Freshly-picked fringe play reviews

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This article was published 19/07/2024 (820 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AIRBORN(E)

Alien Dreams Production

Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4), to July 27

🐟🐟🐟 ½

“Attention, passengers: I am not paid enough for this.”

Increasingly cranky in-flight announcements and mangled bilingual translations are just some of the jokes you’ll enjoy in this 55-minute romp. Panicky Jay (Jacques Leger) and perky Kay (Karam Daoud, also the playwright/director) are best pals on their first flight. Also onboard, unfortunately, is a criminal mastermind and disguise expert, looking to hijack the plane.

Leger and Daoud portray all the characters (Daoud’s turn as an irritating crying baby is unlike anything you’ve seen). Each takes turns playing the villain, which is necessary to allow the character to interact with both protagonists, but can be confusing.

There were some stumbles at the opening performance but half the fun is watching the likable duo find their footing, and discovering the many clever ways playwright Daoud has concocted for the heroes to unknowingly/accidentally thwart the dastardly villain. For their maiden fringe flight, a commendable takeoff.

— Janice Sawka

BURNS AND ALLEN: COMEDY DUO

Dog and Pony Shows

Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to July 28

🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟

An hour flies by when you’re in the company of consummate double act Caity Curtis and Stephen Sim. Taking us back to the golden days of radio, when the vaudeville legends Gracie Allen and George Burns reigned supreme, the pair successfully capture the magic of the real-life comedic couple with impeccable vocal mimicry and comedic styling.

Expertly weaving their way through timelines, aided by recordings of the original comedy duo themselves, Curtis plays an absolutely pitch-perfect Allen (evidenced by the seamless continuation of a joke from a recorded skit) while Sim, complete with (unlit) cigar, has Burns’ droll delivery and languid posture down pat.

In a sparky performance full of wit, heart and laughs, Curtis and Sim invite us to fall under their spell and we’re only too happy to oblige. A masterclass in the art of comedy that hits all the right notes.

— AV Kitching

BUYING BACON

Cagey Productions

Dave Barber Cinematheque (Venue 7), to July 28

🐟 ½

The fringe program describes this local show as “storytelling.” OK. But at what seems like an interminable 50 minutes, the gimmick of two guys having an audience present while they blabber on their unwatched YouTube show wears thin quickly.

The subjects range from “shrinkflation” to the metric system’s foul-ups, how to tell the sex of a baby chick, and the “game” of putting weasels down your pants —those who stand it longest win. There is a barrage of video and slides.

If it is anything, the piece might reflect playwright Ken Gordon’s current I-know-it-all obsessions, including the underhanded pricing tactics of supermarkets, especially concerning bacon, or perhaps what he finds funny while he surfs the internet. The audience at Thursday’s performance was generous. You can’t hate a show like this, but its insistent smug, vulgar humour asks a lot.

— Rory Runnells

CACT-US IF YOU CAN

Cactus Makes Perfect Improv Comedy

Son of Warehouse (Venue 5), to July 27

🐟🐟🐟

This local improv troupe (Brody, Kate, Cora, Mike and Charles) makes its fringe debut this year, but while the members bring a lot of energy onstage, their performance is often uneven.

Structured as a series of different improv games, the show relies on texts pulled at random or shouted audience suggestions. Some actors seem more interested in creating running gags unrelated to the supposed subject.

But enthusiasm goes a long way, and it’s clear this group loves its work. The members’ talents would be better served using one game for a couple of skits instead of rushing to explain new rules and start the next one.

Improv is demanding, and hard to pull off, but the end of a sketch shouldn’t drag on after the actors are clearly out of ideas and decide to call out, “Scene!”

— David Jón Fuller

COOKING 4 KIDS WITH UNDEAD NEWLYWEDS

Undead Newlyweds

MTYP Mainstage (Kids Venue), to July 27

🐟🐟 ½

The Undead Newlyweds, Devlyn Smith (Chris Parsons) and his not-fully-reanimated bride (Tara Lambert), set out to present a 45-minute cooking show featuring some tricks and safety tips thrown into the mix of the Winnipeg pair’s first indoor performance.

Utilizing the assistance of a few tender audience members, the couple prepare Hasenpfeffer (with a broad nod to What’s Opera, Doc?). Things are slow to get rolling, however, with a too-long series of false starts that feel like a time filler.

The classical background music, meant to lend a faux sophisticated air to the proceedings, is much too loud, making it really difficult to hear chef Smith’s comedic play-by-play.

Cooking 4 Kids is an uneven show which needs to be a lot tighter to better serve up its laughs.

— Wendy King

CHASE PADGETT: GRAB BAG CABARET

Chase Padgett

PTE — Cherry Karpyshin Mainstage (Venue 16), to July 28

🐟🐟🐟🐟 ½

Orlando performer/writer/guitarist/improviser and perennial fringe favourite Chase Padgett (Six Guitars) is back as you’ve never seen him, debuting this hilarious and big-hearted cabaret that offers an eclectic and electric mix of personal stories and, of course, music.

Padgett is a gifted storyteller, so engaging and warm that you feel like you’re catching up with your funniest friend. Audience members are invited to pull from a deck of cards that includes stories, standup bits and songs — all the stuff he’s wanted to try — so this 60-minute show will be slightly different every time it’s performed.

The story Positive Masculinity — about his high school band teacher and adopted father figure — is not only a keeper but a surprise weeper that should be included in every show, and the one about the time he starred in a B-movie called Crabs! is also a high-energy laugh riot.

The card system makes for some tonal whiplash — one minute you’re laughing the next you’re misty-eyed during a killer rendition of My Guitar Gently Weeps — but that’s just the luck of the draw.

— Jen Zoratti

EL DIABLO OF THE CARDS 2.0

Ewerton Martins

Son of Warehouse (Venue 5), to July 28

🐟🐟🐟🐟 ½

Brazil’s Ewerton Martins delivers an hour-long magic show filled with delusional delights that will leave you guessing with a grin.

The charismatic, infectious magician confidently executes his sleight-of-hand tricks, even giving audience members front-row seats to his card table onstage.

Calling on viewers to pick cards, shuffle and send good vibes, Martins instinctively knows how to captivate a crowd and is a masterful commander of close-up card magic.

Say goodbye to your sanity and embrace the silliness — this is the only deck you need to see this summer.

— Nadya Pankiw

ENTRY LEVEL BOB

Sour Candy Comedy

Son of Warehouse (Venue 5), to July 28

🐟🐟🐟

Winnipegger Bob Banks steamrolls through his resumé in a 50-minute mixed-bag storytelling act, sharing the highs, lows and lowests of his entry-level jobs.

Arming an audience member with what he deems the “bitter bell” to keep him from straying into side stories of overt discontentment, Banks breaks down gigs as a movie-theatre employee, mail carrier and late-night janitor (among many others).

This fast-paced show was met with a pause as a misty-eyed Banks recounted the courage it took for him to leave his home, take a risk on himself and laugh his way through the jobs he took to help him pursue his comedy career. This show reminds us to chase after what we want, and that jobs don’t define us or our dreams.

— Nadya Pankiw

THE SPICE OF LIFE

Leithelle Productions

Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4) to July 27

🐟🐟🐟

Recipe for fringe success: take a familiar topic (soap operas), mix in every genre cliché and trope (melodramatic dialogue, rich corrupt family, all characters sex-, money- or power-obsessed), add spice (name all characters after spices), age well (various episodes have played the Winnipeg fringe since the 1990s), reheat and serve.

Fans of the long-running, large-cast (17+) comedy will be happy to see several jokes return: one character is played by a different actor every time they appear until an audience member — and later, creator Leith Clark himself — must fill in; another character named Anise is aggravated by everyone calling her “Anus.”

You get the picture. It’s silly, but spot-on, if only because soaps are so easily parodied. Even the format of “conversation ends on a dramatic note — blackout — repeat with subsequent characters” is duplicated onstage. It’s certainly clever (the evil twin is a standout!) but becomes repetitive at 60 minutes.

Still, if you haven’t sampled it before, it’s worth a taste.

— Janice Sawka

YOU’RE DRIVING ME CRAZY

Glass Confetti Productions

Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to July 27

🐟🐟 ½

In this car-ride-turned WWE match, sisters Jen (Stephanie Alexandre) and Penny (Alison Bloxham) hash out past fights and current pet peeves as they slowly drive to their father and soon-to-be stepmother’s wedding. The chaotic, hour-long dramedy covers your classic sibling disputes: the car radio, relationship updates and high school memories.

The dynamic between these actors is so fluid they fight like real siblings — some audience members may feel as though they’ve already lived through these exact arguments with their own families. However, punchlines become predictable and fall flat, while musical interludes meant to break up car scenes lack nuance, prolonging the “passenger” experience for the audience.

This duo didn’t miss a beat in their delivery, but most siblings know it’s often more advantageous to bury hatchets than to go digging for trouble.

— Nadya Pankiw