LUB DUB

O Albatross—School of Contemporary Dancers

To be clear, I’m an Ally, and I’m a feminist. I was a feminist before Justin Trudeau made Canada aware that men can be feminists too.

Also, if foul language offends you, please stop reading here. My review remains true to the language and tone of the show.

Equality and fairness are very dear to me, which is part of the reason why I’m here. It’s also why it pains me that I don’t have a lot of good things to say about this show.

Strap on your seat belts folks—this may be the longest review I’ve written in my Jenny career.

First: the good – the energy, enthusiasm, honesty and openness is very much appreciated and
embraced.

Now for the bad – this show is lacking in many ways, and in some ways, it’s plain wrong.

Lacking:
“Fuck Scheer,” that’s self-explanatory.
“Fuck Trudeau.” Why fuck Trudeau? He’s not perfect but he’s done a lot of good things since succeeding the tyrant Stephen Harper. Are you making a political statement? If so, then do it. Fuck Scheer and Fuck Trudeau tells me nothing. Instead, how about “vote May? Vote Longley? Vote Di Carlo? Vote Singh? Vote Corriveau?” If you’re making a political statement, tell us what you think and why.

Lacking:
Okay, you’ve painted a picture of white male privilege. So now what do we do? If people are in your audience, there’s a very good chance they’re already on your side. I’m willing to bet that Brian Pallister will never come to your show. Tell the audience what to do to forward the cause. We’re here; you have our attention; and we’re angry—now what do we do?

Wrong:
Telling people that dropping out of school is a good thing is wrong. Education is the key to advancement, not the enemy. People need to be educated, not the opposite way around. I cannot stress this strongly enough.

Perhaps dropping out of university was the right thing for you—or perhaps you were just in the wrong program. I have three degrees but I only made it through one semester of the MBA program. It disgusted me to hear the classes talk about why Walmart is the ultimate capital machine and how mom-and-pop shops should be crushed because they’re inefficient. It made me sick. So if you want to say “fuck the MBAs,” you’d be right on target. Saying “fuck university” is very wrong.

Before I went to university, I was an elitist, sexist hard-core Conservative. Minoring in Womxn’s Studies at the University of Winnipeg taught me to be a new person. It taught me to be the person I am today.
Education is beneficial to everyone—please don’t spread the wrong message.

Wrong:
“Fuck the cops—no cops at Pride.” The entire premise of your show is inclusivity. Painting the entire police service with one brush is the essence of exclusion. The police are not your enemy. Yes, there may be police officers who are your enemy but denigrating the police institution is wrong. I work directly with the highest level of police officials and I can attest that they have invested mammoth amounts of time and resources to training their officers about fair policing. There are many Allies within police organisations—you cannot condemn the entire enterprise.

For your show, the wordplay component involving food is cute—but it has nothing to do with your thesis. This is time that can be better spent developing you argument. The tissues segment is relevant but excessive and the message is weak. I would replace those segments with something meatier. How about something like an emotional story that grabs at the heart and squeezes?

Many disadvantaged people have told me stories that left me in tears—stories told through classes, courses, lectures, over coffee, over beer – everywhere. Tell us a story that will make me and the audience connect with you on a deep level. Rather than just tell us to be angry, make us feel angry—make us feel sad—make us feel hurt—make us feel.

You have a good show, and some great components (love Love LOVE Thomas’s dance), and important
issues. You can deliver it much more effectively. Maybe going back to school can help you refine your presentation.

Ray Yuen, Ally

Quirky

Son of Kimmy Zee—Platform Centre

Aidan Zeglinski shares the story of his autistic childhood with wit galore. Like a masterful stand up comedian with skill beyond his years, he delivers each beat of the story with the perfect mix of heart and humour. Extremely honest and relatable for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. The soul crushing effects of when the school banned Pokemon cards, how beyblades brought out the worst in everyone and that awkward first teenage kiss are relived as if you are there seeing it happen all over again. I can’t wait to see what else the future holds for this talented young performer. Word is travelling that this is a show worth seeing to the extent that the 40 person venue is selling out quickly.

Adam Kirk

Weeping Spoon Productions

The Ballad Of Frank Allen—MTC Up the Alley

THE BEARD IS BACK! The JFL Award-Winning (Best Comedy) ★★★★★ Fringe-hit returns to Winnipeg! A weird, sci fi buddy-comedy about a man who lives inside another man’s beard is back after numerous tours through Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Combining physical theatre, storytelling, musical comedy and indie-rock, The Ballad Of Frank Allen promises to be a Fringe experience like no other and one of the most weird and original shows you’ll ever see!

Carey-OK! : Timeless Timely Tunes

Chip Pop Productions—John Hirsch Mainstage

This show felt strange to see in a theatre. I wouldn’t call it a musical either. It felt like a man flexing his budding DJ muscles. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and while I’m not a fan of his style of music I can see where the enjoyment comes from. Overall, he needs polish, he needs focus, and those things allowing there’s the start of an extremely popular DJ in there.

Arden Pruden

The Ghost Project

Karie Richards—Son of Warehouse

Karie is an immediately engaging performer, who slips easily between characters. The show itself is subdued, with each character having their own distinct but not distracting costume piece. She never exaggerates the characters, and gives them exactly the respect they deserve. At its core this show is for people who believe in ghosts, but even so those who don’t will be entertained by her storytelling ability. And the soundtrack was groovy too.

Arden Pruden

Graham Clark’s Quiz Show

Laugh Gallery—Comedy at Wee Johnny’s

Graham’s Clarke’s take on a game show is a fresh concept. He has taken only the very best aspects of all your favourite game shows and your favourite local comedians to bring you your new favourite quiz show. Each show features original segments. Segments consist of a loose idea followed by some google images. If you and your friends enjoyed laughing at stupid pictures on the internet this is the show for you. This show forced the two comedian guests to think on their feet as they both raced to come up with the funniest punch line for the picture. This shows success relies on how ‘on’ the guests are. If the comedians are having an off night the show would probably be a flop. Luckily my guests were hilarious and had me belly laughing. Definitely worth a watch if you want a some sweet puns and cutting one liners.

Kaitlyn Kriss

Yeats’s Ghosts

Protagonista Theatre Co.—Alto – Portage Place

The show opens with a dance, which is honestly the strongest part, even though it felt unnecessary. After that it went a little downhill. The performances were hit and miss, the hits feeling as though they were struggling with the script, and the misses stiff and flat. Several times they stumbled with their lines, which made it feel unprepared. If you like dance, they dance is wonderful, otherwise it’s an hour of slogging through choppy scene transitions, and a less than interesting storyline.

Arden Pruden

The After After Party

After Party Theatre—MTC Up the Alley

Two literal clowns wake up in a park after blacking out from their nights adventures. Through the magic of snorting a ton of Ritalin, they are transported through their memories to try and figure out what the hell happened last night. I too as an audience member spent most of the show trying to figure out what the hell is happening. It was an insane drug trip into the minds to two asshole buffoons. From the breakneck pace to the insane amount of jokes and gags these two ladies were tough to keep up with. It was an insane show guaranteed to offend you at least once. The material was incredibly dark and I felt incredibly uncomfortable at points. I personally don’t find date raping a guy you like to be funny. I also don’t particularly like watching someone’s brains being bludgeoned by a rock. I generally also get queasy at jokes about pedophilia. There were parts of the show I liked but I had a hard time coming back from these very problematic segments. I don’t know that I would recommend this show and still don’t know how I feel about it. I understand that they were trying to make the two main characters unlikable but I feel they went way too far. I would not recommend this show.

Kaitlyn Kriss

The World’s Fattest Contortionist Presents: “The 5 Star Revue ”

sideshowcomic—Planetarium

If you’ve got it- flaunt it, and that’s exactly what he’s doing. I will say however this show is best seen late at night, and at least 5 drinks deep. I saw it sober, so his raunchy, South Park style humour didn’t hit me the way I think he intended. It’s less contortion and more standup, unfortunately the standup can be a bit rambling, and he lost me more than once. If your ideal humour is the low hanging fruit, I would highly recommend this show. If not, have a few drinks and it will be.

Arden Pruden

God Is A Scottish Drag Queen VI

Mike Delamont—Tom Hendry Warehouse

Mike Delamont is back another show hosted by his beloved interpretation of God. By the 6th show you would think that God would have run out of things to say and called it quits. I was pleasantly surprised by some genuinely funny one liners. The shock value of the character may be long gone but it’s still a hilarious show. This show is certainly not for everyone, a lot of folks might take offense to some of the jokes. Jokes ranging from Trump, to anti-vaxers (anti-vaccinators) and an off the cuff joke about a dog choosing their own pronoun. It goes right in line with the character though. God is a larger than life, in your face, drag queen who is not afraid to speak their mind! A joyous swan song of a show, I look to seeing what’s next from Delamont.

Kaitlyn Kriss