The day after I saw Capsule, I headed back to the Boca Del Lupo studio to catch their other fifteen minute show, Value Village. This play is perhaps the best experience I have had at the Fringe for quite a few years. It is short, direct, and involves a great deal of improvisation - always a risky prospect if you don’t have a strong enough actor. Luckily, the actor they have for this show is amazing.
To explain what I mean, here is the set up before the show. An audience member chooses an object tacked on a board outside...
Capsule is fifteen minute short about two astronauts lost in space. They have been out in space for some time (orbiting Jupiter) and have not had any communication from Earth for quite some time. The two astronauts eventually meet up and chat, one providing the other with more information about the fate of our planet. As the story progresses, we learn that zombies or “face rapers” have taken over the world and most (if not all) of the world’s population is gone. As the hope of rescue evaporates, this leads to some discussion about how the characters will take control...
Poison The Well is a very, very, very, very, dense script. In fact, the script is much too dense for a show featured at a Fringe anywhere in the world. The show should be a feature film! It is that good.
The story follows a not-so-chance meeting between Maya and James, representatives for opposite sides of a hostage negotiation. As the story progresses, we find out they already know each other, two kids from the same neighbourhood. They are separated at the age of sixteen in a violent clash; one trapped in the war-torn country while the other escapes to...
If you take your foreplay with a side of voyeurism and kink, you’ll like the disquiet of Wicked Shorts and these four one-act plays that hinge on perversity, farce and that ultimate rite of passage—the first date.
Opening with “Matador Love” by Morwyn Brebner, we meet a librarian and hear about her bestial fantasies (about fucking horses, those long-dong beasts of the animal kingdom). She also orgasms at the touch of strangers. (“We’re establishing a rapport here,” breathes the man responsible.) Sheltered and shut-in, she’s ultimately pent up; a crowded sidewalk is orgiastic and she pairs her conservative knitwear with...
One Man Show takes us down the metaphysical rabbit hole of Fringe theatre. What’s a one-man show if it’s a two-man show? It’s a one-man show in a fringe festival.
Zdenka Now! was hilarious and revealing until Precious Chong abandoned us on a bus with an Inuk teenager and broke the whimsical and romantic reverie of her off-the-wall characters.
Moving but non-sensical, Zdenka Now! held together thanks to the utter commitment and talent of Chong. Why these characters are on stage, I can't say, but I was gripped to know what sorry case would pop out from the racks of clothing and Chong’s bizarro brain.
Barely clinging to the premise of its format, the audience is introduced to the No. 1 television talk show host of the former Yugoslavia, Zdenka,...
This has to be one of the very best performances at this year's Fringe. A strong pair of professional actors and a riveting script combine to build the tension minute by minute as the ante is upped one more notch by each player, leading to an unexpected conclusion.
Is it the end of the world or the beginning? The Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world as we know it and the beginning of another in December 2012. We were all braced for complete disaster because of Y2K but we were fine... then we had 9-11 and we're still fine (some of us, anyway)...then Planet X was coming towards us... Do we need constant impending global disaster to control us? Do we respond with reactionary fear? Riots? Or do we seek out community and each other for comfort and solace?
The audience for this show will divide between those who saw Spalding Gray himself perform (well, speak) this, on DVD or even at the Cultch about 20 years ago, and those coming new to the script.
Freud and his ego have one hour to live. Can they come to terms with each other? Can Freud complete self-analysis before this time expires?
Farcical and incredibly witty, the ego/ unconscious reveals to Freud his history, recalled in snippets of memory, that have made Freud who he is, and his theories what they are. The quickly–paced interplay of Freud and his ego, as they connect, then disconnect (the ego attempting to escape the confines of Freud’s mind), is the work of pure comic genius. We meet characters from Freud's past, as well as his clients. Book your tickets immediately:...
