The Winnipeg Art Gallery is a challenge for performers. It is too far from the main action for audiences to decide to see a show on a whim. You have to plan to be there, and that hurts walk-up, especially for relatively unknown performers.
At the opening performance this production had about 10 witnesses. I don’t know the fine points of mime or opera, but I really enjoyed this performer. She has real presence and to this lay person a fine mastery of her craft.
The production also has elements of red-nose clown and modern dance. It has a strong message that requires from the audience some patience and perseverance. It’s a great intimate show. For those tuned in to this style of theatre it is rewarding, but I worry that the size of the venue and the distance from the square will work against its box office potential.
Oh, and for those of you wondering if you can make it back to the square in time to see another show, it ran about 10 minutes less than the advertised time when I saw it.
If you want to see large cast productions at the Fringe, your options are few. Obviously touring companies can’t afford it. A Small Affair is the second such show I have seen at the Fringe. Shoestring is a local community theatre group who have been presenting theatre for a long time. They take great care with their productions and you can count on them to choose a strong script and to do their best to give it justice.
A Small Affair is a behind-the-scenes look at an underfunded television production. The playwright Bob Larby wrote a number of hit British shows including As Time Goes By. Here the CBC stands in for the BBC, and it seems to fit, although I am not sure that younger audiences would remember The Beachcombers.
Director Katherine McLennan did a great job of keeping the show moving, and the cast did some of their best work, especially the leads.
The bad news is that a sudden illness forced Kevin Klassen to leave the production two days before it opened. The good news is that Ross McMillan stepped in to replace him and did an admirable job of playing the part script-in-hand.
If you saw the Oscar winning 1951 movie, you know the story about Roman persecution of Christians. This is a different telling with music and songs added. The vocal work and choreography is outstanding, and indeed the chorus is one of the show’s highlights.
The lead performances are all great, the setting in the open-air ruins of St. Boniface Cathedral is spectacular, and it’s difficult to imagine a better way to celebrate a fine summer evening. I wouldn’t say that any of the tunes had me humming when I left the theatre, but they worked dramatically in context.
With a cast of about 25 to 30, this is an amazing accomplishment. I am sure that the producers have visions of a bigger budget production, and I hope that their dreams are fulfilled. Congrats to director Ron Jenkins and the rest of the crew for pulling this off.
I will admit. I had never seen Jem Rolls perform. I’ve wanted to for ages, just to see what everyone’s talking about, and this man is incredible! He grabbed my attention immediately, and jumped right into the meta, describing the audience to the audience. He doesn’t just play with words, as most poets do, but with syllables and letters, which can completely change the word sometimes but somehow you still know exactly what he’s going on about.
His flow is perfect, from one thought to the next, and it’s so difficult to concentrate on anything but what he’s telling you. The pace was fast, and I left with my head spinning, but I don’t think I minded all that much.
Improvising a musical is a gutsy move, and I’ve always been impressed by those who can improvise scenes let alone songs. Needless to say, I was hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. And then they pulled a perfect improvised harmony out of nowhere and I was content to settle in for the show.
They take a random audience member, learn a little about them, and immediately proceed with the show, making it up completely as they go along, as promised. All six members are fantastic, but I must say that the ladies are especially on point.
Fantastic show, hilarious actors— definitely worth checking out.
A one-man show performed by Vancouver-based author and folksinger, Bob Bossin, this is a nostalgic recollection of a world that no longer exists. Using projected black-and-white photographs, silent-film-style title cards, melodically sung and fingerpicked songs, personal narrative and the occasional acting-out of various characters, Bossin tells the story of his father Davy. This is a history that Bossin had constructed through research over many decades, and which he wrote about in his book of the same title.
In this production, Bossin admits that he just scratches the surface, but it still makes for an engaging story. As he sings, speaks, and acts, Bossin tells the story of the rise of his father, born in 1905, to a position of prominence in the world of gambling in Toronto in the 1930s and 1940s, his maneuvering to keep his operation going against the entrapment strategies of politicians and police, and his final decision on what to do about the career he has built up. We also get a sense of Davy’s philosophy, as his son sings the song, “All Horse Players Go Broke”, which illustrates that Davy’s idea of moneymaking was not gambling per se, but providing services to gamblers as a bookie.
I am a regular of WONDERHEADS Productions, and for good reason. This year their wonderful cast of 3 opened to a completely sold out audience.
These people have an amazing way of making you feel more than you’d like to, in less time than one would expect. Every show with this company is an emotional roller coaster, and I mean that in the best possible way.
Once again it’s made very clear how amazing and beautiful full face mask can be, especially when it’s done as well as it is by this company.
If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you’ll immediately connect with the characters and the situations. I felt like they were telling my story as we tried to avoid that obnoxious American couple—and I probably had the same misgivings as the characters, the first time I took a turn on karaoke aboard a cruise ship.
Some of it was a little corny, reminiscent of Three’s Company type of humour, but it still evoked good laughter from the audience.
Most of the show was a light and fun romp, although it took a deeper turn towards introspection as it moved on. It was a pleasant adventure but now I want to book my next cruise.
This quartet of performers are putting on a chiller-thriller radio play sometime in the late 50’s, as well as dealing with their own inter-personal relations when off the air.
I really enjoyed the radio play part of the show, as they were doing all the sound effects and voices live. It was also fun to see what you wouldn’t see on the radio. Who knew crunching lettuce sounds like a zombie biting someone? I didn’t think the off-the-air scenes were as strong, but I guess it is meant to reflect some of that era’s corny stereotypes.
Aaron Jessup starts the show by “setting the bar low,” and indeed he did. After the first few minutes, I desperately hoped that things would pick up.
Pick up it did. Jessup has talent and each act grows progressively more difficult to accomplish. He’s entertaining enough that he leaves the hungry audience wanting more.It was a small crowd but the people who were there enthusiastically participated in the fun.
Oh yeah, and there’s a touching story to go with the action as well. My expectations were low to start but Jessup cleared the bar by a mile with his somewhat humourous, moving and acrobatic show. Running time is closer to 45 minutes, rather than the listed 60, which is too bad because I hadn’t had enough yet.
