Slumming is one of the more dynamic, dramatic works in this year’s Fringe. This is due in no small part to Sharon Crandall’s portrayal of street worker Britney who laughs like thunder, crawls across the stage in bloody-thigh agony, and sings like an excommunicated goddess. Terri Anne Taylor’s Grace juxtaposes her well as she cracks open the character’s subdued chrysalis and emerges as a powerful woman of rage, passion, and vengeance.
The two provide a powerful contract of how strong people respond to the challenges of their lives: one takes action to change the dynamics of situations, while...
Ah, the artist’s ideal day job: well-paying, good title, solid corporation, some creativity involved…then the company sells out, and the layoffs hit. But they don’t hit like a punch, a sudden blow that leaves you dazed and disoriented -- they hit like one of those time-release breakups that burn slow and crazymaking like a slowly-peeled bandaid.
There is something about the story of Lord of the Files that rings so true, so close to the spinal cord of so many artists and art enthusiasts. The show has been packed-house since its opening, and despite the modest advertising...
Lac/Athabasca by Len Falkenstein is the premiere production of a project to hone a play inspired by the train derailment and fire at Lac-Mégantic, Quebec last summer as well as another similar oil train derailment and fire that took place this past spring in New Brunswick. Produced by Theatre Free Radical, a company of artists out of New Brunswick, these incidents and the web of economic and social circumstances and choices that led to them hit, literally, close to home. The piece is a strong beginning – the monologues and scenes personalize what was, to me, a terrible...
Al Lafrance is a funny guy, and his one-man show, The Quitter, has some interesting insights. Anyone who attends Fringe knows that one-person shows based on personal memoir are perhaps 25-50% of all shows, and this is another one in that category.
In this autobiographical work, Al describes how he gets used to the idea of failure and quitting. It starts in high school, where he tires of being the "smart kid" who is sometimes ostracized and who misses out on various social activities because of his emphasis on being a great student. He goes on from failing a math...
You have never seen anything quite like Aidan Flynn. Mump and Smoot are as close as I can come, which is not close. Nathan Howe and Morgan Murray are the "creators" and performers, and Howe also the director.
The two-character piece has only music and gibberish, and advances so fast that significant moments can easily be missed. A young man builds a structure resembling a human with a wooden cart, an abacus, a twig for an arm. He dismantles it and raises a corpse (I think, for this part is done with shadows). The...
Fringe Description: Silly · Weird · Warm and Fuzzy
The Toast Collective on Kingsway turned out to be a tiny back room with the world's smallest stage. Craig Erickson, recognizing this, four times descends and speaks from the middle of the room. I sat on a broken sofa - at least I had a good sightline.
Erickson, one of our very best younger actors (recently the Prime Minister's aide in Proud at the Firehall), wrote Jesus made me funny and performs it. As far as I know, he hasn't previously presented his own material. He credits three others for "story development" and "artistic consultants."
Time is a slippery thing to define. A person will try to define time in itself, but will really only define the process of being in it. Time is now. Time is now. Time is now. Time is a succession of moments consciously experienced, or, in the case of Iris Lau and Elliot Vaughan’s dance/performance piece Definition of Time, time is an overwhelming idea that we chase in hopes of outrunning our own mortality.
Not that it isn’t a noble pursuit. In its purest abstract, a piece of dance exists outside the stream of time; its...
Fringe Description: Weird · Warm and Fuzzy · Poetic
“El Centro” features a brooding, somewhat wise professor and a fidgety (unless the staging requires him to remain still), ADHD youth. Although we open and close with Professor Cohen (played convincingly by Michael Dickson), he is nearly a device for telling the story of Alex (played energetically by Chris Cope). A story which is “about” Antigua, Guatemala, and whatever REALLY happened to Alex when he visited. The narrative circles repetitively around phrases like “what I saw…” – without providing any answers of what actually happened. Sure, we get two versions of the truth, but the characterisation by both...
I’ve been to a lot of incredible site specific productions, plays where interaction runs high, or the audience is guided through a fascinating space. Performances where the location is featured to the point that it is part of the cast, or, to put it simply, events which literally could not be presented on stage.
“Seaside Stories of Terrible Things” is not one of those productions. The choice of location is lovely, don’t get me wrong, and it is suitable for performance insomuch as it is a quiet spot off Granville Island’s beaten track (which I imagine is quite...
It's a beautiful evening, sunny and warm, rippling water and boats (yachts) in the background, there is a slight breeze and we are full of anticipation as the play begins. We are outside in the shipyard on Granville Island and because of the surroundings and bustle of activity we are forced to listen very closely. Not solely because of the venue but the play itself demands one to actively listen and engage as it is a complex story with lofty characters and you can easily get left behind. This is not a laid back observational experience, this is environmental theatre, you...
From meeting Gerard Harris in lineups, I liked him. He seemed genuinely pleased when I told him he was on my list. And in a Woody Allenish way said, “You’re not just blowing me off, are you?” Whereupon I showed him my list and he seemed almost ecstatic. This is my favorite kind of line-up performance: a bit of improv and vulnerability thrown into the regular schtick.
The friend I went to Jem Rolls with deserted me at the Fringe Bar, but I headed back to Studio 1398 saying, “I think he might be the next Jem Rolls.” Quote from my...
Should you go and hear Jem Rolls attack the silence? Indisputably. He says he’s the only performer who puts his name in his title because he’s not wanted by the police, but I see now that he puts it there because he has a following that will go to anything that starts with “Jem Rolls.” I’ve now joined that group.
Most frequent Fringers have met Jem Rolls in line-ups. He works hard for his audience. I prefer my line-up performances more subtle, kind of sweet and a little hesitant. I’m Canadian after all. So I hadn’t been attracted to this large,...
We appropriately begin in the dark listening to a voice. This voice reels you in, it requires your attention because it is the only sound you hear and it creates images that are vivid and unique. And you find yourself slipping into a world of this voice.
Slowly the lights come up first in silhouette then finally you see the face of the voice. His story unfolding sometimes in a way which is not unlike the feeling of not being able to look away when looking at a festering sore or a car accident when you drive by. You know...
This could be the just the type of show, that you have been waiting for... Would you like to experience Theatre in its purest form? Would you like to be taken away on a Journey by someone who makes you feel like you are in the hands of an experienced professional? Well then this is the show for you!
Naomi Steinberg, is in every way just such a performer. From the moment she makes her way through the audience up to the stage, she invites us to come with her on what is an honest and inspiring journey of Life. She...
I had seen Steve Larkin’s Fringe show N.O.N.C.E. last year, and it had made me realize something I hadn’t before: I don’t know how to appreciate poetry. Knowing my shortcoming, I entered the Revue Theatre ready to devote all of my concentration to the lightning fast wordsmith, hoping to make better sense of his work this year. To my delight, such an effort was not needed and I was completely absorbed throughout the one-man play.
TES tells the story of Kester Byron, who is a direct descendant of Lord Byron, and his trials with his family and...
