Making Deals With Gods
by Sophie Tilgner
When gods, monsters, and supernatural beings play games, what chance does a lowly mortal have of survival? Sometimes all you can do is cut a deal with the Powers That Be… and then use all of your wits to get out of it. Three short plays retelling old tales with a wry twist ― Who holds all the cards, after all?
Scheherazade Theatre
Ottawa ON
Venue 5- Arts Court Theatre
Comedy Drama
PG
| Date | Time | Buy Tickets |
| Thursday June 19 | 19:30 | |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday June 21 | 22:30 | |
| Sunday June 22 | 16:00 | |
| Wednesday June 25 | 19:00 | |
| Friday June 27 | 17:30 | |
| Saturday June 28 | 19:30 |
JIllian
June 22nd, 2008I truly enjoyed Making Deals with Gods, it was incredibly well written and the acting was tremendous! I enjoyed it so much that I will be going to see it again!
Jim McKean
June 22nd, 2008“Making Deals with Gods” is a three-pack of story-time fun. Each of the short plays deals with a re-imagining of a classic tale.
Included is a treatment of “Rumpelstiltskin”, here called “The Miller’s Daughter”. In this play, the heroine (Amanda Klaman) is portrayed as a sharp and sassy woman of the world who only wants to be left alone, but must suffer the demands of an extremely theatrical (and certifiably insane) king (Mathew Domville) and a manic, but conditionally helpful “little man” (Owen Spendlove). The play is funny, poignant and insightful, and refuses to offer a traditional ending.
Next is a broader topic, “A Brief History of Christianity”. Done with much of the casual speech and comic flair of the first, this play tells the story of God (Jessica Charbonneau) as she tries to solve the problem of mortals and their unusual quirks. To this end, she does everything in her power to get Adam (Kate Bunting) and Eve (Klaman) to leave Paradise, but eventually decides to use methods she considers “underhanded”. As time passes, God’s relationship with humankind becomes strained, and she must ultimately use “a different approach”. Though this is clearly one of many possible interpretations of some heavily debated topics, the script manages to offer an optimistic perspective without offending too many people. At least, no one stormed out of the audience when I was there.
The final play, “Medusa”, makes the titular monster (Bunting) jaded, but far from horrible. She shares a tender conversation with Perseus (Spendlove), a neophyte hero who wants to make a name for himself. Neither is sure of their role in life, but find that they share more than they expected with the other. I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s handled very effectively but the actors.
Overall, “Making Deals with Gods” is worth your time. All of the three plays are entertaining and engaging. The scripts are tight, and the ensemble is clearly having a good time performing them. I highly recommend it.
Kim D
June 23rd, 2008If you are looking for something funny, thoughtful and delightful, check out Making Deals with Gods, a set of three short plays that deal with gods and myths.
Sophie Tilgner, the writer and director, pushes these myths into the real world, with often funny, often tragic results, showing the audience that the Miller’s Daughter or Medusa may be just like us, in the long run.
With only five actors the three plays manage to have amazing range, with each role being more believable than the last; each time someone comes out on stage, you cannot wait to see them play another aspect of themselves (and ourselves). All the actors perform brilliantly, getting into the roles and making them their own.
Making Deals with Gods is a fun evening that will make you laugh out loud and think quietly to yourself.
Melissa Kaestner
June 24th, 2008We’ve all made our deals with them and with ourselves, but how often do they work out as we had hoped? And if our lives were created for a certain plan or our outcomes fated for a certain destiny, what does it matter what deals we make? Who do we answer to? Who do the gods, or god, answer to? These were all questions going through my mind in this play (and if only I could have come away with answers). Definitely food for thought for coming journal entries and dreams. But in the meantime, these five actors certainly do not disappoint in posing these difficult questions. This production is full of creative characters, excellent staging, well-placed tech elements, and wonderful storytelling.
Sophie
June 26th, 2008Taking the liberty of copying and pasting in Knitnut.net’s mini-review of “Making Deals With Gods”:
This show is comprised of three 30-minute plays in quick succession: The Miller’s Daughter (Rumplestiltsken), A Brief History of Christianity, and Medusa, performed by five local actors. They took three ancient tales and modernized them with modern language and contemporary humour. The result was a fast-paced, lively and witty show; the hour and a half was over before we knew it.
Sylvia
June 29th, 2008Maybe they were having an off night, but I thought the show was rather abysmal. The comedy was forced and the drama seemed to consist of the actors yelling at each other in a shallow attempt to create what the director probably thought passed for “emotional intensity”. It’s hard to imagine that some of these most enduring classical myths and stories could be rendered boring and shallow, but this show has managed to do so. It should be noted, however, that the acting is reasonably solid; Katie Bunting, in particular, stands out as a fine performer, but that alone did not make this show worth the 90 minutes I wasted watching it.
Sophie
June 29th, 2008Firstly, I am deeply sorry that anyone wasted 90 minutes seeing this show.
Especially seeing as how the show runs 75 minutes.
Secondly: Thank you to EVERYONE who has taken the time to come out and see the show! We are thrilled to bring you a bonus performance at 9:30 PM on Sunday for Best in Venue. Every audience has been a delight, and we look forward to seeing more of you on Sunday!
Gabriel
June 29th, 2008Awesome. It was a like a classic mythology/Marx Brothers smoothie, with an emotional punch as a muffin on the side. Maybe I’m just hungry. Anyway, apparently they won an audience choice thing, so good on them. Check it out. I’ll go eat now.
Ian!
June 29th, 2008I liked this one. It and “Shadows in Bloom” were my venue favourites.
The writing is clever and the delivery was good.
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