Caws & Effect

Mind of a Snail Puppet Co.—MTC Up the Alley

Chloé Ziner and Jessica Gabriel are back with another shadow puppet show, this time with two overhead projectors, a larger screen and larger venue. I really enjoyed their show Against Gravity last year, and this one was even better. They tell the life story of a couple of crows, which they make into a fantastical visual display that is comprised of artistically layered backgrounds and the shadow outlines of the various creatures in the story. There is more physical theatre in this year’s show, especially at the beginning, which is a nice addition. They also created the soundtrack which blends nicely with the action on the screen.

Murray Hunter

La Belle Laide

Lady of the Lake—Warehouse

The choreography in this show was wonderful, and very clever, but I felt as though the piece couldn’t decide whether it was physical theatre or dance.

It felt like both at times, and at times neither one or the other. It was short, and it told a short story with some level of success, but I felt that dance was the wrong medium for what they were trying to do.

A nice effort on their part but it was hard to focus on what was happening.

Arden Pruden

Best Picture

RibbitRePublic Theatre—Planetarium

These people got the buzz going before the show even started, going around the line-up and picking random people to be random celebrities, setting the mood clearly.

The show itself what hilarious, While it is true that, unless you had seen every best picture since the Oscars started, you wouldn’t get all the jokes they were making, it was still an exceptionally funny and very well put together show.

The transitions between movies were seamless, and it truly was amazing to watch. Lives up to its name, this show.

Arden Pruden

Expiration Date

SunsetGun Productions—Rachel Browne Th. (Crocus)

This is another show with the tough subject matter of cancer and impending death, so it may not be for everyone.

However, it is a very powerful, well-written play that is expertly performed. Candy Simmons wrote and performs this one woman show in which the main character has found out she has her own Expiration Date due to an aggressive cancer.

We then see her struggles in dealing with knowing she does not have much time. Additionally, we see some deep emotional wounds from the past that are brought forward again, as her mother also died of the same disease.

There are a few funny moments and some other uplifting scenes scattered throughout which helps lighten the mood.

Murray Hunter

Trouble Walked In: An Improvised Noir Mystery

Parking Lots Improv—Cinematheque

In this particular improv show we only need to give them the event. It seems as though the characters are already planned, which definitely works to fill in the ‘noir’ portion of the title.

The flow was excellent, and at times it almost felt like the scenes were scripted. They have a collectively dry sense of humour, and when this is the case for the entire group it’s incredibly easy for them all to play off of each other. They really know what they’re doing. It’s definitely worth seeing.

Arden Pruden

340 ft

Winnipeg Shibari Th. Co.—RRC (enter on William)

The show opens with an obviously affectionate couple entering their living room, sharing a drink and a cuddle.

Then the woman opens a cupboard and brings her partner the bundles of rope.

He ties her up with obvious affection checking regularly on her comfort and stroking her gently between knots.

This is the first introduction the audience is given to the art of Shibari, and this same couple continues through the entire performance—the woman left bound still during other set pieces and tied in increasingly complex and demanding poses until a stunning finale—but with the man always checking and double-checking her comfort and or consent.

The second set piece, involving a seemingly unwilling victim, is far less comfortable, although it has some aspects—the woman’s alleged offense and her pleas for Superman (an audience member) to come save her—that suggests it’s a fantasy role play scene.

There’s nothing actually shown that proves her consent. While it would be difficult to include in the scene, a preview or a follow-up scene would do much to remove the obvious discomfort of watching apparent non-consent.

The third scene, begun while the narrator explains the history of Shibari, is a gorgeous demonstration of suspension and nearly spiritual calm and probably the most attractive and acceptable to viewers uncomfortable with either the erotic consent or the possible unconsent.

Overall, a fascinating demonstration. My largest complaint is that all the submissives are female and all those doing the binding are male. This is not true in either the greater BDSM or Shibari communities and it would improve things greatly to include either a femaile dominant pair or a same sex pair of either gender, nor do I think this would be in any way problematic for any audience already willing to look at a demonstration of Shibari.

Leonara Rose Patrick

340 ft

Winnipeg Shibari Th. Co.—RRC (enter on William)

When you see a performance that is classified as “unclassifiable” it makes you want to see it, if you are a true Fringer. This is an experience, not a play.

No program, but if you are a prude you will be scandalized, and if you are adventurous you will never forget this. A tender, thought-provoking, and totally different presentation dealing with the Japanese art of rope bondage known as Shibari, which was originally a form of humanely restraining prisoners and evolved into a form of bondage that actually hits healing spots and is extremely sensual.

The audience was so cute on the way out; smiles from ear-to-ear, yet not wanting to make eye contact with anyone else. Unlike any other thing I have ever seen at the Fringe, and I’ve seen more than most. The five-member cast handled a subject most would never attempt with the utmost skill and charm. Fringe on!

Lisa Campbell

2 Ruby Knockers, 1 Jaded Dick: A Dirk Darrow Investigation

Sideshow A GoGo—Son of Warehouse

This man plays the audience exceptionally well, and I suppose that’s necessary when you’re a magician. But in addition to that, he is an incredible performer.

He has a way of always leaving people guessing, and seems to have some snide comment (that ultimately will be funny) for every possible situation. Go see this man. He’s incredible.

Arden Pruden

Lies of a Promiscuous Woman

Monkey Centurion/The Company of Women—
Eckhardt-Grammaté (UofW)

Theresa Thomson stars as a reimagined “Virgin” Mary in this local production. Thomson does not sing, but backing her up is a sweet-voiced chorus of five other women and keyboard player Süss, who use either complete or—more-often—excerpted portions of various Madonna songs to highlight elements of her story.

Most of the time, this Mary, dressed in her traditional white and blue, delivers an ongoing monologue of her story while maintaining a magnetic rapport with the audience.

This play, by Audra Lesosky, is a clever, and possibly blasphemous, retelling of the story of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, who is here called by his Hebrew name Yeshua. The focus is not on the promiscuity of the main character, as the title may suggest, but instead on how this astute young woman—with little power in an ancient male-dominated culture—is able to use guile and marketing genius to live her life fully and create something powerful.

She is not only Jesus’ mother, but also his spiritual tutor, business advisor, and the guardian of his legacy. Like a marketing wizard of two thousand years ago, she looks at previous Messiah legends and succeeds at finding potent new angles to captivate the attention of the masses.

Effectively mixing comedy and pathos, monologues and music, this production is a courageous rebooting of the familiar New Testament story.

Konrad Antony

Lies of a Promiscuous Woman

Monkey Centurion/The Company of Women—
Eckhardt-Grammaté (UofW)

This is the play that made headlines both when a couple of creeps attacked the lead actor and when it made the short list for the Harry Rintoul award. It also attracted a sold-out crowd on Thursday night that gave Audra Lesosky’s work a thunderous ovation.

As you probably know, this is a retelling of the Virgin Mary’s story. It is also an outstanding theatrical achievement. Theresa Thompson is utterly convincing as the sharp-tongued mother of a precocious prophet. Her timing is impeccable and her delivery is committed and sincere.

Her analogy of early Middle East prophets as a version of the modern-day Fringe company went down well. She is accompanied by a choir, with a couple of members who also assume small roles. I wish I had a programme so that I could name the young woman whose prayers to the blessed virgin go mostly unanswered.

Lesosky does a great job of putting the Jesus story in historical context, and has some good rejoinders for those who selectively quote the Old Testament.

This seems to me to be a larger work constrained to the Fringe format. I’d like to see the young modern woman’s character and story fleshed out more, and it would be interesting to have Mary explain how sexually obsessed early leaders like St. Augustine of Hippo and Saul of Tarsus chose to blame women for their inability to supress their natural urges.

At one point in the play she claims that the message Mary and her son bring is one of peace and kindness, but it would seem that many modern adherents do not believe her. In the final line of the play, she also says that every Jewish mother thinks that her firstborn son is a god, so what is the truth? What do we believe?

I hope that the company took care to secure the rights to Madonna’s music. It would be less than fun to have HER coming after you.

Kevin Longfield