top 20 fringe reviews july 24 uptown pullout

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This article was published 24/07/2014 (4063 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE D’n’D IMPROV SHOW: SIX

DnD Improv

Gas Station Arts Centre (Venue 18), to July 26

O, LET us sing you a tale of an hour-long improvised and serialized comic adventure through a fantastical world, where the Dice of Doom dictate the fate of nebbish goblins and underperforming dungeon managers alike.

You don’t need to be a tabletop warrior to bust a gut at these madcap quests. After seven editions, the vivacious ensemble has made an art of slaying for laughs. And this year, characters can die in any episode (thanks a lot, Game of Thrones).

But who will go? Hopefully not Fraz Wiest, who is havin’ himself a howlin’ good time as “Wildman” Gary Goat-Thrower, or Andrea del Campo, who is a delirious delight as Wolseley witch Twyla Willowbean. The whole cast is wickedly great — get your tickets in advance. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

— Melissa Martin

GOD IS A SCOTTISH DRAG QUEEN II: THE SECOND COMING

Delcon Entertainment

Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to Saturday

FUNNYMAN Mike Delamont returned here for an abbreviated run, cut short because he followed the first commandment of Canadian comedy: Thou shalt obey when the Just For Laughs Festival comes offering a televised gala gig.

That’s too bad for Winnipeggers, who only had three chances to see the second coming of the Scottish deity who, in a formless floral dress and no-nonsense hairdo, is no fashion god. He ambles about the stage barefoot, riffing on both the sacred and the profane. He reveals that Abraham got biblically punked when he agreed to sacrifice his son. He gripes that with a three-hour movie, Hollywood is making too much of Noah for the paltry two-and-a-half pages he gets in the Bible.

Delamont’s lord of the fringe is keenly observant and hilariously outspoken. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

–Kevin Prokosh

MOONLIGHT AFTER MIDNIGHT

Concrete Drops

Asper Centre for Theatre and Film, U of W (Venue 13), to July 26

FRIDAY evening’s thunderstorm was serendipitous, providing a perfectly timed atmospheric underscore, rising and falling in dramatic sync with Martin Dockery’s enigmatic drama, Moonlight After Midnight.

The elegantly written show turns and turns on itself, like an emotional kaleidoscope that changes shape but keeps something familiar every time you twist it. A couple, both familiar and strange to one and other, try to decipher the story that has brought them to a place strangely out of time. Their story shifts and drifts and changes as they try to settle it into something real.

Vanessa Quesnelle, the mysterious woman who wanders into Dockery’s hotel room, is a deep and beguiling presence, giving the drama its emotional centre, keeping Dockery’s character, slightly ragged and a little desperate, caught in her orbit. The London, Ont., duo have a polished chemistry that draws their audience in as it draws them together on stage in this 60-minute mystery. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

— Wendy King

NASHVILLE HURRICANE: A CURIOUS TALE OF FINGERPICKIN’ FURY

Chase Padgett Productions

PTE Mainstage (Venue 16), to July 27

HE starts out as a geeky teenage genius with awkwardly splayed fingers. He becomes the Nashville Hurricane, a guitar-picking prodigy who is exploited by a slimeball manager, befriended by a black Chicago bluesman, and estranged from his trashy, Harley Davidson-lovin’ mama.

These four roles are masterfully brought to life by Oregon-based musician/actor Chase Padgett (6 Guitars) in a 75-minute solo show that is simply a stunner. On a bare stage, equipped with only an acoustic guitar, Padgett has the audience hanging on his every note and word. He shifts between colourful characters with expert physicality, interweaving their story strands into a poignant and hilarious show-business saga.

The laughs here are not mere one-liners, but perfectly timed, character-based revelations. Padgett is frank about the gritty side of musicians’ lives, and his performance of a blazingly soulful blues song is electrifying. To quote a word that recurs in the show: Eureka! ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

— Alison Mayes

PETUNIA AND CHICKEN

Animal Engine

The Cinematheque, (Venue 7), to July 26

IT’S only 60 minutes of physical theatre, but New York-based couple Carrie Brown and Karim Muasher take the audience on an epic journey in this absorbing love story.

When prairie pioneer boy meets immigrant girl, the stage is set for happy-ever-after romance, with a few tragic twists, homespun songs and comic turns along the way.

Playing multiple characters, including a faithful old dog, this duo are deft hands at manipulating a few props — a pair of spoons, a hat and a scarf — and they’re equally adept at manipulating heartstrings.

I’m pretty sure the guy next to me was weeping like a little girl at the finish, and he was far from alone. Two-hanky, five-star material. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

— Pat St. Germain

THE SURPRISE

Martin Dockery

Eckhardt-Grammaté Hall (Venue 9), until July 26

NEW York City storyteller Martin Dockery returns to the fringe with another manically conveyed, semi-improvisational personal tale, this time about a trip to southeast Asia with a lifetime of family baggage, two pieces of acid-laced chewing gum and the love of his life.

The surprise ostensibly involves his septuagenarian dad, who has started a new family in Vietnam, complete with a pair of new siblings for Dockery to meet. This forces him to ponder existential questions of his own — and deal with a much heavier gut kick of a revelation.

Dockery’s intensity is tempered by self-deprecating humour and a love of the absurd. All gangly arms and legs, he’s impossible not to watch; the hour-long show flies by in minutes. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

— Bartley Kives

THIS IS CANCER

Infinite Productions

PTE Colin Jackson Theatre (Venue 17), until July 27

IT’S a comic truism that cancer isn’t funny. Clearly nobody has told that to Cancer itself, brought to the stage by Bruce Horak in a performance that mixes dark humour, devastating power and absolutely singular strangeness.

As an embodiment of the Big C, the Toronto-based Horak, a survivor of childhood cancer, is part smarmy lounge singer, part scary clown, part warped motivational speaker. Mixing a killer-smart monologue with unsettling physical comedy, Horak’s Cancer starts out as a delusional egomaniac, bragging about his Google hits.

Then he takes an informal poll and is gobsmacked to find out that everybody in the theatre hates him. Cancer’s attempts to win us over involve irresistible musical numbers and some endearingly unpredictable audience participation.

Horak’s work is audacious in its absurdist comedy. But it becomes equally unexpected in its tender, touching (dare we say it?) emotional uplift. The show starts in pitch-black darkness, but in a mysterious bit of theatrical alchemy, somehow lurches toward love, hope and light. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

— Alison Gillmor

2 RUBY KNOCKERS, 1 JADED DICK: A DIRK DARROW INVESTIGATION

Sideshow A GoGo

Son of Warehouse (Venue 5), to July 27

THE jokes come hard and fast as a runaway bullet train on steroids in this psychic detective caper from Australian-American Tim Motley.

Hard-boiled dick Dirk Darrow is on the trail of a dangerous dame after a bank heist, but the pun-packed plot takes a backseat in this blend of standup comedy, prestidigitation and medium-boiled psychic shenanigans.

Amazing card tricks, mind games and groaners galore add up to 60 minutes of pure entertainment, or more depending on the pace of audience participation. Hang on to your hats — and pencils. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö �

— Pat St. Germain

THE UNTITLED SAM MULLINS PROJECT

Sam S Mullins

Cinematheque (Venue 7) to July 27

AT a festival overflowing with world-class talent, you shouldn’t throw around the title “master storyteller” lightly. Especially with a young performer such as Sam Mullins, whose career “saying words in front of people” is only going to climb higher.

But God, he’s good. Taking personal truths that hold him back, Mullins assembles four intimate stories that make the hour fly by. His lines show articulate workmanship while never coming across as unnatural, thanks to an easy, self-deprecating rapport with the audience.

It’s sterling work in a smallish venue. Get your ticket early. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2

— Matt TenBruggencate

THE BALLAD OF PETER COTTON BALLS

JonBennettComedy.com

Shaw Performing Arts Centre — MTYP (Venue 21), to July 26

IF you exhumed Andy Kaufman, made him watch Monty Python’s Flying Circus and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, then stuffed him in a filthy bunny suit, you might get someone as anarchic and hilarious as Jay Williamez.

Assuming the personality of Peter Cotton Balls, an alcoholic and masochistic rabbit, Williamez gives one of the most playfully ridiculous performances at this year’s fringe. Between singing his casually un-PC songs with titles like T-Rex Jesus and Oh Chlamydia, Peter delights with stories about his motherless childhood, a stint in a Milli Vanilli cover band and his loathing of humans.

Using one’s own self-loathing as fuel for comedy is not new, but rarely is it done with such impeccable comic timing and sincere conviction. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2

— Ben Wiebe

BLOODSUCKERS! THE MUSICAL

Kiss the Giraffe Productions

Tom Hendry Warehouse, (Venue 6), to July 27

TEN years after its fringe debut, this show’s still got legs — and fangs.

Winnipeg writer-composer Joseph Aragon’s first musical comedy rises again in an ambitious anniversary production directed by iconic fringer Leith Clark.

When greedy corporate suits make a high-stakes play to open a Dracula-Land theme park in Transylvania, they encounter a sinister ally named Vlad (Ray Padua) and his vampy sidekick Natasha (Mallory James).

Madcap mischief ensues as corporate climber Mary (Lisa Tjaden) falls under Vlad’s spell, forcing her smitten co-worker Bill (Kenneth Jackson) to save her soul — with help from a trio of avenging angels. Standout performances and dead-on sight gags make it a batty blast from the past. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö �

— Pat St. Germain

CAWS & EFFECT

Mind of a Snail Puppet Co.

MTC Up the Alley (Venue 2), until July 27

THIS new shadow theatre production from Vancouver’s mighty Mind of a Snail Puppet Co. — the brains behind the fringe hit Against Gravity — is a beautifully wrought environmental cautionary tale, told from a crow’s eye view.

Through layered cut-paper projections, puppetry, masks and an original score, Chloé Ziner and Jessica Gabriel create a whimsical live-action storybook that’s easy to get lost in. In their hands, craft materials become enterprising earthworms and beating crows wings and starry galaxies and post-apocalyptic cityscapes strewn with garbage. The ingenuity and artistry on display is breathtaking. (The show is also expertly choreographed; Gabriel and Ziner, engaged in a kind of pas de deux, execute their intricate projections without distracting from the show — no small thing.)

Caws & Effect is a good story, lovingly told. It’s amazing what magic can be created with two overhead projectors and a little imagination. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

— Jen Zoratti

HELL TO PAY

The Beast With Three Backs

Son of Warehouse (Venue 5), to July 27

STEEPED in bourbon and gleefully rolled in grit, Hell To Pay is a wicked adaptation of Shel Silverstein’s epic poem, The Devil and Billy Markham.

As in all gambling stories, the devil just can’t be beat, but Billy Markham, a full-time loser from Nashville, does his damnedest. In this version, Billy gambles away his soul and that of his true love. The devil, sporting a set of red and black horns cleverly devised out of a satin brassiere, exacts his painful, and painfully funny, dues.

This three-member troupe from Blue Lake, Calif., brings a wild exuberance to a small space, wallowing in the brimstone and smoke, as they contort themselves into a motley crew of rabble, debased by their own foolishly played hands. The devil, his sidekick and his adversary circle and spar with each other in this 60-minute comedy, illustrating with delightful debauchery, the human condition and the tricky balance between good and evil. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2

— Wendy King

LUDWIG & LOHENGRIN

Antiscan Productions

Son of Warehouse (Venue 5), to July 26

A ROYAL dreamer, a calculating composer and castles in the air make for enchanting storytelling in Calgary writer-performer Kyall Rakoz’s inspired take on the life and sudden death of Bavaria’s King Ludwig II.

A white sheet, paper swans and a few shadow puppets are all Rakoz needs to bring the 60-minute dramedy to vivid life. Playing multiple characters, he recounts the story of Ludwig’s lonely childhood and reign from several perspectives. Characters disagree on questions surrounding the “mad king’s” sanity and sexuality, but it seems his love for Richard Wagner and his opera Lohengrin sealed his fate. A soulful, saucy mystery for the ages, this one hits the sweet spot. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö �

— Pat St. Germain

MITTELSCHMERZ (TRANSLATION: MIDDLE PAIN)

Kimmy Zee

Studio 320 (Venue 15), to July 26

PLEASE stifle your groans when you read the subtitle of fringe veteran Kim Zeglinski’s latest offering: “Confessions of Motherhood and Middle Age.” It’s hard to believe there could possibly be anything new to say about this well-mined subject. But this clever writer-producer-performer, who brought Stretchmarks and Breast Friends to the fringe in previous years, finds both lots to say and truly original ways to say it in this one-woman, high-energy show.

From the moment the audience joins in singing Que Sera Sera in the opening sequence, Zeglinski has a hold of them. The Winnipegger steers them through her childhood, student days, marriage and motherhood, with honest revelations that never lose the funny. Much of the humour stems from her rapid-fire delivery, which could exhaust an audience, but the ease with which she morphs from character to character — a beat poet, a leader of a sex seminar, herself in labour — keeps things moving forward smoothly. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

— Julie Carl

PROMISE AND PROMISCUITY: A NEW MUSICAL

Penash Productions

WECC (Venue 26), to July 26

IN this deft, witty and winning take on Jane Austen, New Zealander Penny Ashton plays Elspeth Slowtree, at age two-and-20 already “hurtling toward spinsterhood,” with only the powers of her pen to keep her from genteel poverty. In a gloriously crowded one-woman show, Ashton also plays Elspeth’s gadabout sister, nervy mother, snobby neighbour and a gaggle of suitors. Oh, and she’s a dab-hand at the ukulele, too.

Ashton’s sparkling script riffs on the structure, characters and dialogue of the Austen canon, but you don’t need to be a dedicated Janeite to enjoy the romp. Ashton also throws in topical references, cheeky feminist comment and some unexpected musical mash-ups.

We learn that balancing work and love can be tricky for a young woman, but Elspeth remains confident that this difficulty surely will be solved 200 years hence! ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2

— Alison Gillmor

ALLEGHENY, BC (STUPID BOY IN AN UGLY TOWN)

Tonic Records

Asper Centre for Theatre and Film (U of W) (Venue 13), to 26

VANCOUVER-BASED musician/poet/actor Rodney DeCroo weaves his many talents together to share the moving tale of his life so far. Accompanied by the gorgeous cello stylings of Clara Shandler, this hybrid show is part music, part poetry, all entertaining. Like many a talented folksinger, DeCroo’s voice isn’t a thing of beauty, his tales of growing up along the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania and in British Columbia are stark, heart-wrenching and gorgeous. Evoking the ghosts of his past — his beloved grandmother, war-damaged father or a ne’er do well cowboy with false teeth — DeCroo’s simple presentation is haunting.

DeCroo is an unassuming yet mesmerizing performer. The honesty of the words and emotions ringing true for all.

Sad, sweet and life-affirming, Allegheny, BC’s waters run deep. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2

— Barb Stewart

SINGING AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

Randy Rutherford Presents

PTE Mainstage (Venue 16), to July 27

EVERY writer-performer who aspires to craft a solo piece out of personal experience should see Randy Rutherford’s show to find out how a master does it.

The California-based Rutherford is a fringe elder in his mid-60s. He’s been bringing music-laced memoirs, including this one, to Winnipeg for 15 years. His singing voice has weakened a bit. But the funny and moving 75-minute story of how he began to go deaf while working as a folksinger — and dating an angelic girl — in 1970s Alaska is still, to quote a previous Free Press review, heart-rendingly beautiful. His evocation of place is breathtaking, and he knows how to make his experiences of loss and isolation universal. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2

— Alison Mayes

YOU CAN DO MAGIC

Comedy Illusions of Greg Wood

School of Contemporary Dancers (Kids Venue), to July 27

IN his seventh year at the Winnipeg fringe, illusionist Greg Wood is ceding the stage to his young fans. In 45 minutes of theatre magic, Wood plays assistant to a dozen lucky volunteers plucked from the audience. They’re the ones pulling off the tricks, not him.

It’s the best trick of a well-paced, polished show that had a full audience from the very young to tweens on the edge of their seats. Lobbing more than a few dry jokes for parents, Wood’s grasp on kids’ attention spans and imaginations was solid. More than that, his approach shone with the non-patronizing respect for children’s theatre demands.

One particular trick stands out: a live “legend-making” event where a young audience sorcerer coaxes a table to float. Their name is then dropped into a box, where all the names of past conjurers are kept as proof of the supernatural.

Let’s say it together: we can do magic. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2

— Matt TenBruggencate

ONE-MAN TRAFFIC JAM

Big Word Performance Poetry

Planetarium Auditorium (Venue 10), to July 27

OVER 11 fringe festival poetry recitations, Scotsman Jem Rolls has been the model of consistency, profusely sweating out an intense hour of articulate verse at breakneck speed.

You always knew what to expect from Rolls — until this year, and his latest flurry of words and images called One Man Traffic Jam. It should have been evident that something was up when for the first time a program was offered at the door.

In Montreal, he opened, surprisingly, with what amounted to a laugh-filled 15-minute standup routine about fringe festivals in Canada and in Edinburgh, which he says is so huge you could drop the Regina Fringe Festival into it and not find it for three weeks.

The 45-minute title piece is Rolls at his most familiar, performing a breathless travelogue about the bus rides he endures in search of material for his poetry. Look for his first costume change. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

— Kevin Prokosh