The title of this play means truth in Latin. Written and performed by Sara Vickruck, the truth is that I thought this was an extraordinary creative work by a young artist. Vickruck trained at Grant MacEwan in Edmonton, AB which is where this play was premiered last summer at the Edmonton Fringe to excellent reviews. The play is a collection of monologues featuring very different characters and their daily heroics. Each one has a story to tell and needs their voice to be heard.
In a series of dramatic monologues, we meet seven individuals who reach crossroads in their...
Preacher Man changes the role of the audience from theatre goer to execution witness. This once common practice has now fallen out of favour, but for 22 minutes you could imagine what that would be like. From the minute we ended the room Marcus is waiting for us, waiting to ask us questions, poignant questions. He is waiting to tell us the story of his fulfilled life. His certainty cuts to the bone and he feels sorry for us.
Jesse LaVercombe is excellent as Marcus. LaVercombe is chilling and expert in his delivery of this character. There are...
As she walks on stage you think to yourself….could it be?…is it?….wow! it is….it’s Spoiled Child. What, you don’t remember Spoiled Child? Come on she was that singer in the 80’s…you know she had that song…then she moved on to her Spoken Word Period…and then she had that Reality Show well for a year…remember?
Well, she’s back - rebuilding her career (as she says looking out at the afternoon audience) - “15 people at a time”. - You would think she would be totally back on top, instead of the “c-list celebrity” now that she has saved...
Kevin Kennedy is a soft-spoken teacher who has a story to tell. He does not tell it in a flashy theatrical style with costumes, characters, movement or special effects. In fact he sits on a chair placed at centre stage for almost the entire performance – but don’t get me wrong, he is an engaging storyteller with an adventure to share, and he got help crafting this show from one of the most masterful storytellers the Fringe has ever seen, BC’s own TJ Dawe (dramaturge).
Kennedy’s tale is a combination of a solo trip he took to the remote...
Genre Definition = Intellectual · Intimate · All Ages
Glowing explores adoption, infertility, morning sickness and the sudden desire for a child at 40. When I attended, there were around 60 people in the house. These people sprung to their feet as soon as the show finished showering Mary-Jo Dionne and her repressed subconscious, Andrea Polz, with applause. I can see why they may have liked it. The show is well written, emotional, authentic, delivered with expert timing and funny. I heard some people say it was the best show they've seen so far.
Alas it was not for me. I have an abnormal knowledge of adoption...
Genre Description = Funny · Warm and Fuzzy · Intimate
Although Colin Thomas in Georgia Straight faulted this show, with all due respect, I disagree. Jones, an Englishman and Cambridge graduate (as he points out three times), tells us how, a healthy young man of 30, he had heart failure - not heart disease - caused, he discovers, by a puzzlingly enlarged heart (so a pun on 'big heart').
On the screen before the start: "Has caused fainting: I'll warn you of squeamish bits," which he does twice, though no-one looked anywhere near fainting. He records, in a linear and sometimes emotional way, his...
Andrew Bailey’s “The Adversary” is hilarious, poignant and a little disturbing. Almost introverted and beautifully simple, Bailey himself is a bit of character with a unique vocal rhythm and a delivery style that incorporates . . . dramatic pauses. But he is charming and vulnerable and honest and his portrayal of the characters that he has encountered in his life is vivid, empathetic and, well . . . exciting.
In the beginning, the use of “locations” with light and moving from one spot to another felt a bit unnecessary for one guy up on a stage, but...
In Greek mythology, Athena is the goddess of just warfare, strength, strategy and skill. Though Athena is a goddess of war strategy, she dislikes fighting without purpose and prefers to use wisdom to settle predicaments. The goddess only encourages fighting for a reasonable cause or to resolve conflict.
It is these traits that the show written by Michael Doherty and performed by Jennifer Huva is based on. The show begins with Huva entering in ancient Greek dress complete with helmet and spear to emphasis her war like status amongst gods. Athena assembles an audience of soon to be born souls who...
I must preface this review to say that I am a huge Martin Dockery fan and as far as I am concerned he could read the phone book and I would listen. Dockery is a master when it comes to storytelling. His ability to engage the audience and take them on a journey through the ebb and flow of a story is spellbinding.
This year he brings a new tale and this time it is not a personal experience or at least not one that has happened yet, but rather an accounting of his time in Heaven. Although Dockery protests...
Annette Roman, who does the one-woman show Hitler's L'il Abomination, has a family history that she is keen to expose. She begins the show with what looks like a classic German Hitler Youth costume and a blonde wig, and runs through a couple routines in a German accent. She rips off the wig to reveal her true appearance and American accent.
Her family history is complex and twisted. Her mother was compelled to be in the girls' branch of Hitler Youth, but her mother's family were also owners of immense landholdings in East Prussia, until they all (including the workers...
