Arts

Capital Music Hall exploded with light and sound for two hours Oct. 15 for 600 hardcore fans, courtesy of idiosyncratic indie band OK Go.

The rhythmic words of Canada’s finest slam poets sent laughter and chills through the two-storey Dominon-Chalmers United Church Oct. 16.

But it was the last poem of the night, Carleton University student Chris Tse’s “I’m Sorry I’m a Christian,” that had the crowd leaping up from their pews to give the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word one final standing ovation.

Tse’s Ottawa-based team Capital Slam emerged as national champions after the five-day event.  

For Alexandra Ordolis, Jackie Rowland, Brett Donahue and Hugh Portman, Romeo and Juliet is more than just a play.

It’s an opportunity to prove themselves, to show everyone who they are, and a chance to work with some very experienced actors on stage at the National Arts Centre (NAC) in downtown Ottawa.

To kick off the 2010–11 season, the NAC English Theatre Company’s first performance, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, will incorporate the National Theatre School of Canada’s (NTS) graduating class.

Splice
Directed by Vincenzo Natali
Dark Castle Entertainment

Once in a while, a movie comes along that comes agonizingly close to being something amazing, only to be ruined by absurdity.

Such is the case with Splice, a Canadian-French production that starts out strong, but loses steam due to a fumbling story and some truly disturbing moments that have no right being in a movie.

As the lights dimmed, a hush fell over the audience. A lone, black, fold-up chair sat on the empty stage, illuminated by a single overhead light.

It would have been an unremarkable chair were it not for the picture that rested upon it, that of a young man: Hossein Derakshan, an Iranian blogger sentenced to 19 years in prison for attempting to express his ideas.

This night was about him and what he represents, and for other writers who have been imprisoned, exiled or killed by governments in an attempt to silence their words.