Letters

Parachuting Camel Productions—Tom Hendry Warehouse

F*ck war.

Seriously, effing warmongers need to see shows like this and feel what these characters feel. If all you do is sit in your golden chair, behind your white walls, ordering people to die in the name of national security, you need to be out there experiencing what the people you sentence to war experience.

Right from the first scene, you tumble through this emotional cliff-dive. If you’re not a fan of having your heart ripped out of your torso, this is not for you. Two people left after ten minutes because the tension already started to build, and you knew this wouldn’t be a feel-good show. It’s not for everyone, but if you like a good heart-jerker, don’t miss it.

Ray Yuen

Dirk Darrow: Magic of Future Past

Tim Motley—Royal Albert Arms

Oh Tim- you made me and Melanie so happy to see you finally replaced those orthopaedic looking disasters with some sharp looking footwear! Thank you! Are you in love? You look fabulous! Trim and sharp and younger.

You are a fabulous magician. You never fail to amaze the crowd. I would recommend watching this. But as someone who has seen Every Single One of your Winnipeg shows and reviewed them, may I beg you to bring back your Dirk Darrow character with the riveting, bloody and hilarious film noir detective stories? They were absolutely brilliant! I remember every one. More please!

Lisa Campbell

Alexander Mantia’s Zucchini Club

Alexander Mantia Puppetry—Théâtre Cercle Molière

If you’ve ever wished your favourite after-school puppet program had grown up with you, Alexander Mantia’s Zucchini Club will make that dream a reality. Mantia populates the stage with a delightfully oversized cast of beautifully crafted characters, each bursting with personality despite being hand-puppets, including silly but varied voices for each from the sole performer and puppeteer.

The show is grown-up but not ‘adult’ in that sense; all ages will appreciate the Rodney Dangerfield-esque squirrel puppet, although the adults in the crowd will have an added layer to giggle about. If the kids are old enough for a ‘son of a bitch’ joke dropped by an avant-garde dog, you can probably bring them along.

Nostalgic Gens XYZ will probably get the most mileage from the show as they get transported back to the magic of childhood television, only funnier. That said, anyone with an appreciation for wit and whimsy will get a kick out of this top-notch act.

Ashley Frantik

Flunked

Ashley Evans—PTE – Colin Jackson Studio Theatre

Coming to Winnipeg to premiere her first Fringe show is Ashley Evans, who brings her piano along for this great story of her personal journey. From growing up in a family with an academic Dad, where a B is not good enough, to all the ups and downs of trying to figure out and attain her goals, despite setbacks and embarrassment, it was an interesting and well told story. The piano accompaniment helps set the mood for the various parts of the story and was played wonderfully.

She is an engaging performer and I will keep an eye out in the future in case there is a return visit for a sequel on how she got involved in Orlando’s SAK Comedy Lab.

Murray Hunter

Story Story Lie

Tits Up Productions—PTE – Colin Jackson Studio Theatre

The description in the program says it all, and that’s exactly what you get.

Today’s guest speakers include Jon Bennett (AMERICAN’T), Diane Jorge (Solovela, An Improvised Solo Telenovela) and Martin Dockery (The Review and Forbidden City!). The amusing stories keep you wondering which one of them is making all this shit up, and which of the other two ridiculous stories genuinely occurred.

In Bennett’s story, some of those oddities occurred to me in my childhood, so it’s likely to be true. Then the second half of the story came and it sounded too ludicrous to be plausible. He fooled the audience.

Both Jorge and Dockery’s stories had events that could have happened to me. So yes, like the rest of the audience, I failed too.

There were some technical glitches but hopefully they can find a workable solution before the next show.

Ray Yuen

The Game of Bluff

Susan Jeremy Productions—West End Cultural Centre-Ventura Hall

Having seen and loved Susan’s previous two shows at our Fringe; I wasn’t going to miss this one! She’s a joy to watch; with an honest and forthright style. I Loved this show! What made it even more delicious was learning; in chatting with her after the show, that every word was true! She said “That was my life, everyday.”

Audiences should not be shy about engaging with performers after the show. They enjoy talking about their work; you learn things and it adds a depth and personal touch you would otherwise leave without. Everyone benefits. She brought this wonderful work to us all the way from Brooklyn, so do yourself a favour and take this sweet show in!

Lisa Campbell

Babel

Geräuschbiest—West End Cultural Centre-Ventura Hall

With bespoke handmade string instruments, played with bows and the occasional blow, Geräuschbiest leads the Riel Gentlemen’s Choir, who act as an appropriately manly Greek (Sumerian?) chorus through an ancient parable of hubris.

The production’s powerful harmonies and striking visuals are suitable for a tale of biblical proportions. Shouty refrains from the choir punctuate the mounting tension as the performers construct something both solid and precarious on stage, reaching ever higher into the limits of the known world, not because they should but because they can.

The lyrics incorporate passages from Ecclesiastes, echoing a warning from our Abrahamic ancestors on the consequences of flippantly violating the laws of nature purely for egotistical gains. The performance feels less like a retelling than a ritual, breathing contemporary life into an ancient wisdom to sound as urgent now as it must have then.

Ashley Frantik

PANIC – A Live Radio Musical

Panic Players—Théâtre Cercle Molière

This piano-accompanied musical opens with promise, showcasing the two leads’ talent in a hilarious musical rendition of Jane Eyre, which the later supporting cast often struggles to match. Periodic line flubs drag out a few of the already overextended interstitial scenes, sapping the momentum that had been set at the start.

The show is not a locally written production, however some aspects of the script bears mentioning. Its exposition over-explains the plot, leading to some heavy lag between the main points of action, which maybe could have been trimmed to cut down the 90 minute runtime into a more typical festival length. There is also the unfortunate irony of the strongest singer and only female role largely being shelved while the men are talking (or singing) only to reemerge to be the butt of stereotypical jokes regarding makeup or fashion. Most of the script’s one liners are references to historical pop culture, so you might want to study before the show to get in on the jokes. The text is ultimately a flaw of the playwright, but nevertheless stands out.

The set and costume design is a treat, although the use of an illuminated ‘applause’ sign might have prevented more spontaneous reactions during the superb rendition of The War of the Worlds; packed full of fantastic character voices and vocalized sound effects that were worthy of some unsanctioned applause.

PANIC is at its best when it’s the live radio musical it purports to be. The ‘off-mic’ framing narrative unfortunately brings down the energy from those standout elements.

Ashley Frantik

Happy Valley

Cripplethreat—The Rachel Browne Theatre

There was nothing very happy about the place Happy Valley, where Debbie Patterson grew up. It was just outside of Sudbury and was so polluted by the mining and smelting it was condemned and everyone moved out. Patterson covers a lot of ground in this piece, in which one of the recurring themes is how people can attempt to devalue others that they feel are inferior, be it because someone is disabled, Indigenous, or whatever difference they think justifies their belief.

She also focuses on the lasting horrible effects of colonization (driven by capitalists and missionaries), mining towns, and what happens when we do not give the land the respect it deserves.

There is a lot of trauma that gets unpacked here, be sure to read the warning in the Program guide so you are prepared for that going in to it.

The biggest take-away to me was despite all that trauma, you can only be devalued if you let them. That positive note and Patterson’s strength, sense of humour, and bravery make this a very powerful show.

Murray Hunter

Where We Fly from Hospital Beds

Cy-Fi Studios—Tom Hendry Warehouse

Sometimes, emotions shouldn’t be juxtaposed and associatively, that means genres too. Sadness and slapstick? Not very congruent.

How can you not feel for an young teen going through cancer treatments, especially since you do not know if it’s even going to work? Now throw in some wackiness about captaining the Starship Pudding Cup? Sorry—just like in the story—that starship just doesn’t fly.

If you want to tell a sad story, tell a sad story. Take the time and rip out audiences’ hearts. If you want to slapstick, then be silly and get as many cheap chuckles as you can. Trying to do both? It really doesn’t mesh.

Ray Yuen