You go, gill: Check out some more fringe fest reviews

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This article was published 21/07/2024 (412 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CAUSING A COMMOTION

Momentum Aerial & Acrobatic Troupe
MTYP Mainstage (Venue 21), to Saturday

Directed by Monica Goermann, this lively show combines aerial circus arts, theatre and acrobatics to keep you on the edge of your seat.

The young Winnipeg performers are talented, executing incredible and professional stunts; the graceful aerial silk artists, in particular, are mesmerizing. The storyline, though a great idea, has some shaky moments, but the overall performance — which was billed at 60 minutes, but ran about 45 — is sweet and fun. The show also features cute dance numbers that add charm. Crowd participation is an absolute treat for the kids, making it family-friendly, and the message behind the story is meaningful. Despite some initial storyline issues, the skilled performers and the captivating stunts make it worth checking out, especially for the little ones. With a bit of fine-tuning, it could be even better.

🐟🐟🐟 ½

— Thandi Vera

CHELSEY GREWAR: ADULT TWIN

Awkward Cheese
Son of Warehouse (Venue 5) to Saturday

There are twin peaks, for sure, but those days disappear once you become older, says local comedian Chelsey Grewar in her 40-minute standup show that uses her experience of being a twin to riff on everything from updated dirty talk to finding (and killing) her inner child to how her vision-board wishes all came true, but not in the way she hoped for. Grewar works the floor like a pro with a sly, mischievous grin; she isn’t afraid to get a little down and dirty with some details about her sex life, one particularly strange request for an Uber driver and noting twins are cute in a Disney-fied way until they become the objects of men with fetishes. Her broad observations take shots and poke fun at straight people, chain restaurants, wedding speeches (spot on) and the use of the word “twins” in pop songs. At the end, whether you learned more about being a twin isn’t really the point, but you will wonder why we never see adult twins together. Seriously. Why don’t we?

🐟🐟🐟

— Rob Williams

DANIEL IN LOVE (FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY)

Prairie Coast Productions
Son of Warehouse (Venue 5), to Sunday

Daniel Tompkins bares his soul during an emotional roller-coaster of a monologue that will leave you ensnared in his pathos. The Winnipeg-raised/Vancouver-based Tompkins pulls a bait and switch, starting the show with silly groaners before ditching his sparkling sequined jacket and getting to the meat of the show, an examination of his past relationships and family dynamics that have made him what he is today. Using poems by the likes of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, Tompkins tells his life story: he was born to a 19-year-old mother whose family sent her to Ireland to hide the shame of her teenage pregnancy by a scumbag from a church group. Then there are the many girlfriends (he is pansexual, the Q of the LGBTTQ + spectrum) and his problems with alcoholism. Tompkins is an engaging storyteller and you can’t help but feel his heartache. Love, death, growth and addition have made him what he is today, a passionate, driven person who has set the foundation for more greatness to come. Consider this the origin story.

🐟🐟🐟

— Rob Williams

F**K MARRY KILL: THE IMPROV SHOW

FMK Productions
King’s Head Pub (Venue 14), to Sunday

The game is simple: pick three things — people, places, fruits, whatever — and decide which one you want to have sex with, which one you want to marry and which one you want to kill. The Vancouver-based improv trio (with a local guest) takes the basic premise and put a unique spin on it by creating characters who deliver monologues made up on the spot, then based on those short speeches, the other players decide whether that person is killable, screwable or the marrying type. The characters are next placed in a situation where they have to interact with each other and try to fulfil their individual objectives. Saturday’s fast-paced 60-minute show was based around a camping trip by people who met five years earlier while hitchhiking. The crowd and cast both had a blast and many a laugh trying to figure out each character’s motives. The basic part of the show is the same every night, but getting to the end is always different. Long-form improv with a great twist. Killer.

🐟🐟🐟🐟

— Rob Williams

THE HISTORY OF EDINBURGH

Ross McMillan
Asper Centre for Theatre & Film (Venue 10), to Sunday

Ross McMillan is neither a historian nor a professional tour guide, but the Winnipeg actor plays the part in this hour-long dissection of the Scottish capital. Aided by a smidge of whiskey, an intermittent pipe band and a slideshow stuffed with royal cameos about war, McMillan explores not only his relationship with the city but his connection to his sister, who really does lead tours in Edinburgh. McMillan has an easy charm, managing to keep the audience on the hook even as the performance begins to feel like an undergraduate lecture. The most intriguing part of McMillan’s offering is the persistent reappearance of his sister, who pops in to share her thoughts. We want a clean resolution of their sibling relationship, and so does the storyteller, but in McMillan’s History of Edinburgh , the only thing doled out neat is the whisky. Everything else is decidedly on the rocks.

🐟🐟🐟 ½

— Ben Waldman

IDENTITY CRISIS

Prizm Productions
Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4), to Saturday

During the ubiquitous post-show plugs, our host for the previous hour, Saskatoon’s Alyssa Billingsley, confesses her new work is one “in progress.” This is apparent but ultimately irrelevant. “Who am I?” asks an odd creature chained by the ankle, confused and in an external world a little further down the environmental rabbit hole than Earth. To pass the time the creature engages us in games involving that ancient guide to our inner workings, the zodiac. Then, in a slow unravelling of detail (data, the creature calls it) we learn things, but not much. And so, as an audience we begin to fill in the blanks. Because we can tell from the skilled movement, the intense and amazing sound design, effective lighting and committed performance (but for a charming mid-show breaking of character) that we are in good hands, we eventually just sit back and enjoy what seems to be a moving target. A show still being written, a show that changes with the crowd, a show in inchoate form that, like a horoscope, in some ways, tells you what you already wanted or needed to hear. Elevator pitch: Beckett in cosplay.

🐟🐟🐟🐟

— Lara Rae

IMPROVISION: NICOLAS CAGE MATCH

ImproVision
Duke of Kent Legion (Venue 13), to Sunday

What happens when three improvisers challenge themselves to a Nicolas Cage-themed extravaganza? In this 60-minute show, the members of ImproVision bring their blend of off-the-cuff humor and creativity to the stage with a set of Cage-inspired games, puppets and audience suggestions.

While the Academy Award-winning star himself didn’t make an appearance, the trio delivered a night of hilarity with their quick-witted antics and zany setups. The trio’s quick thinking and lively interactions kept the crowd engaged and laughing. The show felt like a fun hangout with friends who just happen to be great at improvisation. Their big presence filled the room with high energy, and the crowd participation added to the excitement, making it an interactive and entertaining experience. It’s a solid, laugh-out-loud performance that’s worth catching at the fringe.

🐟🐟🐟🐟

— Thandi Vera

MARTIN DOCKERY: TRUTH

Concrete Drops Theatre
Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to Sunday

Fringe fest favourite, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Martin Dockery (also appearing in The Stakeout ) takes on truth, fantasy and a certain orange-skinned American politician in this hard-hitting, one-man storytelling extravaganza delivered at blistering speed. The semi-autobiographical, one-hour show features the internationally renowned artist delivering three pandemic-birthed tales about his misadventures in the bathroom while on parenting duty; an encounter with a sleepy Uber driver while in lockdown at his godmother’s cottage in Montauk, Long Island, as well as his climactic, orgiastic finale that even includes Donald Trump (sexual content warning) as his masterful storytelling spirals into the surreal. There are some terrific jabs and pokes at societal norms, and you’ll never quite think of Christmas in the same way again. Dockery is also a man on a mission, as he harnesses his arsenal of astute observational humour to drive home the point that “truth” is now a relative, malleable term in an age of MAGA. His final, passionate punchline about the very real, all-too-true perils facing democracy today is sadly not funny at all.

🐟🐟🐟🐟

— Holly Harris

SPANK BANK TIME MACHINE

John Michael Plays
Théâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 3), to Sunday

The title might scare off some punters but it’s apt, since the 60-minute show is not for the easily offended. But Chicago’s John Michael is a performance artist of a classical kind, the type who holds a mirror up to society, takes what is shameful and hidden and exposes it in all its ragged glory. Here are the roots of queer theatre, full of blood and guts and bodies that leak and ooze in needle-strewn hovels. Here too is the celebration of life. Here is the Dantean journey through hell, the ferry across the river of no return. Here is the urban jungle. Here is the scream. Here is a disciplined actor and writer who sees where the border of risk lies and runs headlong toward it with one tongue firmly in his cheek. Here is a man who does not play characters but instead shapeshifts before your eyes. Here is where you laugh at the unexpected. Here is where you want to crawl under your seat, ache to rush outside to gulp air, but instead sit frozen and wide-eyed. Here is where salvation is in the big belly laughs and in the sanctifying message that art never dies.

🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟

— Lara Rae

STROKE OF LUCK 2

Circus and Storytelling
Rachel Browne Theatre (Venue 8), to Sunday

At last year’s fringe, in the solo show Stroke of Luck , local circus artist Vincent Champagne shared how he had fought his way back to performing after having a stroke. The grittily determined Champagne and his spunky life partner Salem Haber have co-created and perform this sequel. Overhyped in the fringe program as “hysterical,” it hits a few funny notes, such as the fact that the two were making “vigorous” love when the stroke occurred. Champagne has now survived two additional strokes. His and Haber’s devotion to each other is endearing and their optimism inspiring. But this hour-long storytelling show, bookended with two circus/dance routines, appears too casual and under-rehearsed. Haber consults a binder for memory cues. Simply recounting travel, medical and romantic experiences doesn’t constitute storytelling art. The performers shouldn’t have to tell the audience what the “takeaways” are. Editing and theatrical shaping would give this story of resilience much more impact.

🐟🐟 ½

— Alison Mayes