52 Pick Up: the work of experts

52 Pick Up

If you can only go to one show this festival, 52 Pick Up would be a good choice.  Fifty two playing cards are thrown into the air.  Each card dictates a scene that Gemma Wilcox and Sam Elmor perform in the order they are chosen, gradually revealing a romantic relationship that is complex, funny, infuriating, passionate, Mars vs. Venus typical, funny (oh, did I already say funny?, well, it’s very funny), and frighteningly familiar.  

Wilcox and Elmor pull off this amazing feat of acting with extraordinary subtlety. Each scene is compelling and I was moved in every direction.  I felt a little jarred when the scenes ended and it was time for a new card, but quickly I fell into the new adventure. I found myself counting the number of cards left on stage, wishing there were more.  This show is clearly the work of experts.

52 Pick Up is part of this year's Vancouver Fringe. For more information go here.

By Leslie Palleson