From January 17th to February 1st, historical drama and modern storytelling merge when the Peterborough Theatre Guild presents Moises Kaufman’s 33 Variations.

The directorial debut of Chris Lee, 33 Variations is a moving journey of one woman’s obsession with Ludwig Von Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, paired with a dramatization of the final years of Beethoven’s life as he creates his 33 variations of a waltz composed by Austrian music publisher Anton Diabelli. Not only is musical history explored through the story, but also multiple human relationships, resulting in a very real and emotional drama.

Written by Kaufman in 2007, 33 Variations made its debut at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC in 2007 in a production directed by the playwright. The show would make its Broadway debut in 2008 at the Eugene O’Neil Theater, featuring Jane Fonda as lead character Katherine Brandt and character actor Zach Grenier as Beethoven.

The Broadway production, which represented Jane Fonda’s return to the Broadway stage after 46 years, earned five Tony nominations, including for best play, actress, and actor, and won the award for best scenic design.

33 Variations features two storylines in two eras, one in the present day following musicologist Katherine Brandt (Jane Werger) and the other in 19th-century Vienna following composer Ludwig Van Beethoven (Christopher Spear).

In the first timeline, Dr. Katherine Brandt is a lifelong student of Beethoven’s life and music and, when a sudden change in her situation turns her life upside down, she drops everything to travel to Bonn, Germany to study Beethoven’s original documents and to solve the riddle of the Diabelli Variations.

Her goal is to try to understand why Beethoven became so obsessed with Diabelli’s mediocre waltz that he composed 33 variations of the waltz between 1819 and 1823.

In the second timeline, the audience is taken back to 19th-century Vienna to explore the relationship between Beethoven, Diabelli (David Geene), and Beethoven’s assistant Anton Schindler (Jason Shulha). Taking place during the most dramatic period of Beethoven’s life, the story explores the history of the variations and Beethoven’s emotional and mental state during his final years.

The show also contains some other poignant sub-plots, including Katherine’s relationship with her disapproving daughter Clara (Caitlin O’Connor), Clara’s romance with Katherine’s nurse Mike (Kevin O’Neill), and the blossoming friendship between Katherine and Beethoven archivist Dr. Gertrude Landenburger (Gayle Fraser).

“33 Variations is all about the journey that Beethoven and Katherine go on to understand creativity,” explains director Chris Lee. “You can always ask where ideas come from, but you can’t really answer that. Nobody knows. So both Beethoven and Katherine become obsessed with this one piece of music. It’s a story about a woman’s passion.”

“Or a woman’s folly, depending how you look at it,” quips the show’s star Jane Werger.

Jane gives a powerful performance as a woman running out of time and throwing herself into her work as she watches her life change around her. When her work consumes her, the story taking place in Beethoven’s time takes centre stage.

“Katherine is a musicologist and has studied Beethoven her whole life, so he’s her specialty,” Jane says. “She has had some recent changes in her life and she feels, that while she is still able, she wants to discover why Beethoven considered a very mediocre waltz written by Diaobelli to be so important. So she’s going to the archives in Bonn, where she meets Gerti, who takes care of the archives, and she begins her research to try to discover why Beethoven wrote so many variations of this waltz.”

But Katherine’s obsession with Beethoven is nothing more than a distraction from having to face her own reality, or from connecting emotionally with the people around her — especially her daughter Clara whom doesn’t understand her mother’s desire to go to Germany during such a crucial time in her life.

“The relationship between my character and her mother is rough,” Caitlin says. “Her mother is obsessed with the work and, at a time when you think someone should be slowing down and spending time with their family, instead she’s flying across the world to study. So our relationship is trying to find the middle ground: how we can connect while trying to find that relationship where we can be the two separate people that we are.”

Christopher Spears makes a strong and compelling Ludwig Von Beethoven, bringing alive both his genius and madness while exploring the difficult individual that history has told us he is.

“Beethoven is touch and go,” Christopher says. “He is in his own world while being aware of the world around him. There are elements of his real life that are brought into the show, but towards the end — because he was very ill and at the same time he’s composing the 9th, the Mass, and the Variations — it’s all coming out and he’s a mess. Ironically, that’s when he went deaf.”

While Beethoven is the most iconic figure in the play, often he is more of a supporting figure or an idea and it is actually his assistant, Anton Schindler, who takes centre stage in the historical timeline. He becomes an audience favourite by being the most relatable of the historical characters. As Anton, Jason Shulha is the audience’s guide through the history, and the past storyline becomes centred around his relationship with Beethoven as much as it is around the composition of the Diabelli Variations.

“Beethoven’s relationship with Schindler is mixed,” Christopher notes. “It’s a strange relationship. They are not really friends, and he’s not really an employee. He’s fired halfway through the show, but he stays around. But Beethoven is dependent on Schindler, especially as he becomes ill.”

“I always viewed Schindler as being obsessed with Beethoven,” Chris Lee adds. “Everybody has their little obsessions in this show.”

Although history is an important part of the story’s narrative, don’t be intimidated if you are not immediately familiar with Beethoven or the Diabelli Variations. The history comes alive through the drama, and the story becomes relatable through Katherine’s journey and the various subplots surrounding her life. Together, the entire cast is a strong ensemble that keeps the audience engaged in this heartfelt and moving drama.

At the centre of the show is the music itself, performed by pianist Karen Locklin. Sitting centre stage at a grand piano, Karen makes her stage debut as a solo pianist as she performs the Diabelli Variations before the audience, providing an important soundtrack to the show.

In a clever and well-constructed set created by Ian Burns, Karen and her piano are often the most important element to the show, but also manage to slip seamlessly into the background as the drama takes place literally around her.

VIDEO: Onstage pianist Karen Locklin rehearses Anton Diabelli’s waltz

“From a musical perspective, the Variations doesn’t appear to be a difficult piece of music when you look at it on the page,” says Karen of the music. “But because everything is interwoven and the voices are all within each other, it’s actually tricky to play. There are things within it that repeat themselves, and the basic premise is that Beethoven uses the first four notes of Diaboli’s waltz and goes through the 33 Variations. It’s incredible.”

“The music has different functions in the play,” Chris adds. “Sometimes it’s playing behind the dialogue to accentuate points, or it’s used as transitional music in-between scenes and it helps move the plot and character.”

33 Variations also makes use of projected images, which lends a special realistic element that brings history right before the audience in a potent way.

“One of the neatest aspects is that we’ve actually been in contact with the museum in Germany, because we had to buy the rights for specific shots of Beethoven’s work,” Chris explains. “As a result, the audience gets to see images of Beethoven’s actual music taken directly from the archives.”

The Peterborough Theatre Guild’s production of 33 Variations is a well-produced piece of drama that is both compelling and captivating and brilliantly performed and directed. I was drawn into the historical storyline, but found the real emotional peaks to be in Katherine’s story — her friendship with Gertrude and her difficult relationship with Clara — as well as Clara’s sweet relationship with Mike.

The most powerful moment of the show come when Katherine allows herself to stop thinking about Beethoven, mirrored with the moment Beethoven takes centre stage in his mad brilliance.

“I find that it’s a really realistic approach to a simple story,” Caitlin observes. “It’s not everything that’s grand. Katherine goes to the library every day and writes a book. That’s it. But the writing behind it is so sweet. It’s so simple, but it’s so real.”

“The work speaks for itself,” adds Jason. “It’s a good play and tells a good story. I think we’re doing justice to it. We have a good group and we’re looking forward to getting on stage and bringing it to life.”

Since the beginning of its season, the Peterborough Theatre Guild has been producing one strong play after another. 33 Variations is the next Peterborough Theatre Guild hit. You’ll want to see this compelling and heartfelt production — put it on your theatrical calendar this month.

33 Variations opens on Friday, January 17th and runs to Saturday, February 1st. Performances begin at 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. Sunday matinees on January 19th and 26th.

Tickets are $25 ($22 for seniors and $15 for students) and are available by calling the box office at 705-745-4211 (if not open leave a message) or online at theatreguild.org.

Every Thursday, we publish live music and performance events at pubs and clubs in Peterborough and The Kawarthas based on information that venues provide to us directly or post on their website or social media channels. Here are the listings for the week of Thursday, January 16 to Wednesday, January 22.

If you’re a pub or club owner and want to be included in our weekly listings, please email our Nightlife Editor at nightlife@kawarthanow.com.

From Thursday, January 23rd to Sunday, January 26th, four venues in downtown Peterborough will come to life with screenings of over 80 films from all corners of the world. The 2020 ReFrame Film Festival will welcome film buffs, directors, producers, and film subjects to the heart of the Electric City.

The 16th annual festival boasts a curated collection of the best international and local social justice documentary films of the year. The ReFrame Virtual Reality Hub will also return for a second year in the lobby of VentureNorth (270 George St N, Peterborough).

ReFrame is well known for encouraging dialogue and debate around environmental themes. I had the chance to talk about these themes with ReFrame creative director Amy Siegel. To help you chart your course through the schedule, here are a few highlights. The full schedule (including links to a description of each film) can be viewed online at reframefilmfestival.ca and on kawarthaNOW.

Opening and closing films: You(th), Maxima, and Town of Widows

This year’s film schedule as a whole explores the topic of aging through the lenses of environmental and social issues. It is no coincidence that the festival opens with the premiere of You(th) (Thursday, January 23th at 7:30 p.m. at Showplace) and closes with the premiere of Town of Widows (Sunday, January 26th at 4:30 p.m. at Showplace).

The former is a short documentary by local Grade 12 student Nico Ossa about the student-led climate strike, and the latter is a feature-length documentary by Rob Viscardis and Natasha Luckhardt that follows the widows of former GE employees as they seek justice and compensation over the course of three years.

“A few months ago, I decided to take my camera to a youth-organized event protesting against climate inaction,” Ossa explains. “Lots of us don’t have a voice in politics due to our age, while we are the ones who’ll have to withstand the long-term impacts and consequences of climate change.”

“This film is a call for action, but at the same time a message of hope. Thanks to ReFrame I could work with local filmmaker Rob Viscardis to edit the film and I am thrilled it’s opening the festival and going to reach so many people.”

With these bookends, and a rich selection of documentaries in-between, the entire festival will leave you thinking about how we act to sustain quality of life and what is expected of and demanded by today’s youth.

This year’s opening ceremony will bring home the power of individuals in making change locally and globally. After You(th) in the opening ceremony is Máxima by award-winning Peruvian Director Claudia Sparrow.

Máxima explores how one person can make a difference for hundreds of thousands of people by protecting land and water against the power of global corporations. This documentary tells the story of Máxima Acuña, an indigenous subsistence farmer in the Peruvian highlands who fought to retain her land rights against the world’s second-largest gold mining company.

VIDEO: “Máxima” Trailer

Friday and Saturday highlights: There’s Something in the Water, The Whale and the Raven, One Thing in Nothing, The Hottest August, Great Green Wall, and A Garden Video

Friday offers three environmental documentaries. In There’s Something in the Water (Friday, January 24th at 1 p.m. at Showplace), Canadian actor Ellen Page uncovers the injustices of environmental racism in her home province of Nova Scotia, with guidance from Ingrid Waldron’s book of the same name.

VIDEO: Clip from “There’s Something in the Water”

“Page’s documentary is relevant for Peterborough,” Siegel observes. “Environmental racism and lack of access to clean drinking water are unfortunately part of our history and our present.”

The Whale and the Raven (Friday, January 24th at 5 p.m. at Showplace), by documentarian and cultural anthropologist Mirjam Leuze, explores the complex tapestry of issues surrounding a potential liquefied natural gas plant and increased tanker traffic in the Great Bear Rainforest on Canada’s west coast.

VIDEO: “The Whale and the Raven” trailer

Friday evening is an invitation to enter the perspectives of Canada’s neighbours to the south. One Thing in Nothing (Friday, January 24th at 7:30 p.m. at Market Hall) is a three-minute documentary examining a child’s memory of the most destructive wildfire in California history.

Toronto filmmaker Brett Story will be here in person to share her feature-length documentary The Hottest August (Friday, January 24th at 7:30 p.m. at Market Hall), which asks residents of New York City what they see in the future as they endure the hottest August on record amidst the tensions of a new presidency, wildfires, hurricanes, rising rents, and white nationalists.

“The Hottest August has been acclaimed for how it talks about climate change without actually mentioning it more than once or twice,” Siegel explains. “It leaves you with a lot to think about, and we’re very lucky to have Story here in person to be part of that discussion.”

VIDEO: “The Hottest August” trailer

Great Green Wall (Saturday, January 25th at 5 p.m. at Showplace) has been described as “Buena Vista Social Club meets Years of Living Dangerously.”

“This is musical road trip meets documentary,” says Siegel. “Malian singer Inna Modja travels from coast-to-coast across Africa, speaking with locals as she follows the path a proposed 8,000 kilometre wall of trees.”

“It’s a beautiful film. It shows the devastation of migrations and conflicts due to resource depletion, but it also shows remarkable hope in particular with how Ethiopia has revitalized food systems after years of famine thanks to collective efforts to plant trees.”

VIDEO: “Great Green Wall” trailer

Great Green Wall is paired with A Garden Video, a seven-minute doc by local filmmaker Justin TenEycke.

The film takes us inside the Heads Up For Inclusion gardens at The Mount Community Centre, showing us some of the ways cultivating food and working the land provide a sense of community and give gardeners an opportunity to develop valuable skills.

Sunday highlights: Honeyland, Lake, Artifishal, and Motherload

Start the final day of the festival with Honeyland (Sunday, January 26th at 10 a.m. at Showplace).

“The filmmakers describe Honeyland as more of a parable than a conventional documentary,” Siegel says. “This is not your typical documentary or environmental activism film. At its heart, this is a visually stunning portrait of a woman living off the land.”

“The subject of the film is one of the last traditional wild beekeepers in the mountains of Macedonia.She abides by the ethos of only taking what you need, and the film explores what happens when a new family moves in next to her with different values.”

VIDEO: “Honeyland” trailer

Lake and Artifishal (Sunday, January 26th at 12 p.m. at The Venue) both focus on the complex tapestry of issues surrounding fishing.

These films will be followed by a not-to-be-missed discussion of fishing and the local Otonabee River watershed, which was once home to the salmon nation until about 180 years ago.

Motherload (Sunday, January 26th at 12 p.m.. at Showplace) is a must-see. Feeling trapped by car culture after the birth of her twins, director Liz Canning discovered a global movement to replace cars with cargo bikes as a method of hauling family-sized loads.

Motherload tells a global story about how the bike has historically been and could continue to be a tool for protecting both women’s rights and the environment.

VIDEO: “Motherload” trailer

“GreenUP is honoured to sponsor Motherload,” says GreenUP executive director Brianna Salmon. “This documentary shows how readily available solutions to the climate crisis also have the capacity to reduce social inequalities like gender and economic discrimination. We can implement solutions like these right here in Peterborough.”

“ReFrame 2020 is more relevant than ever. These poignant and beautiful films provide crucial insight into issues ranging from sustainability and climate change to social justice and indigenous rights. The hope, outrage, and perspective audiences experience are essential drivers in our commitment to reduce pollution by 45 per cent this decade.”

ReFrame passes and tickets are available online at reframe.tickit.ca. A festival pass costs $60 ($50 for students, seniors, and the underwaged), opening night tickets cost $15 ($10 with a festival pass), and day passes (all films on either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday) cost $25.

Tickets are also available at the GreenUP Store (378 Aylmer St. N., Peterborough, 705-745-3238) and Watson & Lou (383 Water St., Peterborough, 705-775-7568), and in Lakefield at Happenstance Books and Yarn ()44 Queen St., Lakefield, 705-652-7535).

As always, rush pay-what-you-can tickets will be available at the door for every screening (subject to availability).

The full schedule of the more than 80 documentaries screening during the ReFrame Film Festival, including dates and locations, is available at reframefilmfestival.ca and on kawarthaNOW. You can also follow ReFrame on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

kawarthaNOW is proud to be a sponsor of the 2020 ReFrame Film Festival.

While her upcoming tour of western Canada with Delta Sugar is front of mind, don’t be fooled — singer Samantha Martin is in it for the long haul.

“I’m constantly thinking about what I need to do to keep the momentum going,” says Martin, describing herself as “a 14-year overnight success.”

“For sure there have been pinch-me moments, but I’m like a freight train — I just keep going. The goal is to have longevity. I want to be able to support myself playing music.”

Full evidence of her ability to do just that will be presented Saturday, February 1st when Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar headline at the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre (140 Charlotte Street, Peterborough, 705-749-1146).

Tickets to the 8 p.m. performance cost $33 and are available in person at the Market Hall box office, by phone at 705-749-1146, and online at markethall.org.

As one would expect from anyone with a university business degree, Martin has a plan. For sure, the creative side of what she does as a singer and a songwriter is a priority, but measured steps continue to be taken to ensure her chosen career path is as long as it is fruitful.

“Running a band isn’t easy, especially when you’re coming up and you’re trying to do big things on small budgets,” notes Martin.

“Everybody has bills to pay. If what I’m paying can’t pay the bills for those playing with me, then they have to go somewhere else.”

VIDEO: “All Night Long” – Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar

But while Martin’s business acumen has been refined out of necessity, her love of music developed much as it does for many who eventually choose live music performance as a career path.

“I was seven (years old) when my dad bought me my first guitar,” recalls Martin. “I went to kitchen table parties with my family. My dad brought his guitar and seemed like he was having a good time. I thought ‘Wow, I want to do that.’ I enjoyed the positive attention because I was a bit of a brat … I believe the word is precocious.”

“My mom’s musical tastes influenced me. My dad was a big country guy, but the blues, funk, soul and R&B stuff was what I really loved. My mom would blast everything from Aretha Franklin to Sinead O’Connor. It wasn’t until I was 21 or 22 that I really started thinking ‘Hmmm, I can maybe do this more professionally.’ I was singing karaoke and that sort of thing. People were really blown away by my voice. I was like ‘Oh, thank you.'”

One early open mic experience stands out for Martin.

“The band said they knew A Piece Of My Heart by Janis Joplin and they did not. Because there’s an element of perfectionism that I have, I kept going back until they learned the song. I was like ‘Guys, you told me you knew this song. I’m coming back next week. Learn it.’ That was how I caught the live music bug.”

In 2008, Martin released her first CD Back Home — “It was very country,” she says —- and then went on to form to front The Haggard, which released a self-titled CD in 2012 that featured nine songs written by her. Exclaim! magazine hailed Martin’s voice as “a force of nature … that grabs you by the throat while causing the hairs on the back of your neck to tingle.”

VIDEO: “Chasing Dreams” – Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar

There things sat until 2014 when the band was asked to do perform at a Toronto showcase for Folk Alliance International.

“We couldn’t do the full band — no drums and no bass was the stipulation — so I thought, rather than just myself and the guitar player, why don’t we do me, guitar, and two back-up singers? We did the showcase and people lost their minds. They thought it was so good. I knew it was special, but I didn’t know how special. We did a good job but I didn’t think it would become the band.”

Initially, Delta Sugar featured back-up singers Sherie Marshall and Stacie Tabb. After Tabb received a call to tour with Amanda Marshall, Mwansa Mwansa filled the void. Currently, Tafari Anthony and Sherie Marshall comprise Delta Sugar.

In 2015, Delta Sugar’s debut CD Send The Nightingale was released. At the time, the band was still small, featuring Martin and two back-up singers alongside guitarist Mikey McCallum.

“Artistically I felt we had room to grow,” recalls Martin.

“I didn’t really want to keep doing all the gospel music, but I had just lost my mom to cancer. I was dealing with a lot at the time. I was writing in the gospel realm because I was looking for answers as to why this was happening to my mom … looking for comfort and a way forward. I felt like I had to go down that path for this record and so I did.”

According to Martin, what followed was a seismic shift for the band.

“A year into touring Send The Nightingale, we added a drummer. Then we added a keyboard player. We were playing bigger stages. When I started writing for the next record I wrote more in a soul vein. That’s what I was listening to at the time and I really felt the band was ready to expand. The producer said the new songs need horns. I was like ‘Oh no! Okay, horns it is.’ Honestly, if I could play every show with the full 10-piece band I absolutely would. The songs lift so much differently.”

The band’s sophomore album, Run To Me, was another game changer in every respect for the band. Besides receiving extensive radio airplay in both North America and the United Kingdom, it earned a 2019 Juno Award nomination in the Blues Album of the Year category, as well as four Maple Blues Award nominations — including a nod for Martin as Female Vocalist of the Year.

And the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) also took notice, honouring Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar with the certification Road Gold for having sold more than 25,000 show tickets over a 12-month period.

“I had a really solid team for Run To Me, whereas I put out Send The Nightingale pretty much on my own,” says Martin.

“I’m constantly thinking about what I need to do to keep it going. If you don’t have a record out every two years, you start to lose steam. You don’t get as many bookings. You don’t tour as often. You don’t get the reviews. People aren’t streaming you because you’re not the flavour of the month. You release a record and then you have one year where everything goes crazy. What do I need to do to meet or exceed expectations?”

VIDEO: “Addicted” – Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar

In answer to that, Martin went into full writing mode this past September and took to the recording studio with Delta Sugar in late October. The result will be a new album, The Reckless One, scheduled for release this May.

“There’s talk of strings on this record … Lord help me if I need to tour with a 15-piece band,” laughs Martin, her business mind crunching the numbers.

“The new album has elements of ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ It’s still in the soul and vintage R&B vein but it will definitely have a little bit more of a rock ‘n’ roll edge to it.”

Having played Peterborough clubs back in the day with The Haggard as well as having headlined with Delta Sugar on the Holiday Inn patio, Martin is no stranger to the city, but this is her first turn on the Market Hall stage. She says new songs will be featured as well as “a lot of Run To Me stuff and some covers.”

“We’re coming as a seven-piece band. It’s a high-energy show. I tell jokes. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

“I’m in a good place. I feel like I have more control over what I do than I used to, and I feel like I’m singing better. I’ve always kind of done what I do because I don’t know how to do it any other way. I’m not a trained singer. My natural voice … I have more control over it. I really feel I’ve found my unique voice.”

VIDEO: “Feel Good” – Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar

For more information on Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar, visit samanthamartinmusic.com.