A Little Bit Off

A Grave Mistake—John Hirsch Mainstage

Would you like to see a spooky comedy, or a funny horror show? Turn to page 23. HA! You’ve made A GRAVE MISTAKE!!! A chaotic and unhinged comedic rampage through the TERRIFYING terrain of a prop-heavy show where the performers and the tech don’t know which scene will come next until YOU decide. Will they survive? Come find out.

From 20+ award winning Portland physical comedy duo, A Little Bit Off.

“Physical Comedy at it’s best” – London Free Press

Bossy Flyer

THREE—MTYP – Mainstage

Over at Bossy Flyer we thought, let’s make acrobatics harder. So we trapped three acrobats in a box and told them to torture each other like they’re in hell… while doing acrobatics, naturally. And tell a badass story without talking while we’re at it. What happened is THREE. When we premiered the show in 2019 it sold out and critics said flattering things about us. We still blush. We promised to bring it back in 2020, but ummmm, things happened. So let’s rock’n’roll Winnipeg! Did I mention the slick soundtrack?

Well Folks, it has been quite the year since my last post. I’m sure we are all sick of dealing with the Pandemic, I know I am. Back in June 2020 it had seemed like a tough slog, oh you sweet summer child. Looking back then, Manitoba was at 300 total cases with only 14 cases active and no one in the hospital, which seems unbelievable now. Thankfully, I have had my second shot of Vaccine and have been lucky enough to have not lost anyone to COVID-19. Even though we are getting closer to the end of this, once again us Fringe Fans will have to make do with a virtual festival. I will surely miss all those familiar faces that I usually see once a year in and around the Fringe.

You Don’t Look a Day Over… Had we been actually publishing last year, the Jenny Revue would have been turning 30 this year. For those thinking the math doesn’t add up, we did miss a year back in 1999 due to the Fringe being rescheduled due to the Pan Am Games (not because of the Y2K bug). We will have to celebrate our 30ish years next year on the second anniversary of our 29th year.

Winnipeg Fringe Festival 2021—RMTC will be running a Free Online streaming festival similar to, but bigger than, last year’s festival. It kicks off at 7 pm Monday, July 12th and runs six nights ending on Saturday,July 17th. Each of these streams will include some short plays as well as Poetry & Monologue Slam performances and end with a musical guest. The Monologues are running July 12th and 15th, and the Poetry slams on July 13th, 14th, and 16th. You will be able to vote for the slam competetors during the live streams and winners will face off on the 17th. There is a full schedule below. Another new feature this year is a Kid’s Fringe running from 1 pm to 2 pm July 12th to 15th.

But Wait There Is More—There are also links to a number of longer shows listed here that you can view at your leisure. Some are paid, some are by donation and some are free. Please help out the performers by contributing what you can.

Heads or Tails—RMTC is holding an online 50/50 draw as a fundraiser for the Fringe Festival. Tickets are available here. The electronic draw takes place at 9:00am on July 30, 2021

Murray Hunter

Play On #WpgFringe Schedule

Stream on FaceBook or YouTube

As I write this it would normally be one week until The Winnipeg Fringe Festival would be getting underway. I hope everyone out there is doing the best they can in coping with this unprecedented pandemic, that you are staying safe, healthy, and have been able to find some joy in this topsy-turvy world. I feel very fortunate to be living in Winnipeg, where, through great co-operation and many hard sacrifices, we have been weathering this storm better than a lot of places. I am also very lucky to have been mostly unaffected in my day job, as I’ve been working from home for many years. Unfortunately the Theatre community that I love dearly has been one of the hardest hit sectors. It is hard enough to make a living in normal times in that industry, and impossible when everything is shut down. The uncertainty and isolation are also like vampires that can drain you of your creative lifeblood which can further add to one’s anxiety levels. So really what I’m saying is, 2020 stinks like a fetid pile of donkey dung (and we know donkeys)!

And Now Some Good News—The Winnipeg Fringe will be hosting four nights of live online entertainment, July 14th through to July 17th! This “Virtually Yours” event begins at 7pm CDT each of the four evenings and will feature 6 or 7 performances of local and international companies. They are available via the Winnipeg Fringe Festival’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. The full schedule is listed below and complete show descriptions are available on the Fringe Website

Help Support the Arts—For those of you who want to help support the performers, The Fringe has also put together a great list of plays that are available online many of which have a ticket price or a way to donate to the performers. Please enjoy and help out where you can.

Murray Hunter

Virtually Yours Schedule

Host: Ray Strachan
Co-Host Companies: Outside Joke, Sick + Twisted Theatre, HUNKS Comedy and One Trunk Theatre

Tuesday, July 14

7:00 pm The ADHD Project presented by Squirrel Suit Productions
7:30pm JD Edwards Live and Solo 
8:00pm The Devil Is A Feminist presented by FringeLiveStream presents Femmepire
8:30pm Jazz Age Garden Party presented by Jazz Winnipeg presents Sheena Rattai
9:00pm Space Hippo (Abridged Edition) presented by The Wishes Mystical Puppet Company 
9:30pm Edgar Allan & Eddie Poe presented by The Coldharts
10:00pm Outside Joke

Wednesday, July 15

7:00pm Fireside chat with autistic comedian Adam Schwartz 
7:30pm Imagination Situation presented by Echo Theatre
8:00pm Powers by Ryan Adam Wells
8:30pm I’m Not Taylor Swift by Anjali Sandhu
9:00pm TRIGGER WARNING: Contagion presented by Sick + Twisted Theatre
9:30pm God Is A Scottish Drag Queen: Pandemic Edition presented by Mike Delamont

Thursday, July 16

7:00pm Epidermis Circus presented by SNAFU Society of Unexpected Spectacles
7:30pm Zero Context presented by Kiss the Giraffe Productions
8:00pm Journalism, with Frances Koncan
8:30pm ImproVision: Taste the Accordion
9:00pm Random Times with Tush~ a memoir presented by Dynamite Lunchbox Entertainment
9:30pm Music by Tommy Douglas Keenan with Laura "Bangin'" Olafson
10:00pm HUNKS Show presented by HUNKS Comedy

Friday, July 17

7:00pm Devon More or Less presented by Devon More Music
7:30pm Rocko and Nakota: Tales From the Land – An Excerpt by Josh Languedoc
8:00pm Today, Tonight! presented by Joseph-Herd Productions
8:30pm The Schleps & Camp COVID presented by One Trunk Theatre
8:45pm Virtual Fringe Fantasy presented by Mind of a Snail Puppet Co.
9:15pm Old Man Dad Rock presented by Cory Wojcik and The Good Show

On behalf of the Jenny, I want to thank all of you who attended the Jenny Awards Sunday night and congratulations to all of our winners, and all who played a part in Fringe this year!

During the awards ceremony, a couple of issues came to light and I want to address those issues to clear the air. Both arise from one of our award categories, “LGBTQ+S.” [whatever the exact wording was for that submission]

First, there was some contention about adding the “s” or “straight” into the category. As an Ally, I understand that it took years (decades) for the 2SLGBTQ+ community to able to come out and stand proud in society with an identity. We also understand that some may see it as a regressive step to associate the identity with straight, which was historically the dominant identity. We meant no offence by this merger. The address was analogous to “men and women,” and that was all there was to it. We intended no disrespect and no offence, and we hope no one took it that way. If this bothered anyone, we apologise and we vow to be more sensitive in future.

The second and more important point: the same category associated 2SLGBTQ+S with sex, and that is absolutely wrong. We understand that 2SLGBTQ+ is an identity; it is not an indicator with whom people have sex. Woman (womxn if you will) describes an identity, not sexual partners; man describes an identity, not sexual partners–the same applies for 2SLGBTQ+. We mistakenly coupled the identity with sex and we are sincerely sorry for this. We acknowledge our mistake and we regret that this category appeared in this form. We will ensure that errors like this do not repeat themselves.

We at the Jenny are a progressive group. We embrace everyone and we believe that everyone is equal. We honour those values and we hold them dear. We are humans and we make mistakes. We apologise for those mistakes and we hope that we will continue to maintain a positive and respectful relationship for a long time to come.

Hope to see you all again in future,

Ray Yuen, Ally, on behalf of the Jenny,
Review Coordinator

Letters

Parachuting Camel Productions—Alto – Portage Place

I have never been to a Fringe show before, save for outdoor performances, so my experience was doubly special: Not only was I treated to my very first Fringe play, but it also happened to be a very good one. Letters is a story we can all understand; a story about a country whose every citizen, in their own way, wanted to do the right thing in the face of incomprehensible cruelty. Some were called to serve, some stayed behind and tried to keep things running, to maintain civility and normalcy. It is a story that we have all heard before, perhaps from grandparents or even great-grandparents, about the time when Canada learned that silence means complicity and when diplomacy will not work, we need to be willing to risk everything to stand up for what is right.

Set near the tail-end of WWII, Letters is the story of a family that must come to grips with the grim reality of being torn apart by war, uncertain if they will ever be whole again. Told through the letters that are written back and forth, brought to life by truly stirring performances of the talented cast, and made all the more poignant by current events. Be sure to see it as this Fringe season comes to a close – and be sure to bring tissues. There is only one more performance: Sunday, July 28th at 12:00PM, in Portage Place (3rd floor). While you’re there, reminded of all the times you have heard “Never Again” and “Lest We Forget”, please keep in mind that Never Again Is Now and this is not only a historical play but also a cautionary tale.

Alicia Benson

Mix Tapes From My Mom

Imaginary Productions—X Cues Cafe and Lounge

You’ve probably heard a lot of positive things about this show. (Though surprisingly, not from the Jenny; at this writing there are no other reviews of this show in these pages.) Most of them are true.

The show tells the story of what could simultaneously be the best and worst day of writer/performer Corey Wojcik’s life, punctuated by musical interludes selected from the titular mix tapes. A live five-piece band (including Wojcik, taking most of the lead vocals and the odd bit of acoustic guitar) recreate classic rockers from the late 60s to early 2000s along with one original number, most bearing some obvious relation to the plot. It’s funny, it’s poignant, it’s more than a little rock’n roll, and it should appeal to nearly any Fringegoer.

I just want to add my props to the venue. It’s closer to the Fringe “main drag” than you probably think; I got there on foot from Portage Place in about 10 minutes, really not a big deal in terms of travel time, especially to a destination that serves iced coffee, which was itself almost worth the trip. If you’re coming to or from Knox United Church – perhaps to see The 500 List, which makes an excellent companion to this show, with their common device of a long curated list of songs framing a highly personal story – most people will barely notice the walk, which Google Maps tells me is actually shorter than going from the Square to the Warehouse. Any way you slice it, the trip is shorter than it might seem and well worth it.

Jeff Heikkinen

Water

Viva Dance Company—The Rachel Browne Theatre

Confession: I’m not a huge modern-dance fan. Ballet’s more my style (aka I’m older). So, be warned, not a great critic of it.

Still, I’ve seen a fair amount of MD over the years and around the world, and this brilliant piece by Edmonton’s young VIVA company is the best I’ve seen in 20 years. Maybe ever.

Simply off the charts for creativity, choreography, athleticism, poise and execution. And all the things you (might) hate about contemporary dance — pretentiousness, willful obscurity, arrogance, wince-worthy music — is just gone from this stunning tribute to the universality of … water.

Execution? The synchronization is simply superb. The true test of that always comes in the last 15 minutes of an hour-long show when the 8 dancers are dead on their feet. This troupe never missed a beat. And there are no stars here — they all seem equally talented — although one dark-haired dynamo (tats on the back of both legs — can’t miss her) might be the strongest of an intensely acrobatic team.

There are 2 more performances of Water — 5:30 Saturday and 7 pm Sunday. Run, do not walk, for tickets. The best dance performance at this year’s Fringe (I’ve seen all of them). By far.

John Sullivan