Feeling fintastic with latest fringe fest reviews

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This article was published 21/07/2024 (752 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ACK NOW

Theatre & Play
Théâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 3), to Sunday , July 28

Do you struggle with making your own decisions? Do you freeze up when the waiter arrives at your table? Do you ever wish a tech company could just make the choice for you? In Ack Now, Kim (Kim Kay) rolls the dice and signs up for a newfangled app that boasts anticipatory cerebral knowledge, a product sold by a pink-haired pitchperson (Alex Mutcheson) from Ignatius Industries. Once Kim clicks download, the app provides a friendly avatar (Zanifa Rasool), and soon, both versions of Kim are ghosts in the shell.

A comedy that zaps the common trappings of Fantastic Voyage to the brave new world of AI, this show would be vastly improved if it relied less on pop-culture references and allowed itself to lean more in the direction of techie children’s programming (Cyberchase). One kid in the audience clearly loved it, repeating the lines with glee.

In an era when digital assistance threatens to supplant original thought, this story’s lessons should resonate with everyone in some capacity. Ironically, the script could use a more human touch.

🐟🐟 ½

— Ben Waldman

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ASSISTANCE

Hot Rejects Productions
CCFM — Pauline-Boutal Hall (Venue 4), to Sunday , July 28

Linked by a chain of commanding performances from some of the city’s top young actors, this pitch-black comedy is set in the roundabout phone bank of unseen power broker Daniel Weisinger, where the revolving door spins fast enough to leave his subordinates in a constant state of institutional whiplash and anticipatory dread.

This faithful adaptation of Assistance — written in 2013 by Leslye Headland, a one-time assistant to Harvey Weinstein — deals with the insulation of the powerful and the insidious influence of verbal violence. Much of the well-acted, 75-minute production takes place over the telephone, but the audience only hears half the cross-talk: we can only imagine the untold abuse directed at the receiver. It’s all played off as an occupational hazard, a clearly wrong rite of passage as the employees — Anaka Maharaj-Sandhu, Reena Jolly, Laurel Fife , Rhea Rodych-Rasidescu, Justin Fry and Jared Wonago — attempt to survive the snakes lining the corporate ladder. It isn’t an easy climb.

🐟🐟🐟 ½

— Ben Waldman

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BREMNER SINGS HOW TO PACK A REVOLUTION IN YOUR SUITCASE

Big Empty Barn Productions
Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4), to Saturday , July 27

Representing one French Quarter while performing in another, fringe veteran Bremner Fletcher travels a century in reverse, hammering home Brechtian ideals about art mirroring society as he knows it, even as it shatters all around him.

The New Orleans-based singer, wearing crisp denim and a Kurt Weill haircut, dreams his way back to the Weimar Republic, documenting through devoted songcraft the freedom of an all-too-brief spring that preceded the fascist fall. Packing more than a dozen songs into 75 minutes, Fletcher uses his baritone as a weapon to document shifting allegiances, fear of the other and pervasive propaganda, repeating himself as necessary to make his point eminently clear.

A reflection on two countries by a citizen at odds with his own, Bremner Sings deploys the era of the Great American Songbook as an antidote to the MAGA crowd and as a compass toward a more beautiful dream.

🐟🐟🐟 ½

— Ben Waldman

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LATER THAT NIGHT

TBA Productions
John Hirsch Mainstage (Venue 1), to Sunday , July 28

Later That Night, a 50-minute (so-called) comedy, written and directed by Liz Farler, presents a closing night actors’ party on stage. They decide to include Matt, the hapless venue techie (and only likable character).

After much grating interaction, we find the whole affair is a put-on to humiliate Matt who failed to “recognize” them when they first started rehearsal. The piece should have Matt giving the rude theatre people their comeuppance or offer some insight into their ugly behaviour. No such luck. The sympathy is with the actors and their mean-spirited trick on Matt. The implied moral is unsettling: if your little ego is hurt, you can practise revenge; if you’re an actor, hey, it’s an exercise of your craft.

The production looks lost on the RMTC mainstage. The cast is enthusiastic at best, but the projection of several cast members is a problem.

🐟 ½

— Rory Runnells

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A LESBIAN IN A BEAR STORE

Willow Roots Productions
Rachel Brown Theatre (Venue 8), to Sunday , July 28

Some may know Willow Rosenberg from the standup scene, where she is beginning to make a mark. This more dramatic hour of storytelling in a set strewn with beanie babies is a mostly unsuccessful departure.

She has the seeds of a possibly entertaining show, with compelling tales of a Jewish upbringing, life at the end of the last century and some inside baseball in terms of witty off- the- cuff asides to queer allies.

But the show eventually gets as messy as the stage, with stops to check the script and other unplanned interruptions that give the impression some assistance was needed to get the show ready to be unveiled in front of a paying crowd.

🐟🐟 ½

— Lara Rae

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MOMS MOMS MOMS

DD Brassiere
PTE Colin Jackson Studio (Venue 17), to July 28

“Tentative” isn’t the word you’d expect to describe the antics of local burlesque performers DD Brassiere (who moved here from Vancouver) and Your Mom Kathy, two women who reveal wit, brass and so much more during this variety show’s 60 minutes. (Opening night went five minutes overtime due to technical issues.)

Call it opening- night jitters, or perhaps the lack of a strong director. Demonstrating admirable can-do mom spirit, DD and Kathy put the show together themselves. But Friday’s performance was hampered by microphone problems, missed cues and an initial awkwardness with stage patter.

This will undoubtedly pass with continued performances. On the plus side, Miss Brassiere has a terrific, charismatic stage presence — the blue spotlight loves her — and Kathy demonstrates a willingness to reveal so much more than skin, especially in a monologue describing a terrifying experience involving her son’s drug abuse. (It’s decidedly not all bump and grind, folks.) Each show features a guest mom performer, and on Friday, it was the hilarious — and very pregnant – stand up comic Sarah Jane Martin discussing her hitherto covert breasts.

If you have any doubts that burlesque can be topical, radical and liberating, this show should make you a believer.

🐟🐟🐟 ½

— Randall King

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POWER GRAB

Extreme Players
Planetarium Auditorium (Venue 9), to Saturday , July 27

Power can be a slippery thing, especially when wielded poorly. In this 60-minute drama by Konrad Antony, the spotlight falls on four actors — Jacob Harvie, Ena Mallarino, Leah Peever, and Aniyah Taylor-Young — as they navigate six standalone vignettes exploring the theme of power. From a boss who feels more like a cold machine to absurd pandemic rules that test patience, the play offers a sharp critique of modern absurdities.

Antony’s writing hits hard with its biting satire, but the execution is a mixed bag. Some scenes are effective, while others miss the mark. The absence of microphones resulted in lost dialogue, and the actors’ performances varied — Harvie’s portrayal was notably strong, especially in the opening scene. Despite well-thought-out transitions, the play’s pacing falters, with some scenes dragging and unclear enunciation from the actors.

With more fine-tuning, this play could have been excellent. The writing deserves commendation, though the overall experience feels incomplete.

🐟🐟🐟

— Thandi Vera

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REVIEWING THE FREE PRESS

Certified Woke
Bae Productions Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (Venue 24), to Sunday , July 28

Sour grapes don’t usually make great wine, but Winnipeg comedian Benji Rothman has turned his bitterness about bad Freep fringe reviews into a pretty sweet 45-minute takedown of the newspaper that, perhaps ironically, will appeal most to journalists.

Using a PowerPoint presentation (which needs to be projected higher up) and no small degree of snark, Rothman hilariously takes the paper to task for everything from lack of diversity and misplaced hyphens to plagiarism and the “Pppppp” filler text that accidentally makes it to the web.

The show is cleverly set up, delivering excellent bits and tons of laughs; it might be even more incisive if it stayed focused on skewering the paper. Rothman veers off into such topics as land acknowledgments and review culture — all sharp, funny stuff, but it diffuses the narrative.

Bonus half-star for the venue (archives + bar = journalist’s dream) and for having a newspaper subscription.

🐟🐟🐟 ½

— Jill Wilson

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RINGMASTER

Hijinx Drama Club Théâtre
Cercle Molière (Venue 3), to Saturday , July 27

There are plenty of individual elements to love about this plucky musical revue/backstage whodunit about a trio of showgirls accused of murdering the two-timing ringmaster from Winnipeg’s Hijinx Drama Club. Unfortunately, it never quite gels into a cohesive whole.

The flimsy plot mostly serves to tee up the mostly solid vocal performances, particularly a powerful rendition of There Are Worse Things I Could Do from Grease. But the performers often just stand in one place and sing, which not only kills the energy but completely robs this show of any campy fun. (A notable exception being the lively choreography for a fairly killer rendition of Mein Herr from Cabaret.)

There are other issues. The offstage police interrogator sounds as if he is reading the script for the first time, a missed opportunity to lean into the hardboiled detective archetype. Too-loud backing tracks and audible-from-the-audience sound and lighting cues also add to a general lack of polish.

A little finessing and a lot more blocking, and this could be a decent showcase for some obviously talented young singers.

🐟🐟 ½

— Jen Zoratti

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UNSUNG: THE ACCIDENTAL VILLAINS OF HISTORY

Duck and Roll Theatre
Planetarium Auditorium (Venue 9), to Saturday , July 27

What happened to the villains who didn’t make it into the history books? The 50-minute musical comedy answers this question with catchy tunes and witty humour. Written by Mackenzie Langdon, the Toronto-based show features Dawson Fleming, Meg Barbeau, Adrien Pyke and Langdon, introducing at least seven characters who unknowingly set the stage for some of the world’s biggest disasters — from the admissions director who rejected Hitler from art school to the 15-year-old who forgot to add more lifeboats to the Titanic.

Langdon’s creative writing brings each character to life with distinct and memorable performances. The actors’ seamless transitions and beautiful vocal harmonies enhance the engaging narrative. The show clearly states that these stories are fictional, adding a layer of playful interpretation.

The performances are hilarious and well-executed, the content both humorous and thought-provoking, leaving you with memorable tunes and a sense of empathy for these unheralded villains.

🐟🐟🐟🐟

— Thandi Vera

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