June 19, 2025 – Broadway World reviews “Arthur Bampot: the Case of the Dead Silence”
“Arthur Bampot: The Case of the Dead Silence, by Dangerous Dames Theatre, is a love letter to detective stories, film noir, and the theatre. When Janet Van LeadingLady (Becky McKercher) begins her monologue on opening night, she is aghast to discover that all the play’s jokes have been brutally murdered. Enter Arthur Bampot (David Scotswood) and Mrs. Judy Smith-Lansbury (Sarah Thuswaldner) to find out whodunit. Written by Scotswood, this play is hilarious, with many, many nods to the theatre, as well as all of your favourite detective films and television shows. There is even a madcap Scooby-Doo-worthy chase scene. One of the highlights for me is the interrogation scene, where McKercher plays an entire police lineup of witnesses-slash-suspects. Let mayhem ensue.
The Case of the Dead Silence is clever and polished, zany and utterly delightful for its entire length.”
Thank you, Courtney Castelino! Your review made us blush. Please come to all our shows forever.
June 17, 2025 – Apt613 reviews “Arthur Bampot: the Case of the Dead Silence”
“Along with phenomenal acting, it even comes during the scene change, where the performers add their comedic touch to keep the audience laughing and engaged. You’ll be laughing at the absurdity and ridiculousness throughout. It is a must-watch at this year’s festival.”
Thank you, Paul Goubko, for this lovely review!
February 9, 2025- Cultbytes reviews “Shelley and Lovelace Never Met”
“In a Victorian era air, the play “Shelley and Lovelace Never Met” follows its tropes—witty conversations about extramarital affairs, the travails of betrothals, and class between women in bell-shaped skirts and puff sleeves—á la the society gossip papers of the day. But this story is not just another Jane Austen ‘who am I to marry?’ spin-off, instead, with a gothic twist it cleverly lets time and space collide in a fictive meeting between Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace where both vulnerabilities and talents are exposed. It is a veritable feminist explosion staged at Theater for the New City through February 16, 2025. The two icons, Mary Shelley the founder of science fiction who wrote Frankenstein, and Ada Lovelace, the first programmer who created a new vision for computing, were contemporaries, but surprisingly never met. The play is as much about their life’s work as their private lives.”
It would be gauche for us to point out that reviewer Anna Mikaela Ekstrand calls the script “simply brilliant,” but since when do we mind being gauche? Thank you, Anna, for the wonderful review!
June 30, 2023- Intermission Magazine reviews “Shelley and Lovelace Never Met”
“Shelley and Lovelace is a nonstop flow of quotable one-liners. Lord Byron’s grave unites Ada Lovelace, a mathematician who happens to be Byron’s daughter, with Mary Shelley, famed author of Frankenstein. The conversation shines a light on their many accomplishments.
Smart choices from Becky McKercher (Shelley) and Sarah Thuswaldner (Lovelace) make the historical figures feel contemporary and familiar. Brief moments where the actors played additional characters added some necessary dimension and kept me engaged; I would’ve liked to see more.
The research is impressive, but at times the story took a backseat to the facts. And I wanted to hear less about Byron and more about the women’s fascinating lives. The show is a well-spoken treat, and if you love history and sharp wit you’ll have a jolly good time.”
We loved reading this review because (as we suspect is the case for most writers) we also would have liked to have a longer play. This is going in our pile of evidence for “making us edit is cruel and unusual”.
June 17, 2023 – Apt613 Reviews “Shelley and Lovelace Never Met”
“If you are a history buff, a feminist, a fan of science fiction, a mathematician or computer programmer, or just someone who would like to meet two fascinating geniuses of the nineteenth century, then be sure to see Shelley and Lovelace Never Met.”
Huge thanks to Barbara Popel for the delightful review!
June 19 2022 – Apt613 Reviews “Arthur Bampot and the Case of the Kept Man”
“Somewhere up there, Leslie Nielsen (of “Don’t call me Shirley” fame) is laughing and taking notes.”
It that’s not the highest possible praise, we don’t know what is.
April 30, 2020 – The Ottawa Little Theatre’s 79th Annual National One-Act Playwriting Competition
The Dames were honoured and delighted to win the national competition’s third prize, the Gladys Cameron Watt award. The adjudicator praised the play, saying:
“A careening and ingenious, laugh-out-loud Shakespearean satire. Four of the Bard’s comic heroines must overcome their differences to navigate the “Forest of Lost Plots” and find their way back to their own plays. High farce, romance, female-bonding and Hamlet-bashing ensue. Not to mention the weirdest sword fight this side of the Complete Works.”
It was extremely gratifying that someone was as amused by reading about that sword fight as the Dames were while writing it.
March 24th 2018 – Dangerous Dames Theatre @ Slowcooker Vol 1
Dames Sarah and Becky submitted to a local festival, Slowcooker, for a live reading of a snippet of their upcoming production Skirts in the Forest.
Of the three scripts read that evening, our dames came away with the title of audience favourite!
The full production opened at the 2019 Ottawa Fringe Festival, and the Dames were thrilled to unleash it on the unsuspecting populace. The audience didn’t complain much, either!
Dangerous Dames Theatre 