vancouver fringe
What You Want: the crazy, random, perverted world according to Andrew
Oh my god I have to write a review! It’s 10am, the Sunday after seeing the play What You Want on Friday night at the Havana Theatre, and I still haven’t written the damn review.
Andrew, I sympathize. What to write? How to write it? The never ending torture a writer must go through.
Random notes I took while watching the play:
52 Pick Up: the work of experts
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.
When Harry Met Harry: brilliantly alone with himself
Allan Girod has a captivating physical presence on stage. He is truly mesmerizing. I liked nothing more than watching this six-foot-nine Australian man contort himself into a child, a louche motivational speaker and an asocial perfectionist.
Wicked Shorts: slap me if you’re horny
If you take your foreplay with a side of voyeurism and kink, you’ll like the disquiet of Wicked Shorts and these four one-act plays that hinge on perversity, farce and that ultimate rite of passage—the first date.
One Man Show: so Fringe, it’s Fringe
One Man Show takes us down the metaphysical rabbit hole of Fringe theatre. What’s a one-man show if it’s a two-man show? It’s a one-man show in a fringe festival.
Zdenka Now:what just happened?
Zdenka Now! was hilarious and revealing until Precious Chong abandoned us on a bus with an Inuk teenager and broke the whimsical and romantic reverie of her off-the-wall characters.
Poison the Well: a gem
This has to be one of the very best performances at this year's Fringe. A strong pair of professional actors and a riveting script combine to build the tension minute by minute as the ante is upped one more notch by each player, leading to an unexpected conclusion.
Escape Artists ll: end of the world but reviewer feels fine
Is it the end of the world or the beginning? The Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world as we know it and the beginning of another in December 2012. We were all braced for complete disaster because of Y2K but we were fine... then we had 9-11 and we're still fine (some of us, anyway)...then Planet X was coming towards us...
Swimming to Cambodia: without spalding
The audience for this show will divide between those who saw Spalding Gray himself perform (well, speak) this, on DVD or even at the Cultch about 20 years ago, and those coming new to the script.
Freud Vs His Ego: farcical and witty
Freud and his ego have one hour to live. Can they come to terms with each other? Can Freud complete self-analysis before this time expires?
