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the glass menagerie Arcola Theatre London UK
Lesley Ewen’s Amanda Wingfield is a complex ball of anger and frustration with her children, while reliant on the appearance of a girlish supplication that is far from a real reflection of her personality. As she describes her heyday and the arrival of numerous “gentleman callers” Ewen flirts and wheedles, imprisoned in the happy memory of her ultimate self. She falls back on those characteristics when Jim comes for dinner in Act Two, fanning herself elaborately, giggling and trying to convey a picture of sophistication and poise where only desperation remains. But beneath the all-too cracked façade, Ewen’s Amanda is a tigress, dominating her beleaguered family and unleashing furious tirades that thunder through their tiny home.

She is a frustrating character, difficult to like, full of self-delusion about her beauty and her worth, whose personality is designed to grate. Yet, Ewen unveils the psychological state that has created the monster in front of us, and in doing so renders her a little more sympathetic. Amanda may bare her teeth – a gesture Ewen introduces to reveal both determination and a lifetime of painful disappointment – but she is fragile, abandoned by the husband she managed to catch and what small gift she once possessed (or thought she did) for controlling the world.
Maryam Philpott - https://maryamphilpottblog.wordpress.com/2019/05/27/the-glass-menagerie-arcola-theatre/

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All coquettish wiles and smiling scheming, Lesley Ewen commands the stage as Amanda Wingfield in this tricky old Tennessee Williams classic. It’s a huge performance at the play’s epicentre. […] Her hauteur melts into Southern-hostess mode, mortifying her offspring and baffling their guest. […] It’s perfectly possible to see her as the erstwhile belle of the ball as she sparkles and struts, seemingly creating her own limelight. The juxtaposition with her gawky daughter is heartbreaking.

Lynne Walsh -  https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/fragile-glass
 

The Arcola's current run is a riveting production. [...]Lesley Ewen’s Amanda is herself a force of nature, blowing hot and cold in her epic battle to cling to a majesty her family has long since lost.
Will Tizard - https://londonist.com/london/on-stage/the-glass-menagerie-arcola-theatre-review

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Played by Lesley Ewen, she is a grand dame rendered both fabulous and ridiculous as she regales her children with the same old memories, and peacocks around their home in front of a visitor. Her ability to be simultaneously charming and pathetic evokes sympathy, and pity.

Laura Kressly - https://theplaysthethinguk.com/2019/05/30/the-glass-menagerie-arcola-theatre/

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african gothic  The Park Theatre  London UK

Alina has around ten lines of dialogue, but her almost constant presence is wonderfully integrated and gets under your skin.

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doubt Theatre Calgary/Manitoba Theatre Centre  Calgary/Manitoba, Canada

As the mother of the child in question, Lesley Ewen has a brief scene with Palk that is devastating not only for what it reveals but for how raw Ewen's performance becomes in such a short time.
Louis B Hobson - Calgary Sun

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Although Lesley Ewen is in a single scene as the boy's mother, it is a beauty as she teaches Sister Aloysius a thing or two about living with injustice and the sordid realities of life outside school walls. It is a heartbreaking performance in how Ewen conveys her character's defeat and determination, hurt and hope.
Kevin Prokosh - Winnipeg Free Press 

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Ewen’s performance was a tour-de-force; in the brief time she is on stage she has to out-perform and not cave into Sr. Aloysius’ self-righteous crusade to get Fr. Flynn even if it means sacrificing Donald and perhaps Mrs. Mueller’s determination to get Donald an education in the process.  As she leaves the principal’s office you want to cheer but are left breathless.

John Borst - Tomorrow’s Trust

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killing caesaradapted by charles marowitz   Rubicon Theatre Vancouver​

"O! pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth…" is spoken by Caesar's widow Calpurnia (regal and fury-fuelled Lesley Ewen). And it's Calpurnia, all sound and fury signifying everything, who rages  "And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge... shall cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war." When Ewen lets the dogs out, you'd better get out of Rome.

Jo Ledingham - The Courier

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titus andronicus.  MadDuck Theatre Vancouver​

Lesley Ewen brings impressive gravitas and passion to Titus’s sister Marca, a character who provides a balanced and intelligent counterpoint to her more reactive brother.

Colin Thomas - Georgia Straight

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Cummer…along with Rothery…and Lesley Ewen as the powerful tribune Marca, Titus’ sister (Marcus, his brother, in the original), they make up a triumvirate of fabulous females.

Jerry Wasserman - Vancouver Plays

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Although he's a big man, Gordey is eclipsed by the powerhouse that is actor Lesley Ewen in the role of Titus's sister Marca (brother Marcus in Shakespeare's original.) When Ewen draws herself up and lets loose a torrent of rage, everything bends like trees in a hurricane before her fury.

Jo Ledingham - The Courier

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ziggurat!  Leaky Heaven Circus Vancouver​

Trailing a padded booty that you could serve teacakes on, Lesley Ewen is a scream as Cassandra, Princess of Troy. Of her scenes with  Peter Anderson, (King Agamemnon), the funniest involves him telling the crowd, in a broad semblance of an Australian accent, that he is about to encounter “one of the most dangerous species known to mankind – the independent woman.” When he cracks his whip and commands Cassandra to sit, she offers only a moue of indignation and her empty martini glass for a refill.

Leanne Campbell - The Westender

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As Orestes, actor and acrobat Colin Heath is brilliant… Lesley Ewen is no less attention-getting as Cassandra, Princess of Troy: looking like  a ‘60’s soul star with her blond wig and pneumatic derriere, she brings new meaning to the term war booty.

Alex Varty - The Georgia Straight

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birthday boy (a nativity)  Leaky Heaven Circus Vancouver

This is Mary's story and Ewen (“The Blessed Virgin Mary”) is one of  our most gifted clowns, wide-eyed and blunderingly innocent… Birthday Boy is wonderfully irreverent without being sacrilegious. When Gabriel (Jamie Long) informs Mary (Lesley Ewen) that "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee," her response is "Eew!"

Colin Thomas - The Georga Straight 

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judith–a parting from the body Felix Culpa Vancouver​

Lesley Ewen positivitely tears into her role as The Servant, acting as catalyst for many of the brilliant little bits of debate between murderer and mistress.

Peter Birnie - The Vancouver Sun

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The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate

Towns-woman's Guild Dramatic Society's  Production of

a christmas carol  Riverstone Theatre Vancouver

Lesley Ewen gets it. She plays a woman named Mercedes, who takes on a number of roles, including Bob Cratchit. Mercedes is the victim of an accident that involved 27 shopping carts, and she wears both neck and back braces. Let's face it: a lot of comedy is about our perverse relish in the misfortune of others. That's why it's so funny when, after being bowled over by another actor, Mercedes  desperately tries to hand the address of her osteopath to someone  in the front row. But clowning is about more than that: it's about a total—and oddly invigorating—commitment to an irrational point of view. It's about resilience. That's why Mercedes's plucky good humour is so endearing. That's why you can't help but laugh when all of the other characters are leaping and dancing and Mercedes gamely imitates their leg movements with her hands.

Colin Thomas - The Georgia Straight​

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wasps  Origins Theatre Projects Vancouver

But the real showstopper for me was Lesley Ewen, who plays, among other characters, Marge, the lesbian whose job it is to track down and reclaim stolen library books. As Ewen plays her, Marge looks hilarious – the padded bum, the traces of facial hair, the single eyebrow, awkward stance, and baleful eyes. But there’s more to it than that. This is an inspired performance – so intuitive it always keeps you on the edge of your seat with its quirky changes of rhythm and careening mood swings….Oprah…as a bug-eyed, street-talking pickaninny…an ululating woman in a chador who’s kicking the bejesus out of the Xerox machine…

Colin Thomas - The Georgia Straight