The countdown is over. It’s showtime at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival as the first weekend gets underway.
The countdown is over. It’s showtime at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival as the first weekend gets underway.
Dubbed SupercaliFRINGEilistic, this year's 204 attractions are a ragbag of shows running from noon through to midnight until Sunday, Aug. 23.
But with so many productions listed in the guide it's tough to choose what suits your taste. Ask people on the street. Check reviews. Below are three to get you started. Ratings are out of five stars.
4.5 Stars
Members of Edmonton's Grindstone Theatre have come together to produce a sure-to-be instant Fringe favourite, Blackout. Born from the same group that created the weekly improvised musical The 11 O'Clock Number, they manage to master the art of sketch comedy. Blackout (or as they prefer, the B-team) features contemporary and topical sketches including commentary on the shifting political landscape in Alberta and the upcoming federal election. Their material is fresh and hilarious, and they leave the audience snickering when they smear the Conservative's smear campaign. The show also features the clever and witty humour of Byron Martin, a former instructor of improv at St. Albert Children's Theatre.
The performance is nestled in the dark and eerie basement of El Cortez Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar with a space for a cozy audience and a miniature stage area. The company manages to make the petite cellar come to life with dancing tacos and giant banana costumes.
The noise from the bar above stops the audience short of getting completely lost in the lunacy but the troupe manages to continuously keep audience engaged despite the noisy location.
– Jennifer Henderson
4.5 stars
Who is Gidion? Is he a vulnerable young poet being bullied or is he a fifth-grade Marquis de Sade?
That is the question playwright Johnna Adams presents in this 75-minute savage production of Gidion's Knot that unfolds in real time.
A frazzled single mother arrives for a parent-teacher interview. Her 11-year-old son shot himself on the weekend after receiving a note from school for a five-day suspension. The reason was not given.
Corryn, the mother is cocooned in grief and she's on the attack. Like a vicious panther she circles around Heather, a tormented teacher, dealing with her own heartache.
Bound by school rules, Heather can only face the torrent of invective with extreme patience and her head bowed down. It's a form of bullying and shocking to witness.
There is real edginess to Adams' two female characters. Liana Shannon as Corryn, the grieving mother, is riveting as she hurls intense barrages of anger. She is on the warpath and wants retribution.
Although Beth Graham as Heather has a quieter level of energy, she is a complementary opponent as the traumatized teacher. Although Heather appears easy to read, Graham's acting rivals that of a rock-faced poker player who delivers a stunning upset.
And director John Hudson is superb in steering the hairpin turns.
Gidion's Knot is incredibly powerful, gripping and uncomfortable. It's one to see.
– Anna Borowiecki
0 Stars
The Fringe's Simulation: Over started with a thought-provoking premise but lost itself in lacklustre performances and impossible dialogue.
The play, based on a short story by 25-year-old Samantha Van Hooydonk, starts out well enough, with a thoughtful monologue. A young woman tells the audience how she was riding her bicycle with her dog when everyone on Earth suddenly hears the same message: Simulation over in one minute. It's not how anyone imagined the apocalypse she contemplates as panic breaks out and people wonder what to do with their last 60 seconds alive.
The play then introduces us to four unrelated dialogues, always taking place about 10 minutes before the voice is heard. There's a priest listening to a man confessing a crime, two friends discussing love at a bar, a drunk professor confronted by his neglected son, and two bitter, old men arguing on a fishing trip.
The storylines hold few surprises but could have made for great last scenes if the play hadn't turned sour from here. The dialogue often feels forced and is mostly unbelievable – imagine two old men in their 70s discussing cyber-zombies and breasts. And the performers explain their feelings more than acting them out, or try too hard where they should have just been themselves.
There isn't much time to contemplate your life when you only have one minute to live. But Simulation: Over fails where it could have been great had it only focused more on that one last minute to live, or given its characters more time to develop. But it also just needs better writing.
– Viola Pruss
