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...
This was a must-see show for my friends who met many years ago in the restaurant business so I went along. What a fabulous way to end the evening. It takes place every day at 11 or 11:30pm at the Edible Canada restaurant where our main cast members (Pippa Mackie, Nik Bunting and Lauren Jackson) all work. There's music, there's dancing, there's lots of funny scenes and few poignant stories of life as a restaurant worker/actor.
Since this is a real restaurant, there was a quick scene change before they were ready for us. The chairs are...
I have to admit that I love instruments like the shakuhachi a lot, and so I was definitely looking forward to this show. It was even better than I expected.
This production has the storyteller (and sometime musician) Jim Sands and the highly versatile and accomplished musician Michel Vles on stage. They work together seamlessly combining prose and music. I would have been happy with a show of either on its own, so to get both elements working together so well is magical.
I haven't had the pleasure of seeing James Brown and Jamesy Evans before but clearly there were many in the opening night audience who were well prepared for the audience participation opportunities. Make sure you sit in the front row if you want to participate. Costumes are provided.
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Fringe Description: Funny · Family Friendly · Intellectual
Her odds are good, but the goods are a little odd. Shirley Kirchmann is 35 and single. In Deranged Dating, she uses stand-up and caricature styles to tell us of her strange experiences in the dating world.
This was my longest Fringe hour. There were some very funny lines but I realize my laughs were in direct proportion to my familiarity with the movies referenced and my ability to catch the reference in time.
The pre-show started with Jon Paterson and Kurt Fitzpatrick "recognizing" and interacting with famous personality lookalikes in the audience. By the time they also included the pre-show announcements about cell phones and sponsors I was getting a bit bored.
Then the show started with a scene from Casablanca, complete with Tara Travis as a piano, and the fun began. It was...
Stroke of Luck is a one man show written by and starring Jacques Lalonde. It is part stand up, part TED talk, part catching up with an old friend with a little bit of revival thrown in.
I have to confess I have never seen a Jacques Lalonde show. I know he is one of the faces of the Fringe having been involved both as a performer and volunteer at each of the 30 years of Fringe in Vancouver and I learned in the line-up how beloved he is by the Fringe community. And I can see why...
Fringe Description: Funny · Warm and Fuzzy · Family Friendly
I applaud Good Theatre’s innovative use of sensory stimuli. “Smell-o-vision” has been waxed poetic about as a possibility in theatre and film, but this is the first production I have seen that actually turns the concept into a reality.
I sat in the “High Intensity Scent Zone” -- a section of the theatre comprising about a quarter of the seats was so marked -- but only noticed the aromatherapy when I specifically thought about it. The main note was mild citrus, or perhaps verbena, which changed to a rick dark liquorice-y scent when the tone of the play...
"The Show Must Go On" is a sweet and delightful show about the tribulations, and occasional triumphs, of taking a small theatre troupe on the road across Canada, across its length and breadth in all seasons. Jeff Leard played Rumpelstiltskin no less than 185 times in that year, but something new always seems to happen so that he does not get a chance to get bored. It was his first "real job" after university, and he knew he was lucky to get a full-time acting role.
He displays a great sense of comedy and timing as his tales range from...
This show has excellent actors with lots of food-service and preparation experience, snappy music and choreography, and choice goodies and drinks handed out to lucky audience members. Pretty well all the elements you need for a successful show, I would say. This show snaps and sizzles and is just plain fun.
The show is mostly light-hearted, although at times I felt a twinge of guilt wondering if I have ever imposed too much on a server or taken him or her for granted (well, I hope I'm not too bad -- at least I never order "hot water with lemon"...
