For the 2016 Vancouver Fringe Festival, the venues include the Rio Theatre. What does that mean, you ask? Well, when I enter the venue with only three minutes to spare, I get the very civilized reminder that I could indeed take my drink into the theatre. And when I stroll in for a one-man show by comic Gary Jones, all I smell is popcorn. As the pre-show music plays, I close my eyes and imagine the taste of buttery, salty popcorn happiness. I hear the murmurs of others in the theatre which stop abruptly when the Fringe announcement starts....

Amelia Van Brunt of Bad, Bad Bunny company from San Francisco gives the audience a laugh out loud romp through the troubles of old age while still delivering a hint of the pain and frustration of aging.  Her character, Mona Whittaker, lives alone in a leaky apartment, her husband deceased and her children absent. Her best ally and comfort is her plush Lazy Boy rocker that serves as her nap nest, catapult, and boat as she imagines the leak becoming a flood. Mona’s other joys are tea and the newspaper obituaries (do come to the show to see why)....

Improvising for 45 minutes with one suggestion and only two improv artists is a serious challenge, but Devin Mackenzie and Tom Hill make it work, for the most part. I prefer the quick changing action in a series of improv games. So if you are like me, this one act show might not live up to your expectations.

With two stories lines (or was that four?) and six characters, confusion of Shakespearean proportions abounds. Love triangles, poisoned mangos, and lunching on shrimp while sleeping against the backdrop of an opera kept both the audience and all six characters...