerschmidt

d’bi young is a modern day storyteller. Weaving together pieces of her own life with the history and mythology of her Jamaican heritage, she uses the ritual power of storytelling to convey a message of possibility and social transformation. Her Toronto-based company, anitAFRIKA! Dub Theatre is dedicated to using the power of language as an agent for social change. A captivating performer, in her Dora award-winning one woman show “blood.claat”, d’bi young plays several characters. Through each of them, she explores the theme of blood; how it connects and how it destroys.

As the story begins, we see young Mudgu, who, at fifteen years old, is still adjusting to the responsibilities of womanhood that are represented by menstruation. At once empowering and oppressive, depending on your point of view, Mudgu’s monthly cycle is the microcosm that draws our awareness to the larger cycles at play here: cycles of violence, repression and poverty. Mudgu’s individual struggle to navigate her way from girl to womanhood, with the polarizing influences of such figures as her Granny, the authority figure, and Johnny, the bad boy boyfriend, slowly becomes a metaphor for women’s struggle to escape the cycles of discrimination, exploitation and sexual violence.

What makes this story all the more poignant for Ottawa audiences who are seeing “blood.claat” for the first time, is to view it in the context of International Women’s Day. March 8th is a day set aside to remember the kind of revolutions and social change that d’bi young’s work is all about. Gender discrimination continues to be a problem the world over, and women still represent the majority of the world’s poor. In Jamaica, where “blood.claat” is set, this year’s Women’s Day celebration is under the theme ‘Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All’ and it is a call to action for the empowerment and advancement of women everywhere. The purpose: to ensure the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls in order that they may reach their full potential in society and shape their lives in accordance with their own aspirations.

What is explored in “blood.claat” is how one’s history informs their ability to fulfill those aspirations. As a young Jamaican woman, Mudgu’s ability to choose is complicated by her gender and her family history. In one sense she is doomed to repeat the cycle of poverty and abuse that her mother, and her mother before her have endured. However, we are not made to feel sorry for this character because we can see her strength as well as her challenges. We watch her discover her connections to the world through blood. There is her own blood, which represents her transition to womanhood, her connection to the women who have come before her, and eventually to the daughter to whom she will give birth. There is also the blood she witnesses; during a violent episode on a bus, and the brutal murder of her boyfriend Johnny. Blood comes to represent transformation, both physical and social. It also represents connection; the connection of family through blood, the connection of women through menstruation, and the connection of human beings. Blood represents our vulnerability but it also evokes our compassion. Through the values of compassion, integrity, and forgiveness, transformation is possible.

As part of the observance of International Women’s Day, the UN is hosting their 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Among the Commission’s recommendations for achieving prosperity is to adopt a social, rather than economic, model of growth. Decent work with gender equality at the heart of it can only happen through a process of transformative change. Women must be active agents in this process of change, taking their places in leadership and decision-making roles.

d’bi young demonstrates an understanding that her role as storyteller is that of a community leader. As she explained to the audience on opening night at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre, to occupy the position of storyteller in your community you must not only share, you have to also listen. At each performance of “blood.claat”, the audience forms a kind of community with d’bi and she engages each of her listeners, first with her story and then with a discussion afterwards. As she told her audience at the talk back, theatre is a two way street. The storyteller must reflect her community, and she is made aware of herself through the audience reactions. We act as mirrors for each other. And the story evolves, she explained, during each re-telling. Some of this is due to the language: “blood.claat” is written in Jamaican patois, and during each performance young must balance the integrity of her writing with the audience’s ability to understand the words. It is equally important to honour the language of the work, which locates it in a particular time and place, and to make a meaningful connection with the audience, which is the here and now. By gauging the vibe of her audience, d’bi young changes the words she uses to suit the moment. She holds a talk back after each performance, because she believes communication with her audience is a key part of the creative process.

The sense of responsibility she feels towards her role of storyteller informs young’s choice of narratives. A semi-autobiographical work, “blood.claat” puts it all out there. Biomyth monodrama is how young describes her style. Beginning from a place of personal truth she expands the narrative to create a compelling story. Deep-seeded social issues in Jamaica are brought to light in this work. Blood claat used to mean a cloth Jamaican women used during menstruation, but it has become a Jamaican swear word. It is used colloquially as an adjective, similar to the way a lot of Canadians would use the word ‘fucking’. By reclaiming the term blood claat and exploring its dual meaning in Jamaican culture, young is pointing to the transformation that is possible through language. As meaning shifts, so does perception; and a change in consciousness comes before a change in society.

As explained on her website, part of d’bi young’s “wombandate” is to use theatre to explore and expand the relationship between the storyteller, their village(s), and transformation. There are universal truths in “blood.claat”, including the idea that each one of us has a personal mythology. It is about the choices we make in our lives, and how they are influenced by where we come from. d’bi young is a woman telling a woman’s story. But more than that, she is a storyteller who understands the power and the ritual of story and its effect on a culture and its people. She reminds us that words matter, that sharing matters, that connections matter. That women matter. d’bi young reminds us of the power that comes with telling our stories.

blood.claat is written and performed by d’bi young and directed by Weyni Mengesha. Presented by the Great Canadian Theatre Company, the show runs now until March 21 at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre. For more details, please visit gctc.ca

The Oracle recently joined planner Michel Frojmovic in a walking tour of Hintonburg and one of the chief attractions was this latest addition to the Armstrong Street skyline. Phil Castro’s house on a 12 foot lot has attracted attention from such commentators as Maria Cook and Vicky Smallman.

We love the look of the building, especially the way it is bookended perfectly by the matching wood-frame houses on either side.

Frojmovic pointed out that Hintonburg is the only neighbourhood within the greenbelt where such eclecticism in architectural styles would be allowed, much less embraced.

We think he’s right, and we’re sure we are not the only ones eagerly looking forward to the next Hintonburg building that breaks with convention.

Lights out for the number 18?

This just in from Champlain Park resident Marc Chenier:

Last September, as part of TransPLAN 2009, OC Transpo cancelled route 18 west of Lebreton. This has meant that for many west end neighbourhoods, there is no longer a direct transit link to downtown. Further, for many people, the connection between many east and west end neighbourhoods that used to be available through route 18 is no longer possible.

This has had a disproportionate effect on seniors, many of whom are not in a position to undertake the 20 minute walk to a Transitway Station. As a result, many of them are unable to go out in the community and participate in activities at local seniors’ recreation centres, do their shopping, or attend other social events. (more…)

Editor’s note: this article by West Wellington resident Allegra Newman first appeared in Spacing Ottawa.

As condo after condo is planned in the Wellington West neighbourhood, intensification is seen as an inevitable by many local citizens. City of Ottawa planners and councilors promote intensification all the while musing on the increased tax base a new seven storey condo will provide.  Citizens begrudgingly accept that the new condo development, whether in their backyard, on their street, or in their neighbourhood  will increase traffic but they also hope that the new developments may encourage new businesses and increase public transit and community services.  But what really is driving this move to intensify our cities?

The promotion of urban intensification, or densification or infill as it is otherwise known, can be attributed in part to the popularization of the urban planning theory of Smart Growth.  Smart Growth theory promotes the construction and reconstruction of compact communities in the center of the city, as a more sustainable approach than continuing urban sprawl.   Smart growth communities are transit oriented, bicycle and pedestrian friendly and promote local jobs and services.<!–more–>

Smart growth policies and practices, struggle with how to densify an urban neighbourhood and still make room for diversity and equity.  Although equity is part of Smart Growth in theory, it is often a challenge in many communities in practice.  In thinking about the multitude of new construction taking place on Wellington and Richmond roads there is an absence of even a glimmer of affordable housing and instead the heightened popularity of the area is increasing the costs of housing and rental units and pricing many long time residents right out of the market and the area.

One land use planning tool prescribed by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to compensate a community for allowing increased height and density in their neighbourhood is Height and Density Bonusing.  In exchange for increased height that surpasses the zoning by-law, developers are required to provide a service or benefit to the community as negotiated by the municipality.  For example, an additional two storeys would require the developer to set aside a space inside the building for affordable housing, daycare facility or restore a local park.  Some European countries have incentives to trade density for green roofs and other environmental services.  Toronto and Vancouver have long established histories of using density bonusing to encourage the developer to give back to the community.  The City of Ottawa does not yet.  Density bonusing policies must be written into a municipality’s Official Plan in order for it to be used as a development tool.

Since the early 1990’s the City of Ottawa has made intensification part of its planning strategy.  In the proposed Official Plan, the City has established density targets that it hopes to reach through intensification.  In the Wellington West neighbourhood, intensification is hurling along but there seems to be an absence of other aspects of Smart Growth.  Where is the increased access to transit, bike lanes and affordable housing?  How is the intensification of our neigbourhood actually limiting sprawl into the greenbelt and beyond? Why are City staff not encouraging the use of tools like density bonusing to give back to the community?

On February the 4th the Oracle took camera in hand to explore the many art galleries of Hintonburg and West Wellington. As an ongoing program of the West Wellington Businesss Improvement Area, the galleries all arrange to be open until 9.00 PM on the first Thursday of every month.

Starting at the John Patrick Mills gallery on Hinchey, we worked our way west ending up at the new Cube at 1285 Wellington, seeing a total of six galleries on the way. The galleries were beautifully lit for the evening, the art on display was stunning, and the hospitality warm and genuine. At the end of the night we realized we there was still another gallery to see, but our time had run out. So we’ll save Gallery CA at 1112 Wellington West for next month.