Vancouver

Pipef@%! - A well-oiled machine that churns out confusion

If you like symbolist, Artaudian, avant-garde, experimental theatre, I would recommend making the trek out to the Firehall because there aren’t many shows like this at the Vancouver Fringe Festival.

But if you don’t, then don’t waste your time with this show.

I don’t like this type of theatre. But that’s just me. Objectively, Pipef@%! is a well-oiled assembly line of activity that is passively interesting but produces no clear messages or story in its 60 minutes on stage.

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September 13th, 2015 · By Matthew Willis

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The Living Shh - Bizarre, but Entertaining

"My human name is Callahan."

- Callahan Connor (C-Command)

Let me start by saying that this man's beard is a work of art. It is not content to merely extend below his face but protrudes out in all directions, like the rays of a glorious furry sun.

Second off, I will say that I entered the theatre a little bit late. Connor's performance started...

September 13th, 2015 · By Kit Martens

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The Hunger Games: The Musical – What the Original Should Have Been

District 13’s large cast for this production (over a dozen) pumps a lot of energy, talent and celebration into the thin, but iconic, love and resistance story that is The Hunger Games. Laced through this musical production are references to pop singers (Taylor Swift) and local culture (Tim Horton’s) but if you aren’t particularly tuned in to these, you’ll still enjoy this show if you like well-performed musical comedy.

The production I attended was sold out — lots of...

September 13th, 2015 · By Keith Wilkinson

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Hoof – Challenging the Audience

An abstract meditation on the nature of those with hooves, perhaps you require hooves of your own to truly appreciate this production written and directed by Elysse Cheadle. Inspired by beasts both domestic and mythic, hoof attempts to stand on its own four feet (or 10 feet if you count the actual number of feet belonging to its five female performers appearing onstage at the Waterfront Theatre). The show has physical theatre and abstraction aplenty but spoken text is largely nowhere to be found.

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September 13th, 2015 · By Allyson Mcgrane

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Olya the Child -- Delivers Much More Than You Might Expect

The program description for Olya the Child is brief. The venue is a parkade and I knew that meant uncomfortable chairs. The show is only 35 minutes. Not that one chooses art by the cost per minute but...

So, Thursday night, I dashed from the Waterfront where I had the pleasure of seeing “Bear Dreams” and managed to slip in just in time to get one of the last two seats.

I do like attending site-specific shows at the Fringe – I've seen some amazing ones (Greenland, Eidola and Felon come to mind) and others that I won't...

September 12th, 2015 · By Mary Bennett

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Lust and Marriage - Exploring Sexuality with Sincerity, Humour, and Spread Legs

Eleanor O'Brien put on one hell of a show, if you'll pardon my French.

So let me start by explaining that I came to this performance exhausted. Physically, emotionally, mentally. I had to get up early for classes that day, I had been walking around trying to orient myself around my campus for most of the morning and afternoon, and I had a job interview just after all of that. My main preoccupation prior to entering the stage was a chemistry assignment I had to print off and finish after the show.

I waited in line for fifteen minutes and...

September 12th, 2015 · By Kit Martens

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In Search of Cruise Control - A Journey Worth Taking

WRITTEN AND STARRING JAMES GANGL

“In Search of Cruise Control” starts with James Gangl showing up and reading to us birthday cards his mother has sent him. The relationship with the audience continues as he acknowledges his tripping up in some of the script and the silliness of his staged actions to resemble a conversation. This breaking down of the wall between the audience and the play invites us into Gangl’s life. As the play progresses it feels like we could have been at a support group meeting and we are hearing the story of one man’s journey of understanding...

September 12th, 2015 · By MJ Ankenman

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The Sama Kutra - One Lucky Cantaloupe

It's not often that I find myself sexually titillated by clowns.

The Sama Kutra was one such occasion. And as I go over this colourful and electric performance in my mind, it's clear that there was more motivating it than mere shock value.

A needle swings ever more wildly between silly and sexy as a clowny couple (Sizzle played by Jacqueline Russell and Spark played by Jed Tomlinson) try to revive their crumbling relationship with the help of the eponymous magical erotic book. The makeup, the humorous acting, and the wild props all combine to create a layer of separation...

September 12th, 2015 · By Mattias Martens

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I Can’t Tell You—No, Seriously!

Troupers. That’s what these two are. Troupers. The intimate setting of the Revue Stage, Granville Island, was even more intimate with the excited, jovial early bird Fringers, taking in an early show on festival opening. For an act that wasn’t even on the program, due to a presumed scheduling challenge with the act that was supposed to appear. Ah, well, I think I lucked out.

Vincent Leblanc-Beaudoin and Caitlin McFarlane brought their Victoria Fringe show to Vancouver on very short notice. Like, last Friday night kind of notice. I can only imagine what that must have felt like, both terrifying...

September 12th, 2015 · By Bruce M. Campbell

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A Closer Walk With Jean Chretien - Politically Correct?

“Damn,” I thought to myself in the queue on Commercial Drive, smelling the melange of odours donated by several restaurants in mid-Drive business, various herbal vapours wafting past from patrons in need of their pneumonic medications, and a bit of bike smells, perfumery and human aromas. We had to line up on the curb to avoid blocking the strollers and becoming invalided by bikes on the sidewalk. I wished I knew more of One Crazy Frenchman’s first take on his alter ego. I wished I had seen it performed at that earlier Fringe.

Havana is one of the Drive’s...