Fringe reviews #3: You have died of too much theatre

100MLS OR LESS

Darren Millar

Son of Warehouse (Venue 5), to July 22

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Security may be the most loathed of all airport staff, but Darren Millar will have you know they’re not all jerks. In fact, some of them are very funny.

The Victoria-based standup comic brought all the charisma of his would-be-life as a middle school teacher to his career in the airport security screening area — and now to the fringe stage.

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to work the security line, or wanted to know, “What’s the weirdest thing someone has tried to pack in their carry-on?” or “How random is random selection anyway?” Millar has the answers.

His 55-minute solo act blends charming self-deprecation and a tastefully crass sense of humour across a series of anecdotes that pack a suitcase full of laughs.

The show is polished, pared-back and well-paced throughout. After passing through pre-show screening (an excellent touch), audiences can expect to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Plus, airport employees get a discount.

— Julia-Simone Rutgers

COULD KILL BUT CREATES

The Delicates Dealer

Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4), to July 26

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Winnipeg’s Devyna Stewart Brook bares her soul in this powerful, achingly raw solo dance show as she sifts through memories of her mother’s suicide 10 years ago — euphemistically described only as her “change.”

Brook mesmerizes throughout the 30-minute (billed at 45) production, with her contemporary choreography seamlessly blending pure poetry with athletic tumbles and rolls. Her highly gestural movement vocabulary grounded in American Sign Language compels.

The show’s other star is her own created sculptural set of a “rock,” made of gauze and welded aluminum, suspended from the ceiling that evokes an empty womb — or witness — as she circles around like a moth to flame.

As this work-in-progress continues to develop, more underscoring of the way her love for dance and “art making” has helped her heal from unimaginable personal tragedy would strengthen the piece. It’s clear that dance has indeed helped, with this true artist unafraid to plumb the inner recesses of her heart while taking her audience along for the harrowing ride.

— Holly Harris

CULTS

Blair Moro

RRC Polytech (Venue 11), to July 26

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Vancouver creator Blair Moro (Cabaret of Murder) informed us it was the première of Cults and asked for our understanding as Winnipeg actor Reba Terlson used a script set on a stand during the opening night of this comedy.

There seems little likelihood Terlson will be off book during the fringe run, considering how heavily she relied on the script at the first show (which ran over its allotted hour). That’s probably irrelevant, since the play essentially amounts to her reading jazzed-up Wikipedia entries about different cults — Heaven’s Gate, the Twelve Tribes — in a too-rapid-fire sing-song voice.

If you’re a cult aficionado, you’ll have heard it all before. (If not, be warned: you might be appalled at the details.) It’s unclear whether we’re meant to be intrigued or aghast.

There’s a poorly realized attempt to link MAGA to cult mentality, but no attempt to explain why or how people are drawn into these organizations, nor why we’re so perversely obsessed with them. It would take a much more charismatic leader to get us to drink the Flavor Aid.

— Jill Wilson

(DAD) STUFF

Rod Peter Jr.

RRC Polytech (Venue 11), to July 26

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One in six couples experiences problems with infertility, Rod Peter Jr. tells us in this 50-minute (not 60) one-man storytelling show. The Victoria, B.C., actor and his wife are among them; (Dad) Stuff talks about how difficult it is to get help, and the example his own father set for parenthood.

Peter is a scruffy raconteur with great physical flair — you will not soon forget how he makes his important “deposit” — and the show swings between humour, rage and pathos with ease.

As with many autobiographical stories, (Dad) Stuff could use a dramaturge to shape factual details into something with a defined arc; the stories about navigating the health-care system and about his dad breaking the chain of parental abuse are affecting and effective, but they don’t coalesce into an artful whole.

However, the show, clearly a labour of love, delivers laughter, tears and food for thought.

— Jill Wilson

EL DIABLO OF THE CARDS 2.0

Ewerton Martins

Son of Warehouse (Venue 5), to July 26

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“I came back more diabolical this time,” Brazil-based clown and magician Ewerton Martins told the crowd on opening night of this 60-minute show, which he first brought to the festival in 2024.

There were more than 50 people in the audience, including a dozen or so who sat onstage with Martins. It was all hands on deck for those attendees, as Martins called on them to pick cards and shuffle as he performed his prestidigitation. The dazzling sleight-of-hand tricks came at an astonishing rate, each more impressive than the one before it.

Martins is a masterful performer who had audience members laughing before the show even started. He’s brought his act to as many countries as there are cards in a deck, and it’s a treat to have him back in Winnipeg performing a show that’s fun for all ages.

“I don’t want magic, I want a miracle,” Martins says, and he delivers. Hail El Diablo!

— Aaron Epp

THE DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS IMPROV SHOW XVII: THE RISE OF THE LICH

The DnD Improv Show

Park Theatre (Venue 18), to July 25

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As always with this ongoing series of DnD adventures, the (sold-out, of course) opening-night audience was almost as much fun as the troupe onstage, guided by the sequined, dice-rolling dungeon master and writer Jesse Miki. Choruses of “Dork the orc!” rose up at every appearance by the play’s jock orc.

Is DnD literacy essential? No. Did the audience actually chant “Dork” the orc? Probably? The only requirement is a sense of play. This hour-long edition of the story concerns the bearishly corrupt King of Heropolis, his faithful but sweet orc, elves struggling with their life’s purpose, a slimy archeologist, a wish-granting naiad, three goblins in a pile of trench coats and revenge seekers.

As noted in the foyer, after the usual invitation to dress as a favourite DnD character: “Copious blood — first few rows may get wet.” Overall, the performance was shaggier than seen in last year’s early run visit to XVI, but still good fun.

— Denise Duguay

ESCAPE REALITY: A MAGIC SHOW

Gregoire Entertainment

CCFM – Antoine Gaborieau Hall (Venue 19), to July 26

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Winnipeg-based magician Patrick Gregoire returns to the stage with a request to connect with one’s inner child by embracing the unknown and suspending one’s adult perception of a rigid reality.

This master of misdirection executes a polished 50-minute act with seemingly effortless sleight-of-hand illusions and close-up magic using various props and the assistance of more than a dozen audience members.
Employing classic card tricks and his captivating charisma, Gregoire takes all the right steps for the audience to be enveloped in wonder — or perhaps for the audience to believe that wonder can be found in a sealed and signed envelope.

While many feats focus on the disappearance and reappearance of props, Gregoire’s most impressive stunt is his ability to convince the audience that it’s still possible to tap into a childlike sense of awe.

— Nadya Pankiw

THE FUNNY THING ABOUT MEN

Olive Productions

Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4), to July 26

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Los Angeles-based performer Mandy Jane Williams pays a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the battle of the sexes in this semi-autobiographical musical clocking in at 50 minutes.

The U.K.-born Williams, who first landed on this side of the Atlantic at age 21 in Orlando, Fla., for a job at Disney World, knows how to belt and sell a song, and her original lyrics in such numbers as What a Lucky Girl I Am and I Love Living My Life with You are often clever and witty. She also plays a mean ukulele, whirls around the stage in roller skates and delivers a nifty but too-short tap solo that will always get this writer’s attention (as will a white feather boa).

She’s hard to resist, despite the de rigueur menopause jokes, tired tropes about common housewifery and (frankly) irrelevant comparisons between American and British culture.

There’s a happy ending as she ultimately makes peace with her marriage and remote-loving hubby (portrayed as a smiley-faced, pillow-stuffed dummy), but her too neatly sewn-up conclusions are as unsatisfying as a warm gelatin salad on a hot summer’s day.

— Holly Harris

HOUSE OF GOLD: THE MUSICAL

Brighter Dark Theatre

MTYP Mainstage (Venue 21), to July 25

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Two years after blasting through the saloon doors with their rhinestoned take on The Boys from Brazil and The Manchurian Candidate, the Golds return with this timely observation of nepo-baby failure and commercial music psy-ops.

The heir apparent to a legend of outlaw country music, Jimmy Gold (playwright Thomas McLeod) is nothing like grandpa John, despite his family’s shockingly steep investment in his career.

“We’re not paying the house band for nothing,” barks Alanna McPherson as Aunt Jane, gesturing to Jimmy’s live-in three-piece.

In an expanded, hour-long version of the company’s madcap 2024 production, the original cast — Maggie Koreen’s protective Mary, Erin Shaw’s zippy academic Jermaine, Dane Bjornson’s failson Robert and Andrew Riley’s syringe-happy Dr. Bevilacqua — is injected with a healthy dose of performance-enhancing original music and lyrics.

With slick direction by Matthew Paris-Irvine, this musical redux — a surprisingly deep meditation on what it takes to write a “real” country song — proves that McLeod’s fringe experiments are sound and repeatable. Our hypothesis? You’ll be singing these performers’ praises all festival long.

— Ben Waldman

THE KNIGHTS OF DURATHOR: A RADIO PLAY

Sidetrack Bandits

Park Theatre (Venue 18), to July 25

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This one-hour fantasy adventure begins like any anxiety nightmare. Minutes to showtime on opening night, most of the cast is MIA and the director is as hungover as he is optimistic that all will be saved by rewriting the play into a radio play and adding an unprepared, opinionated actor.

Round that out with a sound-effects Foley artist who seems to be working from an entirely different (but fascinating?) script and voilà, another hit for the Steinbach-based sketch group.

The original story by Michelle Plett — who also directs and performs alongside Jeremy Plett, Thalin Dyck and Kenton Dyck — concerns three countries, two warring families and crop failure. Rival teams set out to find the famine-curing Jewel of Durathor armed with preposterous (but distinct) accents and a lot of snacks. Unlikely romance arrives alongside a bold attempt to wrap up the play within a play that is wonderfully fun to get lost in.

— Denise Duguay