Masquerade by Pirandello, adapted by Douglas Beattie, Touchmark Theatre readings in Kitchener, Guelph and London.
Since Theatre & Company and Waterloo Theatre closed, there is
really no professional repertory theatre in K-W area. What a
pity, what a shame.
There is plenty of music, symphony concerts, chamber music at
Wilfrid Laurier’s Maureen Forester Hall, at the United Church
and always at Chamber Music Society. For theatre, it is either
driving to Toronto or waiting for Spring to go to Stratford or
Niagara-on-the-Lake.
So it was quite a treat to attend readings of two one-act plays
adapted by Douglas Beattie, founder and director of Touchmark
Theatre. Touchmark Theatre came into existence in 1999 as once a
year fully staged productions presented in River Run Centre in
Guelph. Since the early 90’s I have seen and reviewed about 5 of
Touchmark productions,- all of them professional, well put
together considering the restrains, superbly acted, and offering
much welcomed winter-time enjoyment.
This January Douglas presented 2 one-act plays originally
written about 100 years ago by Luigi Pirandello, adapting both
to a modern era, including such elements as cell-phone, euros
and business mergers and acquisitions. The first was a drama,
the second a comedy read by Wayne Best, Melissa Good and Geordie
Johnson. The actors were seasoned professionals who, after
approximately 3 days of rehearsals, were able to offer a great
theatrical experience so much appreciated by the audience. It
was a reading: this meant no costumes, no stage décor, just
actors reading their parts and it was fabulous!
The story lines meandered and the endings were a surprise. Feedback in the form of talk-back with the audience after
the presentation (no one left early) showed that the plays were
involving, meaningful to current day audiences and that the
difference between what is right and what is wrong is very much
debatable. In the first play it was the husband who was cheated
on and decided to divorce his unfaithful wife who was called
“the bad guy”, in the second a light-hearted chap who wanted to
impress his friends by showing off with a prominent call-girl
turned out to be a cheat and a crook. It was much more than the
reading; it was a great theatre in itself!
Douglas Beattie has plans for future productions. Touchmark
Theatre will continue and will expand to stagings in Guelph,
Kitchener and London. Hopefully before long we will hear again
from Touchmark and its Director, Douglas Beattie. All the best!
K-W Chamber Music Society
The Waterloo Region is a well-known centre for its music
aficionados consistently supporting and attending concerts, be
it symphony orchestra or smaller chamber music groups. One of the music centres is Kitchener Waterloo Chamber
Music Society (KWCMS) which exists by grace of Jan Narveson, a
retired University of Waterloo professor. Jan and Jean Narvesons provide a stable base in the form
of The Music Room in their home where the concerts take place.
They established KWCMS approximately 28 years ago and for the
year 2010-11 are planning to offer about 68 concerts. KWCMS has
been attracting musicians like Till Felner and Janina
Fialkowska, and many other international talents, artists who
otherwise would not even consider stopping by 90 km west of
Toronto in Waterloo.
This coming February there are 8 concerts scheduled, in March
another 8, and 7 in April. It is almost 2 per week. Some
concerts are solo pianists as noted above, most are groups of
trios or quartets. Some are local, like Penderecki Quartet, some
come from United States, Europe, South America or even New
Zealand. What is common for all of them is their professional
quality and mature knowledge of music, composers and the periods
they represent. Some composers are very well known like Haydn,
Bach, Mozart or Brahms, another interpretation offered will be
closely scrutinized by the devoted audience and much discussed.
Some are little known, played rarely or played for the first
time. Some concerts are classics, baroque, some are modern, even
jazz or folk music. If you have not attended their concerts, you
don’t know what you are missing! The Music Room is located in
the heart of Waterloo, a walking distance from Waterloo Square.
As well as discs of classical music, recordings of past concerts
are available (each one is recorded life as played in the Music
Room). Their web-site is
www.k-wcms.com. The e-mail is
kwcms@yahoo.ca.
Irena Syrokomla reviews arts, entertainment, the
performing arts such as theatre, musicals, stage performances.
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