vancouver fringe

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.

Swimming to Cambodia

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:...

Freud and his, er, ego

With a desire to become a serious actor, Sam Harbinger ended up in the worst contract in show business as a children’s television performer. In an attempt to get out of the business altogether, Harbinger and his sidekick desperately try to get his show cancelled by making it highly inappropriate for young children. But his plan fails and – surprise, surprise - he ends up becoming an even bigger star, but with a whole new crowd.

Despite being advertised as a comedy, The Harbingers by playwright Jim Cunningham would in fact be better described as a tragedy. And if the...

The Harbingers

Barry Smith has a rock-solid history of successful multi-media solo comedy shows that somehow shine the spotlight on Barry's appreciation of humanity so well that you somehow manage to forget all that whizz-bang Power Point™ technology he uses to tell those captivating stories.  Following on Jesus in Montana, American Squatter and Me, My Stuff and I (aka Barry Smith's Baby Book), Barry brings us his Employment quadrant to compliment the Spiritual, Family and Material quadrants with which Fringe-goers have become familiar.

And, really, we are so familiar by now, aren't we?  I mean, I feel like I'm related to Barry,...

Every Job I've Ever Had

Mark Alford, Ryan Hitchcock and Matt Olson are the cheerleaders for 1-2-3 USA!, a new sketch comedy trio from Olympia delivering their sometimes hilarious Manifest Destiny to the Canadian audience. We're invited to join them in the Greatest Nation on Earth.  In case you miss it the first time, they repeat it.  And repeat it.  Louder. (That's how you know it's the truth.)  It's American foreign policy's kinder, gentler Disney-fied ambassador.  They say ignorance is bliss and these guys profess a wholeheartedly blissful existence. All well and good, except their sketches betray a touch of Monty Python-ish cynicism and a...

Everyone Altogether All The TIme

You know how jokes can get kinda tired and end up falling flat? Jokes about cocks tend to do that, but before they do, they’re pretty funny.

Stand-up comedian Jon Bennett has been working on this project, Pretending Things Are a Cock for about the last three years. It started as a Facebook page where he’d post pictures of varied items protruding from his groin area. It became wildly popular so now there’s a book for sale filled with glossy Pretend Cock photos and he has this show going.

The list of objects Bennett employs includes monuments from around the...

Pretending Things are A Cock

The year is 1962. The time is approximately 5:30 in the afternoon. Mr. Teale, a well adjusted, introverted bachelor, pours himself a glass of lemonade and settles in for a quick afternoon nap in his perfectly manicured back yard.  As he starts to nod off, he is unexpectedly interrupted by the intriguing and persuasive Mrs. Deremont, an encyclopedia saleswoman with an interesting pitch. Out of politeness and curiosity, Mr. Teale surrenders his next hour of his time to Mrs. Deremont, which turns out to be one of the most poignant hours of his life.

The Exquisite Hour is a charming...

The Exquisite Hour

I was excited to see this show, Truth and Roses, and to delve into the realm of psychosis. The characters looked interesting and the subject matter stimulating. All was lost, though, in the writing of the play.

The three actors who tell the tale are good at what they do, but it is what they do in this piece that is unclear, slow, and relatively confusing. The storyline comes together finally nearing the end of the play, but the one character in leather with a high blood-alcohol level is still a big, huge question mark to me. Is she a...

Truth and Roses

This production by We Make Creatures included two short ghost stories at the Vancouver Police Museum, which is right beside the Firehall Theatre. After ascending the creaking stairs, the audience was ably introduced to the facility by Ashley O'Connell who served as the evening's host.  The audience was then divided into two groups.  One group viewed the play "Last Night" in one room while the other viewed the play "The Cold Room".  Each play lasted about the same amount of time and after seeing the first play, the two audience groups switched rooms and viewed the other play.  

In...

After the End

Melvin Brown comes to us this year with a polished up version of his hit 2008 Fringe show full of beautiful singing and dancing based on his very interesting life of now 65 years. While taking us on a journey through the musical hits of the times of his youth, he provides insights about love, military service, being a black man in the US south in the 1950's and 1960's and performing as an exotic dancer. A lucky lady from the audience gets invited on stage to view the exotic dance routine up close which is great fun for all. ...

A Man, A Magic, A Music

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