Odyssey Theatre - Theatre In The Park

"Odyssey is...not afraid of taking risks, and has over the years produced some of this city's most invigorating, expansive theatre pieces." Tom McSorley, CBC Radio 1

NEWS AND EVENTS | MEDIA SECTION | CONTACT US | SITE MAP

ABOUT ODYSSEY

LAURIE STEVEN,
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

MANDATE

EXPLORATION AND
DEVELOPMENT

PAST WORK

HOME

Close this browser window to return to list of past performances

Harpagon is the embodied archetype of GREED: the grasping, suspicious, resentful greed of the haves in society as they pit themselves against the have nots - a greed as rampant today as in Molière's time.

Laurie Steven and Lib Spry created a radically modernized, original adaptation of Molière's comic classic, The Miser. Odyssey's version of Molière's scathing social satire sets the archetypal skinflint Harpagon in the mythic now - a contemporary world where we peel the skin off our own society to give a visceral sensation of the greed that lies beneath.

The image for the production is that of a contemporary, decaying, urban circus with actors drawing props and set pieces from the junk heap of modern civilization and wearing masks inspired by circus clowns and costumes woven together from images of Commedia, clown and punk. The actors worked with Steven and movement coach Valeri Dean from Le Cirque du Soleil, to create an acrobatic language to express their character's desires and emotions. Scenes were conceived as a miniature circus act with leaping, flying and tumbling accompanied by a live percussion score.

ODYSSEY - MISER

THE MISER by Molière

Translation and adaptation by Laurie Steven and Lib Spry

Directed by Laurie Steven

Set, Costumes and Props: Art Penson
Mask Design and Construction: Karen Rodd
Movement Coach and Choreography: Valerie Dean
Musical Direction and Composition: Paul Vaillancourt
Lighting Designer: Ron Ward

Cast: Robert Ross Parker, Tanya Popert, Mark Whitbread, Stephen Guy-McGrath, Jeffrey Aarles, Paulette Sinclair, Paul Griffin, Andrew Morphew, Susan Bonham

Musician and Musical Collaborator: Dan Sauvé
Stage Manager: Erin Oke
Assistant Stage Manager: Rachel Bélanger
Assistant to the Director: Val Smith

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Reviews:

"...a 20th century, post-modern, Commedia dell'Arte, punk rap performance, with an added bit of Brechtian political theatre... a madcap orchestration of rhythmic movements, leaps, hand gestures, facial manipulations, comic effects, set of by banging, snapping of percussions and multiple electronic sounds... this is the world of the body gone wild, of raw, vulgar humour and they do it well." Alvina Ruprecht, CBC Radio

Photos: (top) Paulette Sinclair, Stephen Guy-McGrath;
(bottom) Stephen Guy-McGrath, Jeffrey Aarles.

"...a highly entertaining broad comedy... a life-sized Punch and Judy show -- as this stylized, precisely timed, physical comedy bubbles into life... a show rich in visual and aural appeal. Each exaggerated gesture and facial expression, every flick of a cloak or removal of a piece of furniture is part of a harmonious whole... "
Iris Winston, The Ottawa Citizen