I'm always a little sad when Fringe comes to an end. For the 12 or so days that the Festival is one much of my time is spent in the Exchange (and now Osbourne Village and the Forks) seeing plays, wandering between play venues and queuing up for tickets and plays. And the quality of shows was so good this year, I wish the Fringe was on for another couple of days.
Of the 20-25 shows I saw, there was only one stinker (the previously mentioned "Blitz Kids," a play so bad my blood STILL boils). There were a couple of "mehs"; but most shows were good, very good and excellent.
One of the mehs was the highly tauted and critically praised "Gimbel the Fool." This play thoroughly bored me. I had a hard time (mostly because I didn't care all that much) discerning whether the problem was story or characterization.
Other fantastic plays:
Jake's Gift: We got advance tickets for this after it sold out its second performance of the festival. Peopl lined up for hours to see this and I doubt anyone left disappointed. I have never seen a Fringe show as emotionally charged as this one.
Bloodless: An original Winnipeg musical. Very smart, intelligently staged.
52 Pick Up: I'm aware of two previous stagings of this play at the Fringe, but Gemma Wilcox's version adds a more physical element. I loved the almost dance-like way the two actors picked up the cards.
Fruitcake: Rob Gee's show about his time as a psychatric nurse combines stories and rapid-fire poetry. We saw this on the very last show and I'm so glad we got tickets.
Blue is the Water: South African storyteller Eric de Waal comes to the Fringe every year and every year I go to his shows and I have yet to be disappointed. His voice is hypnotic.
Homeless: Autobiographical show about a young man's job at a homeless shelter. He weaves into the story his own faith story and abandonment of traditional Christianity.
Jerry Finnegan's Sister: I'm always nervous about seeing shows with people I know in them, but I liked this play quite a bit. I thought the direction was a little flawed, but I enjoyed myself.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
A quick one while hes away
I know some people still read this blog and if you're reading it during the Fringe Festival 2009, I thought I'd do a quick list of recommendations of the stuff I've seen so far. I'm hoping to have a little bit of time this week to do a more concentrated review post, but I won't make any promises.
Highly Recommend:
Fall Fair: The guy who did Giant Invisible Robot puts on an amazing one-person show. This was one of the best Fringe shows I've ever seen and I was embarrassed that there were only 12 people in the audience. See this show.
archy and mehitabel: A high-concept one person show based on the writings of Don Marquis, a newspaper columnist who wrote as a cockroach and cat.
Sound and Fury present Vaganza: Good, funny S&F show. If you like their humour, it's a great 60 minutes
Molotov Circus: Bizarre and wonderful family of gypsies deal with the coming of age of a teenaged daughter.
Like Father, like Son? Sorry: Chris Gibbs is one of the funniest people on earth.
Ryan Paulson: I'm Uncomfortable: A few "too graphic" moments but the sing-along was fantastic. I met him the day before the show and remembered my name and my wife's name when he saw us at the venue.
Avoid
Blitz Kids: Realizing that I'm a total jerk for slamming a bunch of children:this is a terrible show. I see a lot of people have "disagreed" with my (I think) even tempered, heavily censored analysis on CBC.ca. I can only imagine that these people are related to members of the cast. The mere presence of child actors does not make this show "sweet," "gentle-hearted" or any other innocuous phrase you want to use to sugar coat the harsh reality: this story about two British evacuee children in WW2 will have you rooting for Hitler.
People have commented on the (obviously talented but out of their depth) Winnipeg kids' inability to do London and Scottish accents, but I think there are more basic problems with story, characterization and pacing. Plot lines that could have been quite interesting are dropped and undeveloped. For example, the evacuee children are Jewish, but after one scene it's never mentioned again, even when the kids are invited to a Saturday matinee. The whole "let's put on a music-hall show" plot dominates the last half of the show and the show-within-a-show went on way too long.
Looking Forward To:
These are shows I'm going to be seeing and have the fullest confidence will be worthwhile.
52 Pickup. I think I've seen this play before, but the actress putting it on (Gemma Wilcox) is first rate. I'd see her in anything.
Under the Glacier.
Jem Rolls' Leastest Flops.
Blue is the Water
In other Fringe thoughts, I was thoroughly disappointed with Ryan Gladstone's show The Seven Lives of Louis Riel. I suspect that by the middle of the run he'll at least have his lines memorized, but at his second show he needed a lot of prompting. He confessed that he'd only finished the show a few days before the Winnipeg Fringe and that was all too apparent. If you're going to workshop a show (which is essentially what this was), fine, but don't charge full-price or use deceptive, out-of-context praise (for what can only be for previous shows). More than the lines, I found the pace disjointed. The first three vignettes took almost two thirds of the show, leaving 4 "lives" to crammed into the last twenty minute.
Yes, the show is very funny and I think it likely will be worthy of Wab Kinew's ludicrously generous 5 star review (how can you give a perfect score to something you ADMIT IN YOUR REVIEW IS FLAWED?!?!?), but it's not there yet. And i feel so strongly about this, I'm recommending people avoid it.
Highly Recommend:
Fall Fair: The guy who did Giant Invisible Robot puts on an amazing one-person show. This was one of the best Fringe shows I've ever seen and I was embarrassed that there were only 12 people in the audience. See this show.
archy and mehitabel: A high-concept one person show based on the writings of Don Marquis, a newspaper columnist who wrote as a cockroach and cat.
Sound and Fury present Vaganza: Good, funny S&F show. If you like their humour, it's a great 60 minutes
Molotov Circus: Bizarre and wonderful family of gypsies deal with the coming of age of a teenaged daughter.
Like Father, like Son? Sorry: Chris Gibbs is one of the funniest people on earth.
Ryan Paulson: I'm Uncomfortable: A few "too graphic" moments but the sing-along was fantastic. I met him the day before the show and remembered my name and my wife's name when he saw us at the venue.
Avoid
Blitz Kids: Realizing that I'm a total jerk for slamming a bunch of children:this is a terrible show. I see a lot of people have "disagreed" with my (I think) even tempered, heavily censored analysis on CBC.ca. I can only imagine that these people are related to members of the cast. The mere presence of child actors does not make this show "sweet," "gentle-hearted" or any other innocuous phrase you want to use to sugar coat the harsh reality: this story about two British evacuee children in WW2 will have you rooting for Hitler.
People have commented on the (obviously talented but out of their depth) Winnipeg kids' inability to do London and Scottish accents, but I think there are more basic problems with story, characterization and pacing. Plot lines that could have been quite interesting are dropped and undeveloped. For example, the evacuee children are Jewish, but after one scene it's never mentioned again, even when the kids are invited to a Saturday matinee. The whole "let's put on a music-hall show" plot dominates the last half of the show and the show-within-a-show went on way too long.
Looking Forward To:
These are shows I'm going to be seeing and have the fullest confidence will be worthwhile.
52 Pickup. I think I've seen this play before, but the actress putting it on (Gemma Wilcox) is first rate. I'd see her in anything.
Under the Glacier.
Jem Rolls' Leastest Flops.
Blue is the Water
In other Fringe thoughts, I was thoroughly disappointed with Ryan Gladstone's show The Seven Lives of Louis Riel. I suspect that by the middle of the run he'll at least have his lines memorized, but at his second show he needed a lot of prompting. He confessed that he'd only finished the show a few days before the Winnipeg Fringe and that was all too apparent. If you're going to workshop a show (which is essentially what this was), fine, but don't charge full-price or use deceptive, out-of-context praise (for what can only be for previous shows). More than the lines, I found the pace disjointed. The first three vignettes took almost two thirds of the show, leaving 4 "lives" to crammed into the last twenty minute.
Yes, the show is very funny and I think it likely will be worthy of Wab Kinew's ludicrously generous 5 star review (how can you give a perfect score to something you ADMIT IN YOUR REVIEW IS FLAWED?!?!?), but it's not there yet. And i feel so strongly about this, I'm recommending people avoid it.
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