On April 26,1937, Guernica, a Basque Country village in northern Spain, was bombed by German and Italian warplanes for the Spanish Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso was commissioned by the Spanish Republican Government to create a canvas that was later displayed at 1937 World Fair. He created a visceral study of the suffering inflicted on the innocent during war - a mother wails over a dead child, a woman looks to the sky in fear, a man stretched out dead with a broken dagger in his hand, a horse whinnying in fear. Guernica has since become a...
I was worried about weak sauce for the first 10 minutes. I was wrong. Weak Sauce is a simple solo show about a young man’s coming of age and all that comes along with that.
My Aim Is True is loosely inspired by the Elvis Costello song Alison. You see, the main character is named Alison, purposefully so by her nihilistic mother, Olivia. The similarities with the song begin and end there. Yes, the characters sing Alison, using various verses in between scenes as sort of buffers to relate to the song, except the actions in between don't meet up with the events in the song.
Alison is a powerful song for two reasons: the quality of the story telling and Elvis Costello. It's not one of those tunes that's covered much, because it's...
Drama, Musical Theatre, Cabaret, New Work - http://chrishomusic.com/
It takes a minute to get used to the frantic, chaotic silliness of the players (I want to say performers, but players seems more appropriate) in Temple of Chaos… but when you stop trying to figure it out and just let the chaos wash over you, it might just become your favorite show of the Fringe this year.
Comedy, Cabaret, Clown, Physical Theatre, All Ages - http://www.danielnimmo.com/
“First Day Back” tackles the complex situation a school and its students face when one of the students takes their life due to bullying. Rob Salerno, creator/performer, delivers the thoughts and feelings of the teacher who started a safe space after school and the six teenagers who came to reflect.
Drama, Queer, Monologue, New Work - http://www.tenfootpole.ca/
I entered “CAPS LOCK: The Musical” wondering what is in the water in Vancouver that two theatre companies in two months have produced musicals about life in the office (Delinquent Theatre recently premiered “Stationary” at the Neanderthal Arts Festival).
Presented by Not My Cup of Theatre Productions, Smudge is an original new play created by writer/directors Kazz Leskard and Jennica Grienke with support from producer Emmelia Gordon. Starring a group of four Studio 58 grads (Sara Andrina Brown, Joy Castro, Kazz Leskard and Caitlin McCarthy), Smudge is happening at the Ocean Concrete Maintenance Building on Granville Island.
Hanafuda Denki only has three performances in total (last one is Sunday at 10:10pm) so get your tickets while you can! Imported from Tokyo, the experience of this show was so frantic, fantastical and fragmented that prose cannot do it justice. I recommend that you go and see it with your own eyes.
Comedy, Dance, Drama, Musical Theatre, All Ages - http://www.ryuzanji.com/
I may not be a professional reviewer but I see a LOT of theatre and I’ve studied theatre, created theatre etc etc. And I know that (as much as I would like there to be) there is no objective standard for my favourite medium, all art is subjective. That disclaimer made: This is possibly the best show I have ever seen. Ever.
Underbelly is by far my favorite show I’ve seen yet at the Fringe (and I’ve seen a lot so far). It’s an unforgettable performance inspired by the hallucinatory semi-biographical story of novelist junkie essayist homosexual wife-shooting literary exterminator and frequent defendant William S. Burroughs.
