The Fools have been invited to develop a new piece at the GCTC’s  undercurrents Festival.

Following the astounding success of the  inaugural festival in January 2011, GCTC’s Studio will once again host  an exciting mix of ground-breaking local plays and the hottest  independent shows from across the country. While amazing new theatre  is happening in the Studio, the Fools will be in the lobby picking  your brain about how to develop our next piece!

Sweets and Sonnets Delivery
Valentine’s Day,  Feb. 14, All Across Ottawa
Send a loved one a  Shakespeare sonnet as a special treat!

An actor in faux Elizabethan garb will, on bended knee,  read the Shakespeare  sonnet of your choice to your intended and  then, leave behind a little bag of sweets.
We deliver anywhere in the Greater Ottawa area including to restaurants, workplaces and offices, on Valentine’s Day between 9am and 7 pm.

If your sweetheart is far away do not despair!
We also whisper sweet poetry over the telephone to anywhere in North America for those parted from their Love  on this special day.

A Sweets and Sonnet delivery is $79.99 Sweet Words $59.99
Book early  because there are only so many Fools to go around!

Choose your sonnet here!

Then  email  info@fools.ca

The Ottawa Theatre Challenge
Tuesday March 27, 2012
National Arts Centre’s Fourth Stage

In celebration of World Theatre Day, theatre companies from across the  region compete in a Contest of Creation. Each theatre company has 48  hours to write, rehearse and produce a brand new piece of theatre.  Who  will win the coveted Rubber Chicken Award?

Shakespeare’s Dead
April  30-May 12
Venues across the City

A misfit band of actors is suddenly jolted into a creative frenzy when  the spirit of William Shakespeare descends upon one of the players.  Rap, improvisation, slapstick, and all the shenanigans you know and  love from the Fools in a 60 minute exploration of some of  Shakespeare’s greatest deaths.
Now for the twist…
With our summer  show, we travel from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, passing the hat  to pay the bills. We thought we’d give the same thing a try, only with  an indoor show!   Afternoons we perform in schools across the city, and  evenings we perform in different venues, such as the Glebe Community  Centre, MacKay United Church’s Memorial Hall, and the Old School House  in MacDonald’s Corner. We’re still devising the full schedule – check  for it online in the spring!

Torchlight Shakespeare: Henry the Fifth
July 2 – August 18  2012 in Parks all across Ottawa!
War is Heck!
Henry the Fifth is a Boy meets Girl story with a slight  twist. Part ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and part ‘Before Sunrise’ this tale  of patriotism and romance finds the boy, struggling under the heavy  mantle of recent ascension to the throne.  Excited to try his  leadership skills he sets out to invade the girl’s country,  based on a  dubious claim to the throne.  He lays siege to a key logistical port,  marches inland and against the odds manages to defeat a much larger  force by deploying new military strategies and then he meets girl.

Presented by the graduating class of the Wm. Golding Academy  Shakespeare’s King Henry the Fifth a reflection on what it means to be  a monarch. This is an overreaching and  unflinching production  that  tackles all the tough questions: Why do we fight wars?
What qualities  make a good leader?
Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France?
And what are we going to do with all of these tennis balls?

A MIDWINTER’S DREAM TALE ( Nov.29- Dec18,2011)
Written by A Company of Fools and Bill Shakespeare
Directed by AL Connors
Produced by the GCTC

What do you get when you cross two theatre classics with two irreverent clowns? A mischievous mid-winter treat,just in time for the holiday season! The worlds of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Winter’s Tale collide when Pomme and ‘Restes embark on a frosty adventure of Shakespearean proportions. Join in the fun as they get lost in the Land of the Fairies,battle the Abominable Snowman,save the Queen’s baby,and search for ice cream. This entertaining holiday romp is packed with humour,spectacle,music and maybe… just maybe… a little frozen dessert.

Phone: (613) 236-5196
Email: info@gctc.ca
Fax: (613) 232-2075
Box Office: Located at 1233 Wellington St. W. (at Holland)
Ottawa,ON K1Y 0G7

-something a little different for your Sweetie!
February 14th,  2012 from  9:00am – 7:00 pm
at homes, workplaces and restaurants across the city
info@fools.ca

Surprise your Sweet One and show your love on Valentine’s Day by sending a personalized Shakespearean sonnet. Sonnets are delivered on bended knee, by a costumed actor from Ottawa’s renowned a Company of Fools. We’ll leave behind a parchment scroll  and a small bag of sweets to mark the occasion. It’s the perfect blend of romance and foolishness to win a special heart!

If your Sweetie’s not here in Ottawa, we’ll call and deliver the sonnet over the phone anywhere in North America!
Please don’t delay; time and Fools are limited!

A Sweets and Sonnet delivery is $79.99 Sweet Words $59.99

Find your sonnet here!

There is an easy, direct way to help a Company of Fools – by choosing the Fools as a recipient of your United Way donation. A Company of Fools Theatre Inc. is a registered charity, and your donation through the United Way/Centraide Ottawa Workplace Campaign assists us to provide the quality programming for which we are known. Support the Fools through United Way – all you need to donate to us is A Company of Fools charity registration number # 87973 8623 RR0001.

For more information on donating securely through United Way/Centraide Ottawa, visit

http://www.unitedwayottawa.ca/english/how_you_can_help.html.

Hey Ice Cream Lovin’ Fools! Don’t miss this fabulous fundraiser!

Sunday, September 25th, 2011 from 1-4pm
Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre (GCTC)

$20 per person suggested donation
$15 per person for families of 3+

A Company of Fools hosts this celebration of all things frosty and sweet to raise money to build a new set for the award winning play A Midwinter’s Dream Tale playing this November as a part of the GCTC’s 2011/2012 Season! The Fools hope to raise $1000 with this event and hope to see many smiling faces fighting off brain freeze on Sunday September 25th!

The Fools are also looking for a donor or two to help us cover the hard costs of this event ($300 for ice cream, bowls, toppings, advertizing) so that 100% of all ice cream sales can go towards our beautiful new set, designed by multi-award winning designer Ivo Valentik. If you would like to help fund this fundraiser by making a tax deductible donation of $100 or more, not only would you be the hero of the day, but you would get all the perks associated with being a Foolish donor. Plus all the ice cream you can eat!

See you for sweet times at the GCTC!

(July 4 – Aug. 20, 2011, 7 PM Showtime)

Torchlight Shakespeare

Antony and Cleopatra is hands-down Shakespeare’s funniest tragedy. It’s hard to believe the Fools have never tackled this dramatic duo before. After all, the famous lovers are as worthy of mockery as any Hollywood couple (Clantony? Antopatra? TMZ is still working on the nickname). Cleo is queen of the divas. One minute she’s the embodiment of style and grace, the next minute she’s the most petulant of spoiled brats. Tony is the Roman Empire’s answer to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. He neglects his wife and his state for the love of a seductress from way down south. As Tony dallies in Egypt with his celebrity paramour, the Roman Empire is coming apart at the seams. Conspiracies, double-crosses and back-stabbing abound in the power vacuum left behind in his absence. Finally, forced to choose between love and duty, Antony flip-flops between being a heroic leader and a hen-pecked lapdog faster than a pancake cook at IHOP. Cleo tries to stand by her man, but can’t keep herself from pulling his strings. From full-on sea battles to a botched “noble end” that is literally gut-wrenching, Antony and Cleopatra is tragedy on hyperbolic steroids. In the hands of a Company of Fools, all that over-wrought mayhem translates into pure comedy gold. It’s so OTT you’ll LOL when A+C are DEAD.

Performances begin each evening at 7:00 p.m. Admission is: “pass-the-hat-pay-what-you-can” with a suggested minimum donation of $10.

Directed by David Whiteley.

Starring:

• Katie Bunting
• Richard Gélinas as Antony
• Catriona Leger as Cleopatra
• Cari Leslie
• Stewart Matthews
• Geoff McBride

Show Dates:

(Click the coloured link to see the location map )

David is delighted to be directing for the Fools, after acting with them in Shakespeare under the Stars, The Merchant of Venus, and last summer’s  A Midsummer Night’s Dream. David acts, directs, makes music and writes for many local professional theatre companies including the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, Odyssey Theatre,  Seven Thirty Productions and Third Wall Theatre, where he directed  The Brothers Menaechmus and his own critically acclaimed translation of The Misanthrope.  David’s translation/adaptations of Tartuffe, What Goes Around… and A Flea in Her Ear were all nominated for Rideau Awards, as was A Leave of Absinthe which he directed.
Last February,  David Launched Plosive Productions, directing The Importance of Being Ernest at The Gladstone. He is thrilled that Plosive and Seven Thirty will give new life to The Gladstone as a rental venue, with a Seven Thirty/ Plosive season of The 39 Steps,  Speed-the-Plow,  Dr. Fell, and  The Shadow.

Stewart Matthews-  Caesar,  Mardian,  Soothsayer

Stewart graduated from Wolverhampton University, England, in 1998 with a BA honours in theatre and philosophy. In 1998 Stewart co-founded Screwed and Clued Theatre Company, a physical theatre collective, Director, writer, performer credits include Shooting Up Shakespeare, Trench, Grimm Tales: A guide to modern manhood, Fitch & Cabbage, EN-GER-LAND!, Pinocchio, Tales from Another England and Zombies… a love story all performed on the Canadian Fringe circuit. He has also performed with both the Birmingham Royal Ballet (Les Noces1994) and the Vienna Festival Ballet (Sleeping Beauty 1995). In Canada, Stewart has played Eddy in Third Wall Theatre’s Greek, Icarus in Enigma Productions play of the same name written by himself for the G.C.T.C Late-Night Series, Man in Enigma Productions’ 52 Pick-Up and multiple roles for Third Wall Theatre including being the General Manager. Stewart is a qualified Reiki Master.

Cari Leslie- Iras,  Pompei,  Enobarbus
Cari Leslie is an actor and improviser from Ottawa.  She has worked with the Fools in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Shakespeare’s Danish Play, earning her a Prix Rideau Award nomination for Emerging Artist last year.   A founding member of Crush Improv,  she has performed at improv festivals in Ottawa Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, most recently appearing at this year’s Ottawa Fringe Festival in Spotlight On…

Cari has also travelled the world as the host of A World of Wonders onTVOKids, which was nominated for Best Children’s or Youth NonFiction Program or Series at the 2010 Geminis.

Catriona Leger – Cleopatra

Catriona is delighted to be appearing for the first time on the Torchlight Shakespeare stage and in such a monumental role. She directed the company’s 2004 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and is always happy to work with the family that is a Company of Fools.  Her fifteen years in theatre have taken her across Canada and abroad but she feels most at home in Ottawa.  A recipient of the JBC Watkins Award from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Sidney J. Risk Award for Directing, Catriona is a graduate of Ecole Philippe Gaulier and holds a BFA in Acting and MFA in Directing from UBC.

Many Thanks to Neil Freeman.