Roller Coaster
Big Sandwich Productions—Dramatic Arts Centre
What a way to start my Fringe! Fringe God T.J. never disappoints. His shows are masterfully crafted and his humble ‘aw shucks’ persona is instantly engaging and he has you in the palm of his hand from start to finish. It’s always over too soon. This year’s new show is titled due to his experience at Universal’s Harry Potter theme park in Orlando. His style weaves in and out flawlessly between topics; a hilarious tale full of his astute observations of life. Besides the park, which he adores, his topics this year include Trump, zombies, the causes of war, development of humanity, and the apocalypse. Would you survive? He thinks the value of a monologist might not be that great in the end of days. He also shares his billeting experiences, which ranged from the unbearable to sublime in one day. (I hope my billet won’t use us on stage one day.) I was very interested in his description of the Orlando Fringe, which I would love to attend one day. It sounds quite different from ours. He also shares his brilliant analysis of pop culture and the influence of X-Men, comics, and pop music on society. He interacts constantly with the audience; treating you like a friend discussing life and is so warm and charming. You always leave his shows with a fuzzy feeling.
He lives his work, teaching writing at college and leading writing workshops. This extensive experience means you will be treated to a work of such quality, that you will be reflecting on his ideas for some time. Be sure to grab his program, which shares some excellent reading suggestions, which I plan to peruse after the Fringe.
Do not miss!
BTW This is a very comfy, air conditioned venue that some find cold, so bring a sweater.
Lisa Campbell
What We’ve Learned from Watching You – A Double Bill
MTYP Summer Studio—MTYP – Richardson Hall
What We’ve Learned From Watching You is great! Smart, funny political piece that demonstrates youth engagement and hope for the future.
Kevin Bumstead
The Beer Show: AKA A Brief History of Beer
Wish Experience—The King’s Head Pub
The Beer Show is a new show from William Glenn and Trish Parry comprised of some audience participation games mixed into a number of multimedia sketches and songs related to an ongoing theme of trying to determine why bland lagers are the best selling beer. It was not as polished as last year’s show, I think largely due to it being the first night of a brand new show in a new (licensed) venue.
They went all out incorporating a number of Winnipeg and Canadian beer history references into the sketches. Some of the skits are better than others, but overall it was a fun time. However, if you have no interest at all in beer you will probably not enjoy it as much.
Murray Hunter
Sound & Fury’s “Doctor Whom”
Sound & Fury—John Hirsch Mainstage
Sound and Fury are back with another rad, rude, crude show dudes! As always it was a fun romp with this years theme of Doctor Whom (for legal reasons). The guys decided to focus more on their improv roots and thus have yet to make a script for this show. If they hadn’t told me that I probably would have eventually caught on, but it was still very similar to their scripted shows. The play was very sloppy at times and rarely was it a serious piece of theater; but, if your coming to Sound and Fury looking for serious, you are at the wrong show. A fun improv show that will no doubt age like a fine wine. Definitely worth a watch!
Kaitlyn Kriss
The Jenny Revue is back again! For the more nostalgic of you that are missing the paper issues we have placed a couple of the old reliable Jenny Boxes in the Beer Tent and at Hospo in MTC. They currently contain a one-sheet preview issue to help remind everyone what the Jenny is and what we do. Before you get your hopes up, we will remain an online entity this year, so this website will be the home of all our usual content. You can also follow us on Twitter @jennyrevue for updates on what has been published online.
We have made a few improvements over last year and have updated our Online Fringe Program and Schedule. It has all the shows, and is searchable or you can filter by date and/or venue. If you are planning a day at the Fringe just click the date and the presto-chango all the shows on that day will be listed and sorted by start time.
We already have over a dozen Shameless Self-Promotions for you to peruse, and late Wednesday/early Thursday you will start to see a handy list of shows that have been reviewed just below this column.
For those who have never heard of the Jenny Revue, for 25 of the last 29 Winnipeg Fringe Festivals, The Jenny Revue has been the original independant Media entitiy covering the Winnipeg Fringe.
The key parts of the Jenny are the following:
- Reviews—We do a few things differently at the Jenny, one of the biggest differences is we do not use a star or number rating system. Yes, that means you actually have to read a review to see what the person reviewing the show thought about it. We have always done it this way, and think that it is a better way to do things. We accept reviews from anyone, with only one condition: You must provide your real name, and some form of contact info (in case we need clarification). In general, as long as the review was informative it will be published on the website.
- Shameless Self-Promotion—If you are in a Fringe play and haven’t shamelessly promoted your show, put together 80 words (or less)—different from your program blurb—and send them to us. Clearly mark them as SSPs since it’s difficult to tell the difference between an unqualified rave by a satisfied patron, and a bombastic bit of self-promotion by a company scribe.
- Letters—Got an opinion on something at the Fringe? It is always better to get it off your chest. Send us your thoughts with your name and contact info and if it catches our eye we’ll spread the word.
- News—Our editor is always looking for interesting or wacky things that have happened during the Fringe. If you have a tale to tell, let us know.
- The Jenny Awards—On the last Sunday of the Fringe join us upstairs at the King’s Head for our yearly wrap party. Any company who has been mentioned in the Jenny may end up nominated for one of our fun categories. Winners of which go home with a highly coveted fabulous hand stitched Jenny Award. If you don’t win there is always a great selection of beer to down your sorrows with.
But we can’t do this all by ourselves. We need you.
It’s simple. Tell us your Fringe experience. See a show and talk about it, wonder about the weird and the wonderful, make suggestions, stir up a controversy, whatever floats your Fringe boat.
You can email whatever you’ve got to say to:
jennyrevue@gmail.com
Enjoy the Fringe!
Murray Hunter
Fill The (W)hole
The Time In-Between—MTC Up the Alley
The Time In-Between is a story about a young woman growing up, realizing she might be pregnant and the inevitable future of her early on-set Alzheimer’s. Through her scrapbook, we watch as memories of her mother, of love, of loss and of fear come alive. Fill The (W)hole had an amazing time last year with The Writing On The Stall, and we can’t wait to perform for you!
Broken Turtle Productions
Roller Derby Saved My Soul—Pantages Mainstage
What do you get when you combine a heartwarming coming of age story with comic book nerds on rollerskates? By this point, the answer should be obvious. Nancy Kenny returns with an even more finely-honed version of the action-adventure-comedy-on-wheels that earned 4 stars from CBC Manitoba in 2014, and this time she brought popcorn! Everyone knows free food wins a bonus star from Joff Schmidt, so it’s practically a 5-star show; be sure to put this one in your spreadsheet.
Down the Well Productions
Your Princess is in Another Castle—Pantages Mainstage
#YPANIC is something completely different:
It’s the satire Melissa McCarthy wishes she’d written, this hilarious 2-hander – with department store mannequins – “embodies the spirit of the Fringe” (sounds messy, TheatreInLondon; don’t get that on your clothes), promising just the right mix of absolute irreverence and absolute reverence. Princess Polly will not be stopped as she overcomes the potent array of mannequinsplaining that lies between her and the Princess-Presidency. Definitely bring your kids if they already know how to curse. #SideBoobPolly
Rachelle Fordyce
(MINI) DEMON OF DEATH—PTE – Colin Jackson Studio
As George Carlin once said, “The planet is fine. The people are f*cked.” Is your self-annihilation on the horizon?
Temporarily person-ified in human-like form, (MINI) DEMON OF DEATH is saucy, seductive, bittersweet… and here to tally your mortal (mis)deeds — a task normally reserved for the recently departed.
Horny as Hell, get ready for Death to take you through Life, the Universe, and Everything In Between in this comedic, genre-defying interactive show.
“Rachelle Fordyce drops jaws” ★★★★★ – StarPhoenix
Wish Experience
The Beer Show: AKA A Brief History of Beer—The King’s Head Pub
People liked The Beer Show last year, and we love Winnipeg – so we thought we’d come back! Only this time it’s a whole new episode we’ve created just for you. Seriously! Previewed to NYC last week, and we figure if they loved the show, we really hope you guys will love it too! We don’t want to reveal too much (we’re very excited!) but we hope you love the tributes and special guests…! #beer #pintmachine #winnipeg <3 Will, Trish & Xythos
