Day 4: Cannot get enough of these fringe play reviews

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/07/2023 (775 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ALWAYS BECAUSE: THE ADVENTURES OF MAGGIE AND MEGHAN

Us <3

The Cinematheque (Venue 7), to Sunday

Written and performed by Ottawa’s Maggie May Harder and Meghan Aglaia Burns (who are also a couple), this 45-minute comedy about queer love and joy has some really good ideas but suffers from its self-conscious execution.

Which is too bad, because it’s clear that both comedians are smart and have lots to say (the show was at its best when they went off script). Harder’s short standup set, which kicks off the show, has lots of laughs, as does Burns’ turn as cis-het guy finally getting therapy.

But the rest of the vignettes about their life together felt like a twee Instagram highlight reel of their supportive relationship which, while objectively adorable, does not really make for compelling theatre. There is no tension, no stakes. And without those, you don’t really have a show, either. ★★

— Jen Zoratti

COUNTDOWN TO BABYLON

MaxQ Productions

The Studio at Théâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 20), to Saturday

The 60 minutes it takes playwright Gilles Messier to tell the story of Gerald Bull, infamous creator of a supergun for Sadam Hussein, is always interesting and at times compelling. Messier uses shifting time frames, from his youth to his assassination by the Israelis, to tell the story of the prickly Bull with great intelligence, especially in the use of old TV clips (e.g. the CBC).

Without offence to the well-meaning cast, it’s time for Messier to work with professional actors who could bring more to his text. His direction shows good instincts but little ability to shape a scene for maximum impact. As it is, one always feels, as one did at last year’s fringe with Messier’s drama Murmurs of Earth, that one is at the beginning of something not theatrically complete. Still, it’s worth a visit for the almost realized ambition of the script. ★★★

— Rory Runnells

THE DUNGEONS ‘N’ DRAGONS IMPROV SHOW XIV

Miki Media

Gas Station Arts Centre (Venue 18), to Sunday

If you’re not a fan of Dungeons & Dragons or improv, this show and its devotees could win you over.

The long-running DND-themed improvised adventure is back for a 14th year with a cast of 11 quick wits on a 60-minute quest, through which nothing is certain but the laughs.

From the live keyboard accompaniment to a board-game-style visual aid on stage, the performance is full of homemade charm. Small snafus — like the dice rolling right off the stage or an unlit torch set piece — seamlessly become part of the storyline in the hands of these improvisers, well-practiced at tossing in callbacks to the delight of their invariably enthusiastic audience.

The pace lags when performers talk over each other or spend too long trying to play up minor misspeaks for laughs, but the super-fun battle scenes and raucous crowd cheers more than make up for any moments of improvised awkwardness. ★★★★

— Katie May

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Priyanka Shetty

Théâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 3), to Saturday

This 60-minute one woman show, written and performed by Priyanka Shetty, tells of her growing up in restrictive India while dreaming of becoming an actor in America.

Going to the U.S. as a theatre student, she finds reality different from her expectations. The elephant in the American room is herself as an Indian. She fits in, then doesn’t; she is needed for “diversity” and then isn’t. But she won’t give up or in.

The overarching idea — that we are seeing the work as Shetty prepares for a performance of it after what we witness is over — keeps the comic and serious moments balanced. It allows us a way into the mix of personal and professional troubles faced by, as she puts it, “a brown woman in Trump’s America.” Her search for identity — as a woman in India, as an Indian in America — might stand for all our searches for ourselves. ★★★★

— Rory Runnells

FOR SCIENCE!

Small Matters Productions

Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to Saturday

There’s little Oppenheimer seriousness in this engaging set of scientific experiments and mime that turns the Warehouse theatre fringe crowd into lab rats starving for gratification.

Professor (Christine Lesiak) and Lab Assistant (Ian Walker), armed with lab coats, safety goggles and stopwatches, are the guides to discovery as they conduct tests such as “Pavlovian Induction Instinct” and “Tactile Gratificational Impulse,” and invite volunteers to provide their critical data.

One certain conclusion from this Edmonton production, an hour’s worth of silliness that was last in Winnipeg in 2019: it’s a gas for youngsters of all ages, whether they are taking their first STEM steps or rehearsing to be the next generation of fringe fanatics. ★★★★1/2

— Alan Small

THE HORRIBLE FRIENDS: FREE BEER: LAST CALL

The Horrible Friends

Duke of Kent Legion (Venue 13), to Saturday

Local improvising duo Shawn Kowalke and Luke Falconer return for what they say will be their last Horrible Friends fringe run after 13 years.

Offering free drink tickets in exchange for (freely volunteered) audience participation, they spin crowd suggestions into a tight, hour-long series of games that go as high- or low-brow as the audience wants to take them.

Kowalke and Falconer’s comedy sets itself apart from other improv shows with more than just the free-drink bait. They play off each other as only longtime friends can, making sure the audience is always in on the joke. ★★★★

— Katie May

JAMES & JAMESY: EASY AS PIE

James & Jamesy

PTE Mainstage (Venue 16) to Sunday

Two clowns, a repressed memory and a pie in the face.

James and Jamesy are back with a confetti-covered existential crisis that demonstrates why they’re fringe mainstays.

Vancouver-based duo Aaron Malkin (James) and Alastair Knowles (Jamesy), along with director David MacMurray Smith, have polished a performance-anxiety premise that has them climbing into James’s black-lit brain in search of the source of his inability to take a pie to the kisser. Their physical comedy is stellar (for the best viewing experience, find a seat in the centre of this venue) and their stage presence is delightful.

However, some of the jokes are cringeworthy, and calls for audience participation didn’t quite work, which led to unnecessary distraction later in the show.

Still, the duo earned standing ovations from several spectators following the performance. ★★★★

— Katie May

LAUGHING YOGA — THE MUSICAL

Laughing Lion Wellness Therapy

Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4), to Sunday

Did you know that grownups laugh 10 times less than kids? According to Inglis’s Tim Barlow, that’s a fact, and he’s determined to do something about it.

In this one-hour sing-along show, Barlow puts on a top hat and white coat, dubs himself Dr. Happiness, and makes it his mission to get his adult audience to laugh — a lot.

If you enter the theatre, you have no choice but to go along. With guitar in hand, Barlow leads everyone through a series of what he calls laughing exercises, mostly involving group singing. Prepare to belt out songs like Row Row Row Your Boat in between clapping like a monkey, shouting, “I am awesome!” and showing off your biggest Joker smile to the stranger next to you.

Personally, I prefer it when performers earn my laughter through funny jokes and stories. But there’s no question Barlow’s efforts are paying off. On Saturday night, willingly or not, he persuaded his audience to follow along. ★★★

— Kaj Hasselriis

LESBIHONEST

Pitchin’in Productions

The Cinematheque (Venue 7), to Saturday

Coming-out stories, which used to be a mainstay of queer theatre and standup, have sadly gone out of style. So it’s reassuring to see Toronto’s Laura Piccinin bring back the genre with her one-woman comedy show. Under neon pink spotlights, the charming millennial shares all the awkward moments of her multiple coming outs. She’s covered quite a few letters of the queer alphabet.

It’s obvious that Puccinin likes to make people laugh. For a full hour, she goes on comedy autopilot. But I hope she loosens up a bit and connects more directly with her queer-dominated audience. Coming out is a long-term process, with many ups and downs. Even in a standup show, not every story needs to end with a punchline. ★★★1/2

— Kaj Hasselriis

LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR DEATH

Allspice Theatre

Pyramid Cabaret (Venue 22), to Sunday

As you enter the Pyramid Cabaret for this cleverly satirical science-fiction comedy, you’re handed a sealed envelope. A “machine of death” has been invented that predicts with 100 per cent accuracy how you will die (but not when). You have been pre-tested, and your envelope contains the cause of your death (in my case, from ingesting a fungus).

You’re attending a TV taping of a talk show hosted by motivational “death expert” Dr. Elliott Morris. The slick doc and the show’s beleaguered, clipboard-clutching floor manager are both played by terrific Vancouver writer-performer David Johnston.

Johnston’s less-than-commanding improv with unamplified audience members about their deaths didn’t generate many laughs at the reviewed performance. But when Dr. Morris takes a “live” phone call, the scripted narrative takes a superb twist, the mood darkens, and we learn why the doctor has never revealed his own predicted demise.

The hour-long, well-paced Let’s Talk About Your Death is genuinely thought-provoking. Do you need to know with certainty how you’ll expire in order to grab hold of the life you’ve got? ★★★★

— Alison Mayes

WASHED UP

Awkward Cheese Co.

MTC Up the Alley (Venue 2), to Sunday

At 27 years old, Winnipeg comedian and actor Chelsey Grewar is feeling past her prime. Like an olive left out of its brine too long: a little wrinkly, perhaps, but no less delicious. Through this hour-long play-comedy, she explores life as an aging junior millennial with a mix of standup and humorous vignettes. There are puns, puppeteering, vision boards and plenty of martinis — dirty, of course.

Her material ranges from toxic workplace culture post-pandemic to the local dating scene to the joys of gynecological exams. In the end, it’s not so bad to be washed up and free from a sea of societal expectations. It’s a creative retelling of a female experience as old as time.

The set is well-dressed and well-used; the simple audio and lighting support the production. Grewar is a capable actor and an engaging storyteller; the jokes in the scenes tend to land better than those told from behind the mic. ★★★1/2

— Eva Wasney

SIDETRACK BANDITS SKETCH COMEDY

Sidetrack Bandits 

The Studio at Théâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 20), to Saturday

Evidently three married couples from Steinbach decided to eschew the usual pursuits — hanging in the Scarecrow Forest, say — to pursue the art of sketch comedy. And we can be thankful they answered that call with their third fringe show, an endearingly loopy 45 minutes of snappy yocks.

It starts out strong with a semi-familiar horror trope — an animal bites a sickly man, who gains … cow powers. (Yes, this is explained in the helpful song Cow Powers.)

Near the end is an authentic laugh riot depicting a couple of idiot paramedics trying to save a hapless citizen from a flash flood, when not getting distracted by trying to find a lost cellphone. There are some impressive physical comedy chops on display here. Given that sketch comedy seems to be a rarity at the fringe, the Bandits are all the more worthy of checking out. ★★★1/2

— Randall King