Wrecking Ball 2009 comes to Ottawa!

In fall 2008, the basement at St. Brigid’s church was packed for The Wrecking Ball - a coast to coast political satire night. Last year’s pre-election event was a success, and now the Wrecking Ball is back in town. This year’s theme is taking its inspiration from Yann Martel’s What is Stephen Harper Reading to offer a few suggestions of their own.

This year’s Wrecking Ball will include Ritallin, Benjamin Gaillard, Mélanie Rivet, Pierre Brault, Laurie Fyffe, Kris Joseph, Patrick Gauthier, Sonja Mills, Norman Armour, Waneta Storms, Kate Smith, Nick di Gaetano, musical guest Glenn Nuotio and, fresh from the national slam in Victoria, the Capital Slam Poetry Team. As usual, the night will offer both French and English performances.

The Wrecking Ball was founded in Toronto in November 2004 to address a nagging imbalance: too much theatre in our politics, and not enough politics in our theatre. Is this still true today? While I’m not convinced - I think our current generation of politicians are more robotic than anything else - the federal and provincial cuts in arts funding and a lack of political leadership on culture issues has made these events a resounding success. The October 2008 edition saw the WB go national for the first time in advance of the last federal election, where in an unprecedented mobilization of artists and art lovers, ten Wrecking Ball events were staged simultaneously in across the country.

In 2009 Wrecking Balls will also take place across the country, although not on the same day. Writers are given no more than two weeks to come up with material that reﬂects the current state of politics. They are free to write on whatever topic they wish, whether global, national, local or very local. The plays are then cast and staged at the last minute - this immediacy is what makes the Wrecking Ball the rollicking theatrical nerve ending that it is.

Wrecking Ball takes place this Monday, November 16, at St. Bridget’s Cent (317 St. Patrick Street). Doors open at 6:30, and the show starts at 7:00. Tickets are pay what you can and all proceeds go to Les Prix Rideau Award.