IN BRIEF

Tickets are available to see The Four Horsemen Project, a stylish collision of theatre, dance, sound and animationplaying at the Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) in Ottawa, Ontario. The Four Horsemen Project is conceived and directed by Kate Alton and Ross Manson and stars Jennifer Dahl, Graham McKelvie, Naoko Murakoshi and Andrea Nann. The show, sponsored by Sakto Corporation, previews March 13 and 14, opens Thursday, March 15, and runs until April 1, 2007. This is the second last GCTC show at the 910 Gladstone Avenue address before the company moves to the new location at the corner of Wellington and Holland, Ottawa. For ticket information, visit online at www.gctc.ca; in person at 910 Gladstone Avenue (Monday – Friday, noon – 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.); or call (613) 236-5196. Visit www.volcano.ca for further show information.

IN FULL

Ottawa’s GCTC presents The Four Horsemen Project March 13 – April 1 as the fifth show in Artistic Director Lise Ann Johnson’s 2006-2007 season. This is the second last GCTC show at the 910 Gladstone Avenue address before the company moves to the new location at the corner of Wellington and Holland, Ottawa. GCTC’s production partner for The Four Horsemen Project is Sakto Corporation.

The Four Horsemen Project is a multi-disciplinary extravaganza conceived and directed by Toronto's dynamic dance-theatre duo Ross Manson and Kate Alton in collaboration with Vancouver animation studio Global Mechanic. “Live, on-stage, swirling animation and sonic hi-jinx make the poetry of Canada's 1970s avant-garde scene leap off the page, and onto the stage,” says Ross Manson, “The show is receiving amazing critical and audience acclaim since it had its world premiere in Toronto on February 21 and we’re thrilled to be taking it to GCTC, opening March 1.”

The show is based on the work of Toronto's original Four Horsemen: Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton, Steve McCaffery and bpNichol. Johnson says the poets’ outrageously fun sonic poetry is brought to life by a stellar cast of performers: “The combination of physical and vocal virtuosity of Jennifer Dahl, Graham McKelvie, Naoko Murakoshi and Andrea Nann, along with Global Mechanic’s Animation Director Bruce Alcock, sets the visual poetry of bpNichol and the Horsemen to motion. Archival footage from the 1970s is similarly woven into the show.”

Ross Manson says The Four Horsemen Project uses the philosophical goal of the early sound poets themselves as its structural spine: the idea that poetry is far more than words on a page; poetry encompasses sound, breath and the human body: “With this remarkable collaboration, a new generation of artists breathes life into some nearly-forgotten work - iconoclastic, brilliant, delightfully irreverent – work that set the whole world on its ear.”

At GCTC, previews are March 13 – 14, with the opening on March 15.  The performance schedule is Tuesday to Friday, 8 p.m., Saturday at 8:30 p.m., and matinees on Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Evening tickets are $33 while the previews, matinees, seniors and student tickets are $23. For ticket information, visit online at www.gctc.ca; in person at 910 Gladstone Avenue (Monday – Friday, noon – 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.); or call (613) 236-5196. Visit www.volcano.ca for further show information.

—30—

Media Call for photos and footage:

Tuesday, March 13, 2:30 p.m.; contact Laurie Murphy to confirm participation.

Media Contact:

Laurie Murphy
Communications Manager
Great Canadian Theatre Company
910 Gladstone Avenue
Ottawa, ON K1R 6Y4
236-5192 x 229
publicity@gctc.ca
www.gctc.ca

What Critics Are Saying ...about The Four Horsemen Project, the fifth show in our 2006-2008 season:

Multimedia project is poetry in motion

Four Horsemen Project a joyous achievement

Catherine Lawson, The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Saturday, March 17, 2007

Oh, wow, man. That totally blew my mind.

Forgive me, but that was my initial, barely coherent response to The Four Horsemen Project, the multi-media spectacle now running at Great Canadian Theatre Company. Slipping into the vernacular of the 1970s is understandable, if not forgivable, because the original Four Horsemen were Toronto sound poets who flourished in that adventurous decade.

Some 30 years later, The Four Horsemen Project blends poetry, music, dance, video, animation and the sheer joy of existence into a wondrous tribute. The result was the toast of Toronto when it opened last month at Factory Theatre.

To the Four Horsemen -- Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton, Steve McCaffery and bpNichol -- poetry was more than words on a page. Poetry was sound, breath and the human body. And it could be language with the meaning stripped away.

This Volcano Theatre production is interspersed with film clips of rough and ready performances by the original four. Project co-creators Ross Manson and Kate Alton have preserved the anarchic spirit while elevating the words to breathtaking art.

Four accomplished dancers, who can also sing and act, perform the poems with wit and passion. At times they are alone on a blank canvas, often they meld with Bruce Alcock's freewheeling, inventive animation. Words and letters fly, whirl in circles, and stack themselves in piles. Yes, this is indeed poetry in motion.

Music by John Millard is a wondrous mix. There are snatches inspired by the sounds of gospel, ceremonial chanting and even Gilbert & Sullivan.

The piece is just over an hour, long enough to acquaint us with the four idiosyncratic performers. The tiny, playful Naoko Murakoshi pulls us into this psychedelic world. She is joined by Graham McKelvie, part nerd, part stud, as well as the statuesque and sensual Jennifer Dahl and the exotic, sinuous Andrea Nann.

Costumes by Cass Reimer are sexy and fun and reference every influence in the grab bag that was 1970s fashion, including ethnic, hippie, western and school girl.

The Four Horsemen wanted us to look at language in a new way, stripped of its conventional meaning. True to its inspiration, Project does not tell a story, it communicates a spirit and a time. You will leave with the pulsating rhythms of Nichol's Pome Poem beating in your chest. "What is a pome is a pome is inside of your body body body body. What is a pome is inside of your head inside of your head ..."

This is the second production of the season inspired by the work of 20th-century poets. The first was One Yellow Rabbit's Dream Machine, a tribute to the 1950s Beat movement, presented last October at the National Arts Centre. A stunning, complete piece of theatre, it was tinged with despair, delving into the Beats chaotic personal lives. The Four Horsemen Project, with its tight focus on the work, is far more joyous, and by the mere fact of its existence, confirms that the original poets' dream is still alive.

The Four Horsemen Project continues at GCTC to April 1. Tickets & times, 613-236-5196.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2007

By DENIS ARMSTRONG, SUN MEDIA Fri, March 16, 2007

The Beat goes on with Horsemen - Playful poetic performance a perfect fit for GCTC

Even though the new dance-drama The Four Horsemen Project, playing at the Great Canadian Theatre Company, is a mind-blowing experience, it probably won't make the pioneering Canadian poets pop-culture icons all over again.

But don't be surprised if you find yourself thinking that maybe, just maybe, Paul Dutton, Steve McCaffery, bpNichol and Rafael Barreto-Rivera might have been on to a good thing indeed.

After seeing the preview of the production that opened last night, you could argue that the Four Horsemen -- iconic, long-haired hippie artists of the 1970s -- were revolutionaries ahead of their time.

Inspired by Beat poets of the 1950s, the four Toronto-based performers were like rock stars, touring the country on a mission to resurrect and reinvent poetry. They became famous for sound poems -- shapely bits of vocal nonsense, a type of pre-ghetto geek rap music.

In the end, the Horsemen couldn't find an audience for their no-holds-barred poetic deconstructions. There is, after all, only so much 'yen-spen-zen-len-gen, hey man-men' you can take in one sober sitting.

For the show's creators, Kate Alton and Ross Manson, the Four Horsemen represent a chance to indulge in a short but free-floating multimedia experience that uses archival video of Horsemen and Bruce Alcock's stunning animation with four mercurial dancers -- Jennifer Dahl, Graham McKelvie, Naoko Murakoshi and Andrea Nann -- as the Horsemen.

In its best scenes, such as Murakoshi in the floral Wistful Wisteria, the ensemble's A Poem is Inside You and Dahl's sexy solo, She Locks Legs and Lips, the production's striking visuals and bold score come together in a uniquely beautiful way.

Scenes that rely exclusively on the poetry alone, such as the familiar Scream or the pretentious wordplay So I Report You Said No To, are staggeringly redundant.

Fortunately, Alton, Manson and the cast have the good sense to know when a scene has reached its limit and move on. The choreographed performances are all playful and exuberant. The cast often deliver difficult vocals while performing intricate bits of movement inspired by the text. Even when the meaning escapes the viewer, it's hard to take your eyes off their performance.

A critical success when it premiered at Toronto's Factory Theatre last month, The Four Horsemen Project is a neat fit for the GCTC, which can say that it has a legitimate Canadian hit that reconnects the theatre, at least in spirit, with its own idealistic artistic roots of the 1970s.

The Four Horsemen Project is at the GCTC until April 1.

-end-

Review by Connie Meng - broadcast on NY radio on March 19. Also published online with photo at http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/newstopics.php?tid=32

THE FOUR HORSEMEN PROJECT, conceived and directed by Kate Alton and Ross Manson, is an animation, sound poetry, dance, theatre piece.  What’s that, you say?  Well, whatever you call it, it’s certainly entertaining.  The piece is adapted from the work of a quartet of 1970s Canadian sound poets, whose poetry uses the noises of language but without the meaning, and is somewhat reminiscent of STOMP.  However, THE FOUR HORSEMEN PROJECT uses vocal sound rather than percussion, and the ideas and emotions flow from sounds into movement and animation.

Cass Reimer has designed the set, which consists simply of a white floor and back-drop, both of which act as screens for archival film clips of the four poets and the animation.  Her costumes are colorful, inventive, and incorporate humor.  As a matter of fact, there’s a lot of humor throughout the piece.  Bruce Alcock’s animation and Itai Erdal’s lighting mesh to create a fluid and varied background for the performers.

All four performers are wonderful dancer/actors who also use their voices to good effect.  They communicate with the audience through sound and movement on an intuitive and playful level. 

Jennifer Dahl has the most powerful arm movement I’ve ever seen and her solo piece is terrific.  Andrea Nann displays an air of elegance that can suddenly devolve into humor.  Speaking of humor, Naoko Murakoshi is a high energy embodiment of mischief, while Graham McKelvie moves seamlessly from sly humor to more serious moments.

I should mention the effectiveness of John Millard’s music and the contribution of Katherine Duncanson, whose vocal coaching has helped these four dancers to be as strong vocally as they are physically.

Director Ross Manson and Director/Choreographer Kate Alton have put together a performance piece that flows easily from solo pieces to cohesive ensemble work.  The pace never flags and the movement is consistently inventive.  The use of technology beautifully supports the work, never overwhelming the high-powered performers.

THE FOUR HORSEMEN PROJECT has a kinetic energy that threatens to burst through the walls of the theatre.  This was a difficult review to write, as all I really wanted to say was that the piece is unique, lots of fun, and go see it.  THE FOUR HORSEMEN PROJECT provides seventy minutes of sheer exhilaration.

On a scale of one to five THE FOUR HORSEMEN PROJECT produced by Volcano in association with Crooked Figure Dances and Global Mechanic at GCTC gets five pizzas.  For North Country Public Radio I’m Connie Meng. 

--end--

The irreverent sounds of the Four Horsemen thunder across GCTC

By Wes Smiderle

Article online since March 14th 2007, 16:00
The irreverent sounds of the Four Horsemen thunder across GCTC The word “multimedia” gets banged around quite a lot these days, especially in the context of arts, yet it’s an apt description of “The Four Horsemen Project,” a calamitous cacophony of theatre that incorporates dance, computer animation and way-out-there wailings composed by a quartet of 1970s Canadian sound poets. The production, which opens at the Great Canadian Theatre Company this week and runs until April 1, is an adaptation of the experimental work of an irreverent quartet of poets, including bp Nichol, dubbed “The Four Hoursemen.”

Using old books, records, archival footage and interviews with the surviving poets themselves, co-directors Ross Manson and choreographer Kate Alton concocted a blend of dance performance, animation and lots of nonsensical verse based around the Four Horsemen’s methods and poetry.

Sound poetry uses the noises of language, but with all meaning drained away. Performances (generally delivered at high volume) are comprised of a series of syllables or sounds cobbled together in a sonic pattern intended to subvert the idea of language itself.

The “Four Horsemen Project” uses an amalgam of the Toronto quartet’s work. The paradox of applying tightly-coordinated dance movements onto a form of poetry that was inherently improvisational in nature wasn’t lost on Manson.

“That was a question that was really important to us,” says the artistic director for Volcano theatre. “Because we’re coordinating so many different elements, it has to be very time specific, especially where real dance is going on and you have to know exactly what’s happening and when.”

Two sections in the 64-minute play allow for the performers to dabble in improv both verbal and physical, including during a Four Horsemen poem entitled “Blue Balloon.”

The play has no linear narrative, no story and no dialogue (except for a few lines in Japanese). Yet despite its experimental nature, Manson insists the work is accessible to a broad audience.

“It doesn’t feel like a really radical experiment, it feels like you’re going through a show.”

The seed of the project was planted seven years ago when Manson and Alton happened to turn on the radio in the middle of Stuart McLean’s “Vinyl Café” in the middle of a mesmerizing and baffling piece of sound poetry. Lucky for them, McLean identified the piece as a track from a long-since discontinued record recorded by Toronto’s Four Horsemen.

Manson says he and Alton were surprised both that the work was Canadian and that it was over 30 years old. “We just assumed it was contemporary,” he says. “We were blown away because we’d never, ever heard of them. So we decided to start digging.”

Manson researched old books, records and, after interviewing the three surviving Horsemen (Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton, and Steve McCaffery), who also provided archival film footage. Some of that footage was incorporated into the play, including a segment of a 1970s television host doing his best to describe sound poetry to a befuddled studio audience.

Over a period of several years, Manson and Alton staged numerous one-off dance performances incorporating the Four Horsemen’s work. They began stringing together a full production and incorporated the work Vancouver animation studio Global Mechanic. Projecting animation onto the stage with which the dancers could interact turned out to be a complex twist.

“That’s when we were in for a really labour intensive experience,” says Manson. “Little did we know how incredibly difficult it is to add animation to live action.”

The whole performance also tends to be exhausting for the performers, who exert themselves through dance and the unusual vocal demands of sound poetry. Manson notes that after the Toronto run earlier this month, all four performers got sick. They should be rested and limbered up for the Ottawa run, though.

Manson, speaking shortly after returning from an acclaimed run of “Goodness” in New York City, believes “The Four Horsemen Project” represents the kind of interactive experience Canadian theatre needs to evoke more often in order to engage new, and younger, audiences.

“In a strange way, it’s really moving as well.”

“The Four Horsemen Project” runs from now until April at the Great Canadian Theatre Company, 910 Gladstone Ave.

The Four Horsemen Project premiered in Toronto February 21, 2007. Press Quotes (for more information, visit www.volcano.ca):

globe ***1/2 / outa 4

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070226.HORSE26/TPStory/?query=kamal

Please, please, please believe the hype...65 minutes of seamless and exuberantly integrated dance, animation, poetry and dopy archival footage...just on the right side of the madness-brilliance divide.

NOW magazine ***** /outa 5

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2007-03-01/stage_theatrereviews4.php

There's no precedent for a show like this… brilliantly coutured performers… inventive animation… Be prepared to add your laughter and applause to the sounds in this thrilling, one-of-a-kind show.

Maclean’s magazine

http://forums.macleans.ca/advansis/?mod=for&act=dip&pid=34917&tid=34917&eid=44&so=1&ps=0&sb=1

I can't stop thinking about The Four Horsemen Project... a mind-bending multi-media show… an extraordinary fusion of words, music, dance, film and animation that brings to life the sound poetry of the Toronto troupe that turned verse inside-out in the 1970s…  an ambitious, immensely satisfying mesh of synchronizedcues and hurtling, orgasmic improv.

sun ***** /outa 5

http://www.torontosun.com/Entertainment/Theatre/2007/02/23/3657685-sun.html

…invites everyone, whether they embrace the strange and wonderful poetry of the Four Horsemen or not, to climb aboard this magic carpet and explore a whole new world

cbcradio

…a fabulous work of sound, poetry, performance... just dazzling.

torontostage.com

http://torontostage.com/

A multi-media, interdisciplinary hybrid of poetry, dance, and song embeds a perma-smile on your face... melodious orgy of sight and sound...Saddle up for this one.