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.

The two men (boys, really) playing the men of the one-man show spit out, point-blank and tongue-in-cheek, that this production is a ruse to travel the country, drink beer and shoot spray foam at each other on stage. They’re having fun and I wish it were as easy to play along.

One Man Show is fun until it’s not anymore and suddenly it is again. The best comic display comes just as Second Man of the one-man show up-stages First Man. The two realize they’re performing the same tired script and each claims the identical one-man show. In a blisteringly paced script-off, each fires his lines at the other simultaneously. Their pacing is flawless and it’s the best scene of the performance.

After this highlight, One Man Show is cute but trying. We’re reminded how Fringe is celebrated for dismantling the fourth wall, again and again. We’re again told how self-aware Fringe can be and how prone to over-acting and superstition all theatre still is. I laughed, maybe despite myself.

Written by David Weaver and produced with Fight Fire with Fuel Productions, One Man Show was a mocking spoof of everything we love about Fringe. And it was almost great Fringe.

One Man Show is on as part of this year's Vancouver Fringe. For more information go here.