Victoria: Growing up in Canada, I had many friends who were born here but whose parents were not. My best friend of over 30 years falls into this category. Even with all the time I spent at his house growing up, I didn’t get as clear a picture of what being raised in a home where language and cultural barriers exist as I did when I saw Japanglish.
Victoria: Upon entering the theatre, we meet Ms SugarPuss who proffers tickles with a boa feather duster, patting every bald head taking their seat, "I don't have time to kiss everybody!" She tells more than enough sausage jokes for any "hornithologist." Guess how many jelly beans make up the jelly bean outfit worn by Ms Prairie Fire, and the winner takes home a bottle of pinot.
Victoria: Chris Gibbs is a veteran solo performer, most recently seen in Victoria when he brought his Antoine Feval character to the UNO Festival. He now brings his "best of show", the Power of Ignorance, back to Victoria (it has been staged as part of UNO Festival as well) and it is a tremendous achievement in comedic solo performance.
Victoria: Modern Myth Physical Theatre’s Not Fit for Flight just didn’t do it for me. A dance piece about the increasingly paranoid behaviour of an isolated 1950s housewife who is addicted to barbiturates and confined to her home, this strange Flight seemed to split the audience down the centre on Saturday night, with half laughing often and approvingly at her hallucinations and the other half glancing at their watches.
Victoria: How does John Pippus manage to distinguish his ran-away-at-17-to-be-a-rock-star story from the others? For starters, sincerity and musical talent go a long way.
Why aren’t you in line to see Japanglish right now? Yumi Ogawa’s touching and hilarious one-woman (-girl, -man) show about growing up with language and cultural barriers at home is one of the top performances at this year’s Fringe, and it would be a shame if you missed it.
Victoria: Fresh from nabbing Winnipeg Fringe’s Best of Fest, Colin Godbout’s “musical trip to a magical time” should entertain anybody vulnerable to summer of ’69 nostalgia.
