Fringe reviews #9: Farming for fringe gold

CELINE & CHER: DIVINE DIVAS

Marysia Trembecka

John Hirsch Mainstage (Venue 1), to July 26

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U.K.-based writer/performer Marysia Trembecka turns to the lives and lyrics of Céline Dion and Cher as the foundation of her 60-minute cabaret.

Though it is advertised as a “celebration of life lessons,” the moral of each story has a tenuous connection to the anecdotes and trivia facts she shares about the icons.

Trembecka gives off a slightly chaotic energy on stage and it sometimes got the best of her; she lost her place a few times and struggled with some of the notoriously challenging vocals when singing a selection of the icons’ greatest hits.

To her credit, Trembecka didn’t let a few hiccups faze her; she had the audience laughing, learning “power moves” such as Dion’s famous chest-pound, and singing along with the help of some karaoke-style lyric slides on a large screen behind her.

While Celine & Cher is a little rough around the edges, true fans of the divine divas will have fun.

—Erin Lebar

THE COMMENSALITY PROJECT

Alexandra Elliott Dance

The Performance Exchange (Venue 31), to July 26

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Winnipeg choreographer/performer Alex Elliott explores time-honoured rituals of food and family in her latest contemporary dance show, also paying homage to her father, who suffered a debilitating stroke.

The 45-minute production, co-created with Winnipeg’s Emma Beech, Justine Erickson and Andrew Jimenez Meija, sees antique lace tablecloths suspended against the studio walls, creating a cosy cocoon of inter-generational memory.

Abstract modern dance isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but this show offers both integrity and heart; it originally premièred inside the St. Boniface Hospital kitchens.

It’s also unapologetically meditative, allowing the ensemble to establish an evocative dreamscape for their carefully controlled, fluid choreography.

The energy changes when composer Dasha Plett’s electronic score, infused with multi-lingual voiceovers — how tos for preparing homemade French fries and pasta — breaks into more pulsating rhythms that provides welcome texture and contrast.

More knitting together of these sections would create stronger cohesion; however, Elliott’s flattened body lifted aloft at the end, as we hear of the “one thing” her ailing father could eat — buttery pasta – brings this truly moving work full circle, a tender ode to her parent, home.

— Holly Harris

COUCH SURFING

Chief Mingus

Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to July 25

👾👾👾👾 1/2

What a treat to discover a fantastic short/long-form improv troupe known to the scene but new to this reviewer.

The Kinkonauts, a tight six-pack from Cowtown, were nearly telepathic in the way they played off each other and spun an hour of absurd, truly weird and cool group scenarios, absent all the assumptions and tropes of the Whose Line Is It Anyway? generation.

And theatrically solid. Offstage shifts in story were led by small a cappella breaks that were even sweetly harmonized and the half-dozen performers all had their own superpowers: imagine an improv Avengers.

The Warehouse is a big barn and one can only imagine what these artists could do in front of a huge house — a house they well deserve.

— Lara Rae

FALSE PROFITS

Active Salad Productions

School of Contemporary Dancers (Venue 7), to July 25

👾👾👾👾 1/2

This one-man show from Vancouver’s Jeff Leard is billed as a comedy, but be warned: the laughs, while copious, are bitter and mostly of the “if you didn’t, you’d cry” variety.

That is a compliment, as over the course of 70 minutes, the actor eloquently (sometimes profanely) rails against the one per cent in a bravura performance that sees him demolish trickle-down economics and eviscerate the ultra-wealthy.

Leard (Sperm Wars) is an utterly magnetic performer with a coiled energy and a compelling physical presence. His eyes can glitter with avarice or with tears, as he portrays evil lobbyists or recounts the death of an oil refinery worker.

The lighting occasionally works against the dramatic moments and the pacing gets erratic near the end, but it’s saved by both some welcome silliness and real emotion. Well worth your hard-earned money.

— Jill Wilson

MARTIN DOCKERY: FORBIDDEN CITY!

Martin Dockery

King’s Head Pub (Venue 14), to July 25

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Fringe favourite Martin Dockery (also appearing in The Review) is back with a bang, with the Brooklyn-based storyteller this time whisking audience members into China’s Forbidden City on a trip he took with his “beautiful wife,” Vanessa.

As he treats his fans to another staccato word salad delivered at blistering speed, we hear about his malfunctioning audio guide, his love for cargo pants, and how the magic of YouTube has provided him with his own life’s soundtrack.

The intimate, 60-minute monologue is unevenly paced at times, despite the actor’s take-no-prisoners energy that overrides even his overly repetitious false intros. However a “trigger warning” of his own devising is clever and fun.

The show is at its best when Dockery offers wry insights about human nature and the games people play, lagging at other times, such as more didactic stuff about China’s Tiananmen Square and its former ruler, Mao Zedong.

And ironically, a promised tale of his now eight-year old daughter’s birth is squished into the end. More personal revelations like these would help humanize his performances, adding welcome ballast to the gale storms of comedy.

— Holly Harris

THE GAME OF BLUFF

Susan Jeremy Productions

West End Cultural Centre (Venue 26), to July 25

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Brooklyn’s Susan Jeremy comes from a long line of women gamblers, deftly portraying her mother and grandmother — and a cast of colourful side characters — in this touching one-woman show about playing the hands we are dealt.

Jeremy’s mother Cathy is poker obsessed to the point that it causes fractures throughout their relationship, of which Jeremy shares vignettes from childhood to present day, where her mother is now suffering from dementia.

Meantime, Jeremy is trying to bet on herself and make it as a comedian and actor in New York City, then Los Angeles, then Vegas while trying to learn about her family, including Franny, the bookie grandmother she never knew.

While Jeremy fully inhabits her characters — her mother’s Queens accent is a feat — this piece would benefit from more emotional peaks and valleys (as well as losing an unnecessary bit of audience participation).

Still, this is a beautifully written look at a complicated mother-daughter relationship, what poker took away and, ultimately, what it ended up giving back.

— Jen Zoratti

HOW MUCH CAN YOU CHANGE FOR SOMEONE YOU LOVE?

Randy Ross

Asper Centre for Theatre and Film (Venue 10), to July 26

👾 1/2

Therapy is in session, and in this 45-minute slide show presentation, the audience is the therapist.

The Bostonian author presents an abridged version of his recently published novel, The Squid and the Spaceman, while weaving in conversations about relationship theories and attachment styles.

Throughout the show, Ross sprinkles in digs at inclusivity culture, the dating pool these days and his inability to maintain any meaningful relationship.

In saying this, however, he does make sure to let the audience know about all the women he’s dated, though the validity of the list of 20-some names is … unverifiable.

The show concludes with a wallow in self-pity, which he immediately combats with words of self-affirmation and a plug for his book.

Ross is a great orator, but the content of his show largely falls flat.

— Tyler Hodgson

HUMAN$

Jurasco

Son of Warehouse (Venue 5), to July 26

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If you prompt ChatGPT for a 20-minute history of humanity, then sit back and listen to it narrate that history while staring at a photo of Donald Sutherland, you’ll get the gist of this one-man spoken word performance from Beausejour’s Wayne James.

The dense historical opening is followed by a much-needed musical break with an acoustic cover of Willie Dunn’s The Ballad of Crowfoot, a 10-minute 1968 protest song about colonial betrayal and Indigenous land loss. The song is well done and James shows real skill on guitar, particularly on the instrumental outro.

From there, he moves into personal stories that go nowhere and lack a clear throughline, before closing with a rant about capitalism, climate change and artificial intelligence.

It’s certainly a feat to memorize content this dense, but it takes more than memorization to make a show. And, unfortunately, this one doesn’t just need a point of view, it needs any point at all.

— Jeffrey Vallis

THE MISTRESS OF WHOLESOME

R-G Productions

One88 (Venue 23), to July 26

👾👾👾 1/2

This is a three-person comedy about a mistress named Gwen who loses her lover when he returns to his wife Margaret because they’re trying to adopt a baby.

Things take a turn when a woman from the adoption agency comes to interview Margaret and her husband.

At a little over its promised one hour, the highlight were local performers Rebecca Cooke, Cora Faste and Heather Forgie, who gave every ounce of their energy.

Most of the comedic moments come from the delusional mistress trying to convince Margaret to help her keep the affair going.

Playwright Jacob Appel fails to explain why Margaret is so unbothered that her husband has been cheating on her for 11 years, other than indicating she would rather be in the dark, plus she couldn’t adopt a child alone.

Beyond the laughs, we are left with a niggling feeling Margaret needs some fleshing out.

— Tiago Resko

WINNIPEG IS A LIE

Portage and Mayhemnts

Duke of Kent Legion (Venue 13), to July 25

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You won’t be in any jeopardy when you come on down to be the studio audience at the city’s newest game show, where two out of three answers are lies, much like TV’s The Liar’s Club.

The setup to the 45-minute improvised comedy is that Clay Pasdejeune (Curtis Brown) is a once-famous broadcaster working his way back to the big time via hosting the game show on YouTube.

Featuring a three-person panel of local improv vets, the sold-out opening night’s theme was entertainment, with questions about historical facts, such as: Which Winnipeg musician’s house did Bob Dylan once visit?

The comedy stemmed from the quick, on-the-spot answers and interactions between the guests, whose unique personalities (Judy, promiscuous; Rahbynn, serious; and Mitch, laid-back) helped form their answers.

Survey says not every joke was a winner, but the answers that hit the jackpot earned big laughs and no whammies.

With rotating themes, questions and special guests each night, every show is different, so the price is definitely right.

— Rob Williams