Judging by last weekend's ticket sales, the Edmonton International Fringe Festival is out of the gate with a great start.
Since From Fringe With Love kicked into high gear on Tuesday, August 6, the Fringe has sold more than 62,000 tickets to indoor shows. That is 10,000 more than at the same time last year.
For artists who receive 100 per cent of the proceeds, its an additional few dollars in their pocket.
There's a real joie de vivre at the main festival site open daily from 11 a.m. to midnight. While there are many shows with tickets still left, they are rapidly selling out.
Check them out before you are locked out.
Dust Beside the Salt Productions BYOV #5 King Edward School 8530 101 Street ★★★★
On a stark stage with an unkempt bed on one end and a sheet metal water fountain on the other, a story of love and subsequent heartbreak unfolds. Carried on the back of a couple's rocky romance, the hour long play by Beside the Salt Productions, tou
Jordan Buhat is cast as "HIM" and is coupled with "HER" played by actress Melanie Godbout. Young, hot and flirtatious love is played out beautifully through dance, but as inklings of infidelity arise so does the tension between them.
Buhat's character admits to the audience his fickleness – the relationship is stale and the dust is settling on it. He subsequently turns to another woman in search of excitement and escape. Godbout responds as any female would, faced with a crumbling relationship, she asks "Why aren't I enough?"
Through a series of monologues by four cast members, including second and third female voices, the play touches on the concepts of vulnerability, intimacy, trust, control and closure.
Simple musical accompaniment and the use of organic choreography and shadow, Dust delves into the complications of relationships in a sexy, yet very real way.
The play evokes numerous questions that audience members might find themselves pondering: Is a relationship ever really over? Or is it just sitting in the dust?
- Amy Crofts
Lost in Montmartre Chat Blanc BYOV #43 Campus Saint-Jean Auditorium, McMahon Building 8406-91 Street ★★★★
Bound together by the death of the renowned French composer Erik Satie (1866-1925), five artists are reunited to stage one of his shows that he never lived to see.
Inspired by last year's Chat Blanc Project, Lost in Montmartre showcases several comical characters – the diva (Mireille Rijavec), the Chansonnier of Montmartre (Timothy Anderson), the puppet mistress (former St. Albert drama instructor Eva Colmers), the fledgling singer (Laura Jones) and the eccentric pianist (Roxanne Classen) – that are all fighting for their own claim to fame and their piece of the limelight.
The show begins with backstage chaos flowing onto the stage and the cast welcoming audience members to the wake/celebration/fundraiser - a memorial for the late Satie.
After a couple playful jabs at each other's egos they perform a rather crudely executed three act shadow opera that is rife with melodrama and music (which can be heard between the young songstresses' long and persistent wails). The intricacy and yet child-like style of the shadow puppets is engaging to the theatregoer who is unfamiliar with the medium.
With cutting satire and a general silliness surrounding the play, it isn't hard for the cast to get a good laugh out of the audience. Lost in Montmartre is cabaret with a modern twist.
- Amy Crofts
StarDark Catasterismi Theatre BYOV # 16: Block 1912, 10361 82 (Whyte) Ave. ★★★
A young woman enters the stage, grasps into the air for an unseen object and then retraces her steps into the back of the room. She says that in those first few seconds, the audience perceived her in her purest form, following her movement with curiosity but without prejudice or expectation.
Questions of who and why come later, and are a focal theme in StarDark, a Catasterismi Theatre production on mental illness and how it changes the lives of those affected.
Stephen battled the effects of prescription drugs after hearing voices in his head. Cora lost her family to bi-polar disorder. And Andrew fought against anger and anxiety while trying to succeed in a dysfunctional family.
As the play unfolds each story is read from a book by three drama therapy participants (playing themselves: Andrew Altimas, Stephen Riopel and Cora Weinberger), while two actors (Rebecca Barrington, Amy Chow) re-create their life in a mix of spoken word poetry and dance-like performance.
There are references to Greek mythology (comparing the struggles of ancient heroes with those of the story tellers) and monologues on human identity. At times, the latter can be overwhelming while the non-traditional acting may take some getting used to.
But StarDark, directed by former city of St. Albert cultural services employee Cayley McConaghy, leaves the audience contemplating and succeeds in shining a light on a world that often remains in the dark.
– Viola Pruss
Marvelous Pilgrims Teatro La Quindicina BYOV Venue #12 – Varscona Theatre 10329 – 83 Ave. ★★★★
Playwright director Stewart Lemoine has a knack for twisting mundane ideas under a different light, much like a prism, and refracting unusual colours.
In his new oddball comedy, Marvelous Pilgrims, premiering at the Fringe as part of Teatro's summer season, Lemoine creates an adult fairytale.
Set in the summer of 1936, he situates two travelers on a mountaintop admiring the vista from the Grand Teton Mountain Range.
Honor and Lydia are two young adventurers who spend their waking hours exploring the world. We meet them climbing a mountain to visit a stream containing special healing properties.
Their guide turns out to be the rather humble Hanno Patvala, an employee working at their hotel, who magically appears to be in two places at once. Upon reaching the mountaintop teahouse, they are greeted by affable Theo Hydrokos, the steward and guardian of the elixir.
At the teahouse Lydia and Honor meet Augusta, a mysterious woman hiding a secret. Back at the hotel, Augusta introduces the duo to Orianna, a wealthy, sophisticated woman gradually turning to stone.
Without spoiling the story, I will tell you that each character has a rather uncommon background and that fanciful magic is involved.
MacKenzie Stewart as Lydia has a "coltish" personality whereas Jenny McKillop' imbues Honor with innocence and steadfastness.
Farren Timoteo's Theo Hydrokos sparkles with song and dance vitality, a delightful contrast to Sheldon Elter's more somber, dependable Hanno Patvala.
Finally, Leona Brausen's Orianna and Davina Stewart's Augusta are a combustible mix and deliver some of the play's most delightful scenes.
There's the scent of nostalgia wafting throughout the 80-minute show, so just take it in and enjoy.
– Anna Borowiecki
Excuse Me…This is the Truth! Break the Wall Productions Venue #3 Walterdale Playhouse 10322 – 83 Ave. ★★★★
"Is Jesus in the House?" asks one of the actors prancing on stage to rock music.
That's the rock music bounce of a revival meeting in the opening scene of Excuse Me…This is the Truth, a comedic satire on hardcore Christians.
But after that first uncomfortable blast of revivalism accompanied by multi-media flashes – Warriors for God and 500 Souls Saved – the production develops a solid plot and clips along at a fast pace.
Situated at a Christian camp, we meet Sarah-Rae, a seriously mixed up young woman who believes Harry Potter and Jurassic Park are evil. She denounces evolution and global warming, and is so controlling she refuses to accept any new idea outside her comfort zone.
Her boyfriend Levi is a charismatic goof who enjoys playing the guitar. Yet, Levi is so whipped by Sarah-Rae's barrage of demands, he's virtually stopped thinking for himself.
Enter Maddy, a preacher's daughter who stole money from a collection plate to buy tickets to a concert. As punishment she is sent to a Christian camp. Far from being cowed, Maddy has her own ideas about life and is quick to challenge Sarah-Rae's manipulations.
Each of the young women presents two dissenting views while Levi is the man in the middle trying to reconcile the two polar opposites.
Director Tara Brodin has cast a trio of actors that spark off each other's energy. Joleen Ballendine as Sarah-Rae is hard-core, stubborn and manipulative, a woman who lives in her perfect dream world and ultimately faces humiliation when her house-of-card plans.
Liana Makuch as Maddy is a likeable, balanced teen that never sets out to be a rebel. She's just not prepared to follow someone else's blind propaganda.
And Jessie McPhee as Levi displays incredible comic timing in sidestepping the two women's push and pull.
Excuse Me… is cleverly acted and packed with laughs, but anyone offended by satirical jabs at Christianity may choose to skip this show.
– Anna Borowiecki
