The Buzz – Reviews – 2017

Woody Sed

Two Dollar Shoes—MTC Up the Alley

You don’t need to love Woody Guthrie to be thrilled by this heart breaking performance. There is nothing lacking in this outstanding production. Thomas relates the life and times of the activist and musician, with warmth and humour. His guitar playing is perfect. His acting easy and so natural, you think it’s Woody himself. Be prepared to sing along to the well known protest anthems. The story is not a happy one but you will leave satisfied and so glad you took the time to treat yourself to this wonderful show. Thank you Thomas!

Lisa Campbell

Snake Oil

Theatre Dance Centre—John Hirsch Mainstage

Hosting one of the largest casts in the entire fringe, the wild west comes alive through dance and gun fights. This silly and fun family show follows three gullible ‘village idiots’ and one not so scary bad guy as they try to outsmart the townsfolk and get ahead. The cast was on the whole very strong with tremendous comedic timing. The main villain had me belly laughing quite a few times. There are also some wonderful whole-cast dance numbers and an epic slow mo fight scene. While the dancing and jokes landed, several elements did not. The show is very hokey and looked, quite frankly, cheap. There were gun shots in effect but they were very quiet and also did not really sound like gun shots. The set looked like they ran out of time to finish it. There were many very awkward transitions and unintentional moments of silence. While the cast is undeniably talented, It is very hard for me to treat this as a legitimate play when you try to pass off children and teens as adults, especially when they are acting alongside actual adults. A little more time and polishing was needed to turn this into a good play, but it is  good one to take children and families to.

Kaitlyn Kriss

The Places We Go

UNIT Productions—Pantages Studio

A blend of transparencies and shadowing drives this show. The transparencies look nicely made and the transitions good smoothly. The shadow interaction make this imagery work well. It’s a well conceived idea that takes the normal transparency art to the next level.

I can identify well with the story-line, being a first generation Canadian-Asian, but this play takes the opposite perspective. Normally, you see the struggles of the first-gen Canadian, versus the loss of the homeland family because of the emigration. It’s a fresh angle but the sequences can be a little too long. They use too many examples at times, and some of the lists are too long.

The singing here bothered me somewhat. If you’re going to sing at your show, you should be an accomplished singer. By contrast, if you want to assume the part of a sorrowful young girl singing, then sing at the level of a little girl. The off-key, weak singing just shows a shortcoming of the artist.

Although scheduled for one hour, the actual time barely runs 30 minutes. Shave the repetition and you have about 25 minutes of real material. There’s not much of a plot here and that’s because of the short run time.  This plot needs some twists and development—as is, it’s a bit simple and basic.

Ray Yuen

Evacuated!

Pack of Others—Creative Manitoba

Erika shares her fascinating, true story of her time as visiting student in Indonesia, during a dangerous era. It was exciting, interesting and worthwhile to see. I would have preferred that she just relate the tale and not rely so heavily on theatrical techniques such as repeating phrases; to make the thing seem to come full circle. It just seemed forced. Her apologizing for confusing us repeatedly at the beginning is not needed and condescending to the audience. We are pretty sophisticated theatre goers, for the most part; and I certainly didn’t find myself confused. For that, you need a first year dramatic arts production. The story and her talent are enough to stand alone.

Erika is half of a very talented partnership with Paul Strickland, who brought us the wonderful Papa Squat and Ain’t True and Uncle False, hailing from Cincinnati. Go see his show too!

Lisa Campbell

Flight

Curbside—John Hirsch Mainstage

This incredible movement piece was a joy to watch. Based on the classic story ‘The Little Prince’, This new telling was visually stunning to watch. I loved watching these three talented acrobats flow seamlessly from one scene to the next. With no set whatsoever, I was spellbound the entire time. Fans of the story may not love some of the changes that have been made for the purpose of this production. It is alluded to at the very beginning that this is a sort of sequel to the original, but the story is relatively the same. In this telling for example, instead of traveling through space, we travel through the sea. Instead of visiting planets, we visit islands. I found some of the nuances and metaphors were lost but the story seemed to have a more light and whimsical feel to it. This is a great one to take your whole family too and a definite treat to brighten anyone’s day.

Kaitlyn Kriss

We’ll Meet Again: Vera Lynn, the Forces’ Sweetheart

Melanie Gall Presents—Creative Manitoba

Melanie is a professional opera singer; just so you know the quality of the voice you will be treated to. If you want to escape the busy pace of the Square, and retreat back to the days of WWII, the Andrews sisters and Vera Lynn, this is your chance. Melanie creates a warm, safe space where the audience is provided with song sheets and encouraged to sit back, relax and sing along. I honestly forgot I was at the Fringe. Most of the audience was there to see Melanie; having fallen in love, as you do, with her previous masterpieces, such as Piaf and Brel . I have seen every one of her shows and will continue to do so. She shares the life and history of Vera Lynn, who is still alive at 100, and her love and enthusiasm for her subject is contagious. This show will thrill, transport and warm you with her easy charm. What more do you want for twelve bucks? Treat yourself and fill a seat before you can’t get one.

P.S. For those of you who have been avoiding this fourth floor venue for fear it will be another of those sweat boxes , relax. I was there on an extremely hot day and the venue is perfectly comfortable.

Lisa Campbell

Shark Weak: Nothing To Fear

Shelby Bond—Cinematheque

This Fringe favourite tells a great story and he doesn’t disappoint again. This time, he explores fears and phobias. We all have them and most of us share many of the same ones—much of it by nature and for species survival’s sake. That’s how the show begins, before everything becomes a mash of humour-laced mockeries—and that’s fine. Fears can be justified and phobias are as the definition suggest, irrational.

You’ll have fun at this show but you should show up early. It’s likely to fill up and you should try your best not to sit in the back row. The ending was pretty much ruined for me because…well, just try not to sit too far back!

Ray Yuen

“Get Me the F**k Out of Edmonton” and other ramblings from a Fringe Has-been

Wes Borg—John Hirsch Mainstage

Old Fringers like us have been jumping out of our skin with excitement since we heard Wes Borg, of 3 Dead Trolls in a Baggie fame, was finally returning to the city that adored him so much. This show stands alone, but has special meaning for those of us who sorta remember those hazy, crazy, beer-soaked days of the Fringe in the 80’s. Those days were special to those of us who were lucky enough to have been there. Some of us even met our spouses there(guilty). Those days were crazier, rowdier with beer gardens packed to bursting with artists and fans; until we were thrown out to stagger over to reluctantly close the King’s Head. Parties continued into the morning. The beer garden and patio were filled to capacity nightly. 3 Dead Trolls were a major and truly important part of those days. Our Fringe has changed, evolved, and become a more serious fest that doesn’t have the boundary-pushing antics of the past. Performers and patrons don’t mix and party the way we used to. The Fest was more centralized; with the action more crammed into the city core, and especially Market Square. As the Fest has grown and expanded its parameters to the Gas Station and MTYP, for example, the tone has changed. You can do the whole Fringe and not bump into your friends. There is not the intense sharing of word of mouth that happened when foot traffic was contained around the Square. I miss those days. Enough nostalgia.

But no, this show IS nostalgic. The spirit of the late Troll, Joe Byrd, who loved my cooking, was part of this act, bless his crazy soul. You even get to be flashed by his life-sized puppet. Wes was in fine, bare foot mode. Don’t worry, he hasn’t grown up that much. His silly, goofy grin and wild curls are just the same. The show was warm, endearing and entertaining. His humour is still sharp and wiser with age. He shares his hilarious tales of life, and Fringing on the road, with his wife, who just happens to be his motor home. Go listen, and let him explain. His songs are hilarious and crude. His attitude is F-U if you don’t like my style; but the huge audience there, loved it. He was there to perform for his base and they were there to show him how much he was missed. Well done Wes! Welcome back! And please don’t be a stranger.

Lisa Campbell

Lauren & Amanda Do It

Toasted Theatre Company—Planetarium

As the write-up suggests, this talk show explores sex with no limits. They invite audience participation and the energy of the audience goes along way in driving the show. By all means, sit near the front if you want to guide the show and possible win some rewards!

Some of the informative info underlines the theme of what they try to accomplish here, which is to educate the audience about sex issues. A volunteer from the audience dictates the discussion topic, and today’s happens to be “sex work.” No one thinks past the stage when you consider dancing but there’s a lot more to it than accepting a job to disrobe (bet you didn’t know you need a license?!). I would have liked to see a lot more of this kind of depth.

The guest speaker can drag a bit—after all, who’s really that interested in his sex life? The games are fun so I would have liked to have seen more games and more educational material. Still, this is a fun show so long as you have no problems with people talking about sex explicitly.

Ray Yuen

A Drink Maker’s Guide to Spirits

Fox and Badger Productions—Tom Hendry Warehouse

While I enjoyed the music that came accompanied the show, this is not a play I will be telling anyone to go to. The show was boring and the characters were forgettable or just plain unlikable. One I wish I was able to forget was the character Justin Conner who was overacted and ham-fisted throughout the entire play and had me rolling my eyes more than once. A stand out of this show was Alex Conner played by Nathan Sawatzky-Dyck. I did love his breaking of the fourth wall and the tidbits about different spirits I had no idea about. His singing voice was superb as well. I didn’t come for the music however and found my self wanting for anything resembling an interesting story. I checked my watch within the first 15 minutes and was checked out for the rest of the play. Better luck next year folks.

Kaitlyn Kriss