Reviews

  • Exuberant, youthful energy is palpable throughout Daniel K. McLeod’s updated production of this 2015 Fringe hit. It’s funny, sunny, and thoughtful, and doubly energized by a cast, musicians and crew who clearly work well together whether dancing, singing, or delivering the satire.

    Many of last year’s strong cast are back, notably Adam Olgui playing multiple roles including the dapper and haughty Pierre Trudeau, and Avy Crowchild playing the lead role of May Lee. Emily Elliot and Caylee Watrin return as May Lee’s close friends, and they are a lovely, animated pair of supporting actresses. Elliot plays the role...

  • 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....

  • This play is a lament for the painful consequences that radiate in all directions from a violence-infused culture. It’s a reflection on frustration, anger, abandonment, hidden disabilities, and sexual violence. It reveals a struggle to understand the causes of pain across four lives: a dead American soldier, perhaps by suicide, perhaps involved in Abu Ghraib atrocities in the US/Gulf War; his wife, perhaps unloved, a young woman, now a therapist, emotionally abandoned by her father; the soldier’s artistically-inclined, identical, gay twin brother (wouldn’t they both be gay?) worrying about his life; and the father of the brothers, a Vietnam veteran...

  • 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)....

  • A Dog at a Feast written by Michelle Deines touches on the experience of women in theatre. An all female cast where men only live on the other end of the phone, some themes such as sex and success are hit head on, where others such as racism are tossed around only briefly with no depth offered. The play is done well but could go even further if developed into a full-length piece.

    Maya is described as a starlet on a streak of luck, but is she sleeping her way to the top or does she have real...

  • 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...

  • In performance and in script, My Ocean is a gem of a show. Considered individually, each facet of Nadeem Phillip’s rendition of a bookish twelve-year-old glimmers brightly.

    He can show you what it’s like to overflow with wide-eyed wonder at nature.

    He can portray the impotent, naive rage of a young boy as he becomes aware of the horror and injustice in the world.

    And he nails the raw physicality of a child doubled over in emotional pain.

    It’s only as one is walking out, reflecting on what they’ve just experienced, that they begin to realize what a voyage it...

    Nadeem Phillip
  • Better known from past shows as Birdmann, Trent Baumann is back this year as himself in a cloudy, sky-blue suit. It’s hard to see this as a departure from past performances—Birdmann’s distinctive style of carefully choreographed foppishness and anti-humour mixed with self-reflection and true physical virtuosity is very much preserved (along with a couple of his gags). The new performance builds on this underlying formula with a standout new segment (which I won’t give away) and an aesthetic direction that aims to be a deeper and more sombre reflection on life, the universe, and everything.

    At one point, Baumann shows...

    Trent Baumann
  • James Jordan: Vaudevillian is billed as family-friendly, and James Jordan delivers on that promise in spades! It’s a magical comedy show for more than just the kids—the adults in the audience were certainly having a fabulous time watching card tricks, trying to understand how sleight of hand is faster than the eye and being amazed by a man who is willing to let live mousetraps snap onto his fingers. His expressions alone are enough to make you laugh out loud!

    We enter the theatre to see James Jordan vamping upbeat tunes at the piano. He welcomes us to the show,...

    James Jordan
  • Two sisters, Morgan (played by Alexandra Lainfesta) and Maura (Baraka Rahmani) explore their tensions, traumas, and failures in an atmospheric and heart-wrenching performance with a very strong presence of cheesecake. Maura is a university dropout using kickboxing to find her way through a difficult recovery from an eating disorder. Morgan is a successful academic writing a thesis on the Salem witch trials. Exploring their unresolved tensions between one another and with their parents, Lainfesta and Rahmani give a very convincing and touching portrayal of the way that siblings love and hate as only siblings can.

    The production makes very strong...

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