Long Night of the American Dream

Concrete Drops Theatre—Alloway Hall – Manitoba Museum

This play, like Waiting for Godot, goes in circles and the plot, if there is one, is muddled and takes the form of an ongoing argument between two brothers about the play itself and each other’s roles and failures. The alleged play never happens, unless what we are experiencing IS the play, which seems more likely after one of them finds a manuscript about two brothers having an ongoing argument about a play which they are meant to be following. It’s like being in a chamber of mirrors. You’re not sure if what the actors are saying is what they are saying as actors discussing the play they are about to perform, or it is part of the newly discovered script they are now following. In fact they don’t seem to know themselves. This weird uncertainty, and the brothers’ sibling rivalry leads to a lot of dark humour and lots of laughs. But references to the divisions within American society start sneaking into the back-and-forth between the brothers, topics like immigration, abortion, guns, and contested elections. The brothers start to resemble the irreconcilable poles of American society. They sort of reconcile at the end, but not really, which seems to be the point.

Throughout, the actors are amazingly able to maintain our uncertainty about whether they are actually acting in a play, or not. They tease the audience with pregnant pauses which falsely promise a return to an actual script and theatre norms, which never happens. In the end we have to accept that what we have witnessed is a play, the essence of which is a glancing critique of American society. And as in Sartre’s No Exit, it suggests that Americans have made their own kind of hell.

Jeremy Hull

An Evening of Magic & Illusion

Horus Eye Productions—John Hirsch Mainstage

Sitruc James takes you on a journey of magic and fun tricks to entertain you for an hour. The show had one or two tricks that were very flashy, one at the beginning and one at the end. The middle was filled with all very basic tricks I had seen many many times before. While most of the tricks were slick, there were one or two times I saw how the trick was done. That definitely took me out of the show. Not the greatest magic show I’ve seen by a long shot, but a good show for some first time fringe goers.

Kaitlyn Kriss

Okie Dokie

Physically Speaking—Cre8ery

This is a nice break from heavier emotional one person plays. Sort of an amuse-bouche for your psyche. Utilizing physical theatre, clown (no makeup or red nose, so hopefully no Coulrophobia triggers) and well performed mime to tell Margaret’s story of becoming an unwitting mother to a baby alien. There is still plenty of emotion involved, which shows how good Ardyth Johnson is at her craft.

Murray Hunter

The Magician’s Apprentices

Comedy Illusions of Greg Wood—Calvary Temple

I attended this fun show with my 10 year old. We went to the shows and this was by far his favourite. Greg was professional and funny and his love of entertaining was apparent. The young apprentices (Wynter and Tanek) were well rehearsed and professional as well.

The show had several tricks- an amazing escape, tricks with ropes/scarves/cards, a mind- reading type trick, and some larger tricks I’ll leave you to experience yourself. The show had a great ending reminding everyone to be kind to each other.

This show was fast paced with lots to keep both me and my son entertained!

Laura Magnusson

The Family Crow: A Murder Mystery

The Pucking Fuppet Co.—PTE – Colin Jackson Studio

Preface: Read my letter in The Jenny, “A Review of Venue 17.”

Adam Francis Proulx is a strong performer with a great aesthetic (from what I could see from the upstage left corner of The Colin Jackson’s side audience seating) but I was left wanting so much more. The Family Crow: A Murder Mystery, is a solo show with a cast of multiple characters and one fabulous puppet.
Why?
If you are a puppeteer then doesn’t it follow that you eliminate the barriers of a typical solo show? Doesn’t a puppeteer have the ability to play multiple characters by incorporating multiple puppets?

What an odd and disappointing choice. I didn’t go to a puppet show to see one puppet playing the lead, while its puppeteer took on multiple characters using the tired tropes of imprecise head turning, standing at various places along an imaginary line-up, and poorly executed voice work.
I went to a puppet show to see puppets.
Puppets with an s.
Plural.
If time and expense in acquiring additional puppets are an issue for the artist, I’d have happily accepted crudely constructed puppets—socks, gloves, paper bags, popsicle sticks with mounted heads, repurposed utensils, crap from people’s purses, clever knuckle-costuming on Proulx’s painted hand…
I just wanted more.

The lighting did not make use of the venue’s installed overhead lighting plot. Proulx used adjustable goose-neck desk lamps arranged in a sloppy arc on the floor, operated haphazardly from a tangled mess of foot switches. In a partial thrust theatre, the show should be staged with the angle as centre line. Had Proulx made these minor blocking adjustments then the lighting would probably have worked. Instead, the let’s pretend they don’t exist, side audience got the frustrating pendulum-swing experience of,
“I-can’t-see-it’s-way-too-dark,” and
“Ah!-it-burns!-too-bright!”
As a Neurodivergent “AuDHD” person the lighting felt assaulting, often aimed right into my eyes. (Ugh. I miss the old incandescent lightbulbs.)

If I wasn’t instantly agitated by blinding light and feeling excluded, I might’ve enjoyed the show. Wordsmith to wordsmith, Proulx’s cheesy crow-puns were well-written but sometimes not well-paced or well-articulated, so many were easily missed. They got a lot of laughs from much of the enthusiastic sold-out crowd.

My autism & ADHD affect my communal experiences, because I’m busy processing sensory input before I can fully engage with, and appreciate, people & places. I am fully aware that, especially as I age, I am often having a completely different experience from the rest of the audience. Under different intersectional conditions: environmental, sensorial, emotional, and physiological, I might’ve loved The Family Crow.

Why do I bother going to the theatre if it makes me so grumpy? Because I fell in love with the art form from the very first mesmerizing play I attended as a five-year-old, “Glooscap’s People” by Evelyn Garbary, a Mermaid Theatre production that toured to Winnipeg in 1975. Incidentally, it was my first exposure to puppetry, mask, and physical theatre. Theatre-going & Theatre-making, for me, is like chasing a rare gem—a perfect, shared, immersive communion of human minds and energies—I felt it in 1975 and many times since, and I continue to seek it out with faithful and hopeful attendance.

Kim Zeglinski

Theatre Enthused

Influenced—Theatre Enthused

INFLUENCED opened to a sold out crowd in Toronto in June. The show got Nominated for Exceptional Clown Show at the Montreal Fringe. Here’s some audiences, critics and performers have had to say:

“Sam Chaulk is a psychopath. I was afraid for my safety.” – Cliff Cardinal

“It will rock your world…her humour is relentless. ” – Montreal Rampage

“Some moments will make you fall off your chair laughing. Some moments will hit you like a train.” -Steven Elliot Jackson

Conquest of the Air

jurasco—The Cinematheque

From a childhood looking longingly towards the sky to an adulthood lovingly rebuilding a civilian aircraft by hand through multiple mishaps, writer and performer Wayne James’ love of flight is clear to see. Interwoven with the political and interpersonal dramas that animated the early history of manned flight, you can really see the passion Wayne brings. Unfortunately, during the show I attended, there were a number of missteps requiring the technician to call out some lines, but even with those the entire experience was extremely enjoyable, both to learn this history and the personal story he tells.

Josh Fidelak

The Dreams of Nebuchadnezzar

Gerauschbiest—CCFM Pauline-Boutal Hall

I am so disappointed…

…that this show only lasted 45 minutes. I was so taken by this spectacle that I could have watched it all day.

Recently, I came upon a German folk, darkwave band called Faun and I instantly fell in love with them. A big part of it is the instruments, which deviates greatly from the ubiquitous bands, include appearances by the hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, cittern, nyckelharpa, and many others. As soon as entered the venue, I saw Gerauschbiest’s odd assortment of instruments and I was immediately intrigued. Then the fun started with a combination of ethereal music, moody visuals and transcendent movement.

Give me more!

Ray Yuen

friendzone

Megan Phillips—Creative Manitoba

Written and performed by Sherri Elle, this is a deeply honest and uncomfortable view of what the friend zone looks like from the other side of the emotional manipulation and gaslighting. Four stories up in 245 McDermot, it isn’t the easiest venue to reach, however the small space provided to Sherri is definitely explored to great effect. [Editor Note: Ask the Fringe volunteers for the elevator if needed] There were some issues I had with the writing, namely the usage of mouth made static to replace certain names and places which grew a bit grating, but the back and forth conversations that comprised the bulk of the story were definitely well handled despite being a one woman show. It’s been a theme of this Fringe for me to recommend people read the content warnings, but uh, read the content warnings.

Josh Fidelak

Private Parts: The Secrets We Keep

Gravity Theatre—The Studio at Le Théâtre Cercle Molière

Johanna Ranelli is a completely capable, charming actor; especially cute when she plays herself as a child. This show is like a good essay. She states the premise, provides good evidence (storyline) and sums up her point well in the conclusion.

However, I feel a tightening of the script would benefit the play and the audience. There is too much repetition. We only need to be told once that she pooped the bed at 7 years old; not over and over. She has a beautiful, moving story that could be more effectively told in less time, as I, and others I talked to, felt it dragging at points. There are no flaws in her performance. I would love to see her in future endeavours.

Lisa Campbell