“A must see play” – Colin Noden, Apt613
In 2019, Odyssey Theatre produced its first international collaboration with a stunning production of a new translation and adaptation of The Bonds of Interest by Nobel Prize laureate Jacinto Benavente.
The Bonds of Interest is a brilliant comic intrigue about two con artists who swindle an entire town of crooked merchants, powerful elites, and grasping pretenders, all of whom will stop at nothing to get rich quick. This clever satire takes aim at the corruption and insatiable greed flourishing in a modern money-driven world.
Distinguished Spanish scholar Catherine Boyle and Artistic Director Laurie Steven developed the new translation, which premiered on Odyssey’s stage. Boyle is head of the department of Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies at King’s College London University. Her work encompasses translation in collaboration with professional theatre companies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company where she was dramaturge for their Spanish Golden Age season.
She is also the Director of Out of the Wings, a UK organization that aims to make the riches of Spanish theatre accessible to English-speaking theatre professionals and audiences. The new translation received workshops by Odyssey in Canada and by Out of the Wings in London. Thanks to this partnership, this remarkable piece of modern theatre is now available to contemporary English-speaking audiences around the world.
Inspired by graphic novels and hip-hop jazz funk music, a world of decadent glamour and decaying wealth set the backdrop for this satire of mob mentality unleashed by greed and exploited by two cunning schemers.
Click here to see more information about The Bonds of Interest and other past productions.
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR THE BONDS OF INTEREST:
REVIEWS AND NEWS
WATCH
Game of Thrones actor goes back to his roots with Ottawa Theatre Group, CBC News
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William Beddoe from Odyssey Theatre tells us about their performance of The Bonds of Interest at Strathcona Park by Dylan Black, Rogers Daytime TV
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The Bonds of Interest — Audience Reactions on Opening Night
We caught up with our audience members on opening night to see what they thought of The Bonds of Interest. Check out what they had to say about the show!
READ
Commedia with commentary in Odyssey Theatre’s latest production by Patrick Langston, Artsfile
“At first blush, you’d swear that Odyssey Theatre’s upcoming production, The Bonds of Interest by Spanish playwright Jacinto Benavente, was cherry-picked as a commentary on Donald Trump and his version of America.”
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Game of Thrones actor returns to Ottawa Theatre by Darren Major, CBC News
“I’ve never really played a character like that in my life. So Laurie and I thought that this would probably be a good project for me to come back [to] and this looked like it was the right season.”
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The Bonds of Interest: Jacinto Benavente’s Renewal of Spanish Theatre (1907), a significant choice for this new Odyssey beginning by Alvina Ruprecht, Capital Critics Circle
“There is a magnificent twist at the end, which is worth the whole evening”
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Theatre Review: Odyssey Theatre’s The Bonds of Interest by Colin Noden, Apt613
“‘Ingenuity and Impudence are all we have,’ says Crispin. Throw in Imagination, a little Vaudeville pas de deux, love and chance, and an Oxford comma. Add a mask. A sprinkle of Shakespeare. The glamour of opera. And you have a must-see play.”
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Odyssey Theatre’s Bonds of Interest unmasks flawed humanity with panache by Patrick Langston, Artsfile
“Movement on this set and under these lights is highly stylized […] At times it’s funny, at times it’s disquietingly vicious. Always, it’s clear that we are witnessing a heightened representation of human behaviour and one that both signals and masks the characters’ true intention.”
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Ottawa Photos of the Week, CBC News
“Game of Thrones actor Ross Mullan returns to the Odyssey Theatre in Ottawa after being away for 26 years to star in The Bonds of Interest.”
LISTEN
Summer Theatre Round-Up Part Two, CBC In Town and Out with Giacomo Panico
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Friday Arts Report with The Bonds of Interest‘s Assistant Director Madeleine Hall by Barbara Gray, CKCU FM 93.1
