Let me start with the positive things, as there were some. The most enjoyable thing about this spectacle was the music. The songs ranged from classical opera to Latin influenced music with a few more modern classical types thrown in. There wasn’t a single one I didn’t enjoy listening to and that didn’t perfectly fit the mood that Thomas 'MUDD' Monahan was going for. A new idea was presented that I’d never seen before: a clown in a war and possibly with PTSD, although I can’t say for sure that I was right on the last one. I also...
East Vancouver storyteller, musician and clown Jim Sands takes us on a whimsical trip through a day in the life of a not so attractive plus-sized German man-boy, Hansel. He is on a quest to find a girlfriend in Vancouver. Having a companion means everything in Hansel’s shy life. Firstly it will help our simple and sensitive character set his parents back home in Hamburg at ease, but also to reassure himself that there is a soulmate for everyone.
This one-man play was written and directed by Gina Bastone, and in 60...
Uncouth. A two-syllable word. Kind of catches in your mouth as you utter it, a sensation emphasized in the show’s title by an extra capital letter: UnCouth. There’s that hard ‘c’ in the back of your throat, followed by an elongated vowel sound slowly traversing the length of your mouth to the tip of your tongue, finally ending when your tongue touches your teeth in that closing ‘t-h.’ The sensation of pronouncing the title is mirrored in the phenomenon of seeing this show; it grasps your attention and sticks with you long after you’ve left the venue. Granted, I have...
Wow. What a delightful treat. I admit, I was very much looking forward to seeing this show from the start. I'm not a big fan of the traditional “clown” (they scare me actually - ahem...Poltergeist…It…enough said) but I do have a full appreciation for the fierce commitment that buffoonery demands in order to capture an audience, and capture them she did. The audience was on the edge of their seat from the moment this amazing curvy clown stepped on stage. A Bouffon protege of Cirque du Soliel’s Masimo Agostinelli, Priscilla Costa had the audience roaring with laughter and eating out of the...
Summer Shapiro enters the stage clothed in a white southern belle dress. With the raise of an eyebrow and an intense stare she begins to set the stage for what looks like to be a dinner date. It is immediately clear there is no fourth wall. She can see us and we can see her. No sooner is the romantic evening assembled; it comes crashing down around her, literally and figuratively. She then spends the rest of the show, sometimes successfully and sometimes in vain, trying to pick up the pieces.
Entering the Performance Works venue I really didn’t know...
Brought to you by Small Matters Productions is the clown-centric Fringe show Fools For Love. Best friends Rocket and Sheshells share an adjoining wall and hilarious adventures in this densely packed but sparsely decorated staging.
A couple of chairs take us from lonesome apartments to the cinema, then a flight to a marauded picnic and on a roller coaster at the carnival all with fluid and unexpected transitions. These clowns are a tight duo who can mix contemporary issues like body image problems and derelict mayors with all out snort laugh-inducing physical comedy.
Fuses are blown and ninjas are bravely...
Genre Description = Funny · Warm and Fuzzy · Tear-Jerker
This is a show unlike anything you have seen before – a wordless combination of physical theatre/comedy, grotesque clown / bouffon and dance that just may transform you.
Performer Sandrine Lafond brings her show Little Lady from Las Vegas – one of my favorite places & the transformation capital of the world. Whether it be transforming a desert into an oasis, a hotel into a pyramid or castle or transforming a human’s face, teeth, boobs & abs to create the perfect body for lounging by the pool - Vegas is the place. Lafond herself has recently transformed from Cirque Du...
Dance, Clown, Physical Theatre, All Ages - http://sandrinelafond.com/
I once heard the difference between tragedy and comedy described as “Oh my god I’m going to die” and “holy crap, I’m going to mutherf*cking die waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”
I’m not a huge fan of red nose white nose clown work. It’s incredibly hard stuff to pull off – even folks with the history of Mump and Smoot or Thwacked fail from time to time. The gibberish and bigness that come along with it require huge stakes and mammoth obstacles that, when without, just fall flat.
Here a pair of female clowns are looking for sexual gratification. Unable to find it, they...
Comedy, Cabaret, Clown, New Work - Valour & Tea Productions
When I received my random assignment of shows for this year's Fringe and I glanced down the list of titles, I had no idea that one of these shows would feature a clown, killer rubber ducks, an inflatable dinghy, and a pop-gun. If I had known, I may have attempted to trade the show with someone else on the Plank review team but I am glad I didn't. Duck Off, a production between the Fringe Onsite program and Kazoomco'sMelissa Aston is so awesome that I think every other show in the entire Fringe...
If you don't drop that duck, it will eat your face off
My cheeks still hurt from all the laughter and enjoyment I received as Miss Hiccup (Japanese clown Shoshniz) went about her day on opening night. The pace of the show was fast, with lots of physical comedy, dance, impressive vocal power...*hiccup*...and of course Miss Hiccup, hiccuping all the way through.
