comedy

Two for Tea is an all-ages remount of one of the first shows that production company James and Jamesy brought to the Vancouver Fringe Festival. The company comprises the duo, Aaron Malkin and Alastair Knowles, and their director, David MacMurray Smith.

Before even entering the theatre it is obvious that James and Jamesy are a Fringe favourite. The ticket-holder line is all the way up the stairs out the building and down the stairs of the back porch, despite it being midday on a Sunday.

Slapstick comedy isn't my style, but the charm of these two eked a begrudging giggle (OK guffaw) out of...

A farce, acted out by two men, as travelling players. Beginning in darkness with whispers about an accidental murder of an audience member during last night’s show, you are greeted with gusto and enthusiasm. Perpetual Wednesday is a wonderfully funny and energetic show. Presented by White Collar Crimes, this hilarious and absurd tale is going to have your cheeks aching from laughter.

As my second show at the Fringe I walked in having no idea about what to expect; all I had to go on was something about a murdered audience member. Within the first five minutes my cheeks were...

The whole set of this play takes place in the bar. The story is not very original to start with. It is about a guy who is pretending to be a widower in order to hook up with an attractive girl at the bar. The play's forty minutes consist of them going back and forth with standard pleasantries just in time for him to agree to go back to her place and – you guessed it – that is when his “deceased” wife appears to bust him. Somehow, I saw that coming—wouldn't you?

The story does not end quite yet and takes you a...

This show was sold out within a few days of opening at the Fringe. If you were lucky like me to get to see the performance you most likely enjoyed it. However I am attributing the success of the sales mainly to the character in the center – D. Trump. I mean he is already funny so it is no brainer to make a comedy out of it.

The show runs in a musical format with many great song parodies and I found the singing to be quite good. The story line takes many turns into Star Wars with characters twisted to reflect...

As I was waiting for Badmatch to start, I chatted with my seatmate about our own experiences with online dating in Vancouver. Clearly it is a subject many are familiar with since Studio 16 was sold out for the show. In Badmatch, Leanne Kuzminski shares the love lessons she learns on her dates from hell as she tries to find love in Vancouver’s notoriously aloof dating scene.

I was a bit impatient with the opening sequence when they asked the audience to recount our first loves and what we would do on our perfect date. All I really wanted was for them to...

When your mentor is Yoda and your friends are Sam and Frodo, you need nothing more than the script in your head to live the life you want. Especially when you have the Wolverine three pronged plan and your cactus at your side.

William vs. the World is a stream of pop culture references mostly for boys of the 90s with song and real stories from the geek front lines interweaved throughout. We watch William recount the pain of childhood, construct a carefully planned sanctuary underground, and then navigate through the early stages of adulthood determined to protect...

When rabbit comes hopping out in her bunny suit, one might suppose these two forest creatures are all cute and fluffy. They do seem so on the surface with the soft coats and noses twitching. Are these wild creatures or creatures of comfort looking for their square of land in the high priced land of luxury?

Mika Laulainen has written a clever mix of slapstick comedy and dark statements on environmental profit-mongering all wrapped up in cute fluffy animal costumes.

There are two pieces in this performance set at different speeds. Rabbit and Raccoon find themselves at odds...

Usually stories take a particular path to reach a particular conclusion. We have been lead to believe that order in a story is important to its outcome. We believe that even a collection of stories has an order that is preordained. Jem Rolls has pushed that concept off the back of the train as he tells tales of his travels in seemingly random order.

The order of the stories told in GET LOST Jem Rolls is random. Decided by pink cards distributed throughout the audience, shuffled and reordered with each show, no one, not the storyteller nor the...

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed when I realized that each of Henry’s wives were going to be played by the same actor. One of the things I look forward to in theatre, especially in period pieces, is the costumes. With one woman in one costume I could tell this wasn’t going to be a “costume drama”. So with the revelation that Til Death: The Six Wives of Henry VIII was a one-woman show, aka, a one costume show, I prepared for an attire-less evening.

Within minutes all my disappointment evaporated with the laughter that engulfed me from...

Presented by Gas Pedal Productions, Love, Lust, & Lace is a 60 minute Commedia dell'arte performance that has a little bit of everything. It’s like watching a live cartoon: there’s action, buffoonery, clowning, lots of audience interaction and of course romance!

A sensual evening set to the classic tale of two lovers, it is full of wonderfully dramatic characters and includes lots of audience participation. These actors are ready to do anything, and they are ready to handle anything their audience throws at them. I was very impressed with the actors` ability to take input from the audience and...

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