Fringe Play Reviews

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Actionable

By: Bob Wiseman

grow or die music / Toronto

07/18/2010 2:56 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies) Our Rating: Your Average Rating:

Whether you enjoy this 60-minute music- and PowerPoint-enhanced memoir might rely on how you feel about Winnipeg-born singer-songwriter Bob Wiseman… and according to the pie chart he provides at the play’s outset, the majority of people find him annoying.

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The puckish performer could certainly widen his share of the pie with this delightful show that’s one part concert, one part poetry slam and one part truth-is-stranger-than-fiction standup. The former Blue Rodeo keyboardist recounts his many run-ins with lawyers over the years, which range from the absurd to the ridiculous, and performs the offending material — both old and new, political and personal — on guitar and accordion with prerecorded backing accompaniment and droll videos/Super 8 films.

It’s a stretch to call Actionable a play — it’s more of a concert with multimedia enhancement and witty banter — but Wiseman’s songs have enough humour, pathos and rage for any stage.

— Jill Wilson

From the official Fringe Festival guide:

Actionable reflects upon litigious situations resulting from Bob Wiseman's "actions" while trying to establish his solo career after quitting Blue
Rodeo in 1991. These often hilarious tales are presented using Super 8 film, video projection, PowerPoint and musical breaks on accordion, guitar and keyboard.

"As real as life and death - and sometimes funny too" - David Byrne

www.bobwiseman.com

Warnings: Language,
RECOMMENDED: General Audience

60 min

Rudolph Rocker Cultural Centre (Venue 19), to Saturday

Tickets: $10
Discount Tickets: $7 for Fringe performers

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