Fringe reviews #1: Choose your fighter, then your venue

ABSOLUTELY NOT A CULT

Starr Street Productions

Théâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 3), to July 25

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After Etsy crafter Jill (Kathryn Taylor) returns home from a trip to a farm commune, her tech-minded husband John (Blagoj Naumov) notices something strange. She can’t stop talking about commune leader Wade — who, she assures her husband, is absolutely not leading a cult.

But Jill’s transformation soon takes a darker turn — and that’s when this trio comedy, co-written by Taylor and Charlie Hume, really takes off. The show’s first half goes slow. But from the moment Hume takes the stage, it becomes a hilarious cascade of weirdness and unpredictable comic twists.

Hume is simply delicious as wild-eyed, charismatic kook Wade; his eyebrows are a character all their own. The comedy is pinned on sharp observations of modern problems, such as the amorality of tech and the allure of TikTok woo-woo culture. But overall, it’s not that deep. Just trust us when we say: make sure to leave your cats at home.

— Melissa Martin

AFENI

A Friendly Co Pro’

Le Studio at Théâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 20), to July 26

👾👾👾 1/2

Before Afeni Shakur was iconic rapper Tupac’s mother, she was a revolutionary activist and a Black Panther. In 1970, after she and 20 of her comrades were arrested on a pile of false charges, Shakur stood up against a justice system determined to destroy them, represented herself in court — and won.

Now, that chapter of Shakur’s life is given due respect in this 60-minute biographical monologue, written by Toronto playwright Adam Bailey and performed by Edmonton’s Onika Henry.

At times, one wishes the script delved deeper into Shakur’s inner world: her hopes, her fears and her motivations. But Henry, in her first- ever Winnipeg show, brings a heartfelt energy to the material that paints a vivid picture. Through the warmth of her delivery, a seminal moment in Black American history feels intimately close, like a story told to us by a trusted friend. She closes with a call to solidarity that is forever timely.

— Melissa Martin

#BLACK EYE

Silver Lining Comedy

King’s Head Pub (Venue 14), to July 26

👾👾👾 1/2

Since her fringe debut with her monologue Blindside, a show about losing her eye to cancer, Montrealer-turned-Winnipegger Stephanie Morin-Robert has always made a big impression here, quite literally in the 2017 production of The Merkin Sisters where she was very pregnant with her daughter, Olive. Never one to pull her punches, her 60-minute show is pure, caustic standup, and Morin-Robert, no stranger to nudity, has perhaps never been so revealing, especially discussing sexual misadventures during her daughter’s birth.

But standup proves more difficult than Merkin Sisters-style performance art. You can’t always control the laughter and Morin-Robert is uncharacteristically awkward when the laughs or reactions don’t land, cuing the audience to applause with a shamelessness worthy of Jimmy Fallon.

Fortunately, a closing number involving a kind of outré puppetry puts her back on form. You’ll never hear the song I Put a Spell on You the same way again.

— Randall King

CHEKOV SHORTS

Untimely Theatre Collective

Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to July 26

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Chekov Shorts’ funny little synopsis is worth quoting: “Ross McMillan and Bill Kerr are typecast as two pathetic men in three short plays by Anton Chekhov.”

Don’t take it to heart: these seasoned pros’ range goes well beyond the self-pitying schlumps they play. But Kerr, a theatre professor, and McMillian, a fixture on local stages, clearly have the chops for Chekhov.

The synopsis is also worth quoting because it’s about all the background we get on these minimally staged plays (running one hour) about a henpecked husband, a suicidally bored father and a washed-up actor. At times, the material can feel a little dry — maybe because it lacks the social context that once made these late-19th-century satires of the privileged Russian classes so piercing.

But the archetypes are still resonant — man-boys, “I hate my wife” husbands and prima dons show up in every era — and the actors bring them to life with craft, pathos and laughs.

— Conrad Sweatman

FAKESPEARE

Solid State Circus

Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to July 26

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Shakespeare lives on because we keep messing around with him. We drop star-crossed lovers in Mexico City with a Butthole Surfers soundtrack. We let William Hurt chew postmodern scenery as Richard III on MTC’s stage, recreating the War of the Roses as Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Well-known theatre artist Patrick Hercamp, a member of Sound & Fury, gets this. With the energy of a Peloton instructor, he condenses the Bard’s works into 30-minute romps brimming with pop references. His take is that Will’s lingo is a bit dense for the average Joe, but the storytelling is for everyone.

The results work — but we still wish he would linger more on Shakespeare’s language, his revolutionary poetry. A few more quotes beyond the hits such as “to be… .” If you dress like you belong at a Renaissance Fair, as Hercamp does, you might be the type of nerd who loves air guitar and Bill and Ted references, but it seems you gotta commit to the Shakespearean bit too.

— Conrad Sweatman

THE GHOST OF A FLEA

Wych Elm Productions

The Gargoyle Theatre (Venue 25), to July 26

👾👾 1/2

For 60 minutes, this one-hander by local playwright Logan Stefanson follows the harried and increasingly bizarre life of the new caretaker of a dilapidated apartment block. He is particularly concerned with the disappearance of his favourite tenant. His search turns into an urban horror story.

Stefanson’s script has its strengths. It turns kitchen-sink melodrama into often sophisticated dark horror-comedy. Its weakness is its failure to turn the building and its tenants, who range from eccentric to outright crazy, into a symbolic statement about society’s ignoring the growing urban poor.

When he is the narrator, Osric, Stephen Gatphoh acts sympathetically, if fitfully, in a believable straightforward manner. Unfortunately, the production, directed by Daphne Finlayson, turns the building’s tenants, and its owner, all played by Gatphoh, into over-the-top caricatures. This ruins the text’s intent at key moments by alienating us from the people for whom the playwright wants us to feel some empathy. The play deserves better.

— Rory Runnells

A SEXY PIGEON SHOW

The Lighter Touch Art Collective

RRC Polytechnic (Venue 11), to July 26

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As Colum the sexy pigeon, Sarah Ivanco is on a mission to make you see their species — and maybe your own — in a new light.

This 60-minute, one-bird show from Ottawa’s the Lighter Touch Art Collective serves up a little bit of everything: bird-lesque, a Broadway ballad, mating dances, tongue-in-beak jokes, a sprinkle of coarse language, a plethora of pigeon facts and some (totally voluntary) audience participation.

There are many genuinely funny moments, quite a few knee-slappers and some heartfelt reflections on fitting in and finding community in an urban landscape that’s cast you aside.

Ivanco’s performance is endearing, the physical comedy is entertaining and you’re guaranteed to learn something new about those city birds.

That said, the story can get a little lost in the string of props, bits and impressions. Some of Ivanco’s more touching and vulnerable commentary falls flat in the otherwise goofy and light-hearted variety fare.

— Julia-Simone Rutgers

THE SHELTER

Dark Horse Theatre

School of Contemporary Dancers (Venue 7), to July 26

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This brisk, 45-minute, locally produced drama presents another way to look at the plight of the homeless without being patronizing or preachy. The glue holding everything together is the stellar performance of Dave Pruden as Paul, a ragged man living in a dirty bus shelter. Paul is articulate, soft- spoken and philosophical, and we learn he was a teacher before his life collapsed. Now he considers himself a student of humanity. (“It’s easy to study people when they ignore you — they don’t hide anything.”)

Some roles alternate on different dates. Standouts in the opening-night supporting cast were obnoxious stockbroker Vincent (Daniel Kinley, who had the audience despising him after just a few lines) and crack-addicted wreck Colin (writer-director Mike Seccombe, whose shrieks scared a few kids in the audience to tears).

While the plot twist isn’t too hard to guess, it nonetheless provides a unique answer to the question: “How can people live this way?”

Some performances are uneven and there are a few rough spots — much like the characters — but there is a little gem here.

— Janice Sawka

THINGS THAT GO BUMP

Krol Entertainment

The Output (Venue 12), to July 25

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Things That Go Bump turns out to be a prophetic title for this 45-minute show from Saskatoon storyteller- magician Lisa Krol, who invites us into her fortune-telling space to commune with the spirits floating in the Artspace ether.

Setting a magic show in a séance setting is a great idea, especially in Winnipeg, a city rich in séance history.

But on opening night, an opening bit with Tarot cards proved abortive when, apparently, the wrong cards got dealt, leaving Krol at a discomfiting loss.

Some tricks worked out better, although Krol needs to work on her misdirection skills. She does a whole bit invoking Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle without mentioning Doyle once visited Winnipeg and declared the city “stands very high among the places we have visited for its psychic possibilities.” A medium, even a pretend medium, should better know how to read a room.

— Randall King

VIENTO

Neat Story

Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to July 26

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What’s the plot again? One struggles to remember. It has something to do with a gang of outlaws in the Olde West, a basketball-playing horse and a soprano with a moustache whom everyone calls “Ugly Hector.”

“Or you could just call me ‘Hector,’” the poor outlaw replies sheepishly.

The story doesn’t really matter. What matters is that these young magnetic actors somehow pull off a whole hour of this absurd comic stuff. Seasoned actors often bore after 30 minutes. This roving cast of six does not. Cole Recksiedler is especially memorable as the dastardly Thomas McGurdy; he seems a natural at playing comic and cartoonish types.

There are a few groaners amid this play’s bangers — it’s all pretty innocent, PG-13 at its edgiest — but things move so briskly you’ll hardly notice.

— Conrad Sweatman