The Edmonton International Fringe Festival, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, has geared itself up for 10 days of unlimited theatrical creativity.
Fringeopolis teleported into Old Strathcona on Thursday night for an adventure into the wacky and wonderful, the kooky and the surreal, the risqué and the sublime.
Although mission control is still around Whyte Avenue, this year's Fringe has expanded to the French Quarter, downtown Edmonton, the Edmonton Musical Theatre studio and Avenue Theatre.
With about 190 production companies delivering the goods, there's a mind-boggling abundance of choice. The range zips from a light-hearted space mission in 9 Months to Mars to the tragedy of forced sterilization in Aleugenta to one of theatre's classics, Kafka's Metamorphosis.
Some of the shows will create lifelong memories. Others will lead you to ask why you just wasted an hour of your life.
To get you past that stage, the Gazette team of reviewers — Ryan Tumilty, Scott Hayes and Anna Borowiecki — have stepped up to the frontline and burned the midnight oil to give you a first-hand look at both the gems and the lemons.
Zastrozzi: The Master of Discipline – ★★★
(King Edward School, 8530 101 St.)
Zastrozzi (St. Albert Children's Theatre improv teacher Jamie Cavanagh) is a smart guy, sure, and an atheist with a kind of disturbed intellect. He is a kind of self-appointed assassin who rages against Verezzi, a most insipid man who mistakenly believes that he is both a great artist and somehow a vessel of God, the purpose of which isn't exactly clear.
Zastrozzi has long been questing to dispatch this fool. He enlists the assistance of Matilda (St. Albert Catholic High School alumna Kyla Shinkewski), a kind of Catherine-Zeta-Jones-in-Entrapment figure who uses her seduction and sexuality to get the best of the simpleton if she can.
There's a lot going on in this 90-minute play and it's a little confusing. Is it serious with its excellent verbal sparring or is it comedy with its farcical moments of slapstick? Is the theme about the existence of God, the nature of morality, or the exacting of capital punishment?
It's uneven with a beginning that has several minutes where the plot struggles to rev up, and then seems to pick up with the storyline of Dangerous Liaisons. The conclusion here is more than a little dissatisfying, unfortunately. In between, it has great moments and lines but then switches tracks like a crazy train. One joke about rape and the whole audience stops cold.
I really liked Cavanagh, a guy who seemed to model his acting both on the stature of Christopher Plummer and the voice of Billy Zane, or maybe it's the other way around. Shinkewski played up her role well but got a bit lost in the cast of six.
— Scott Hayes
Lucky Stiff – ★★★★
(Westbury Theatre, TransAlta Arts Barns, 10330 84 Ave.)
The St. Albert Children's Theatre alumni show of Lucky Stiff definitely is a whack job in more ways than one. And by that, I mean it has some pretty funny stuff.
One of the first musicals constructed by lyricist-librettist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty, this quirky 90-minute show is about as off-the-wall as you can get.
Harry, a boring British shoe salesman with no future, stands to inherit $6 million if he agrees to wheel his uncle's corpse around Monte Carlo on an all-expenses-paid vacation.
And soon, the corpse is attracting more than flies. Before you can blink, a handful of nut bars are out to lay their mitts on the goods.
A remarkably restrained Matt Alden has the wholesome preppy look and breezy charm as Harry. Emily Dykes keeps everyone roaring as the visually impaired, gun-toting mafia moll. Celina Dean (Stachow) is a charmer as the sweet ingénue who has laid claim to the money for a struggling dog shelter. And Dan Abrahamson is hilarious as the neurotic, hen-pecked optometrist that gets dragged into this mess with a price on his head.
This is zany material with an old-fashioned Three Stooges quality. In the wrong hands, it could spell disaster, but director Janice Flower has tuned her actors to the right comic pitch.
It's an all-out melee of mistaken identities, unexpected romance, good music, cool tap dancing and lots of door slamming. Just run with the fun.
— Anna Borowiecki
Forsooth, My Lovely – ★★★★
(Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 10037 84 Ave.)
Take a cup of Shakespeare and a half-cup of Humphrey Bogart's hard-boiled detective Sam Spade, stir it into a mash-up and you have the recipe for Forsooth, My Lovely.
Edmonton playwright David Belke first toyed with creating an amalgamated Shakespearean world when he premiered The Maltese Bodkin at the Fringe exactly 20 years ago. It was a huge success.
Once again, hard-nosed private eye Birnam Wood resurfaces in Forsooth, My Lovely facing danger, daggers and dames when he is hired to solve a case of blackmail in 17th-century Padua, Italy.
As the ale-swilling gumshoe investigates the comedic mystery, kidnapping, murder, illicit trade and a parade of horny Paduans surface.
Jesse Gervais is brilliant as Birnam, a private dick who tips his fedora while sifting through the lies of Shakespeare's memorable characters — fairies, fools, witches, servants and star-crossed lovers.
With the exception of Gervais, all cast members play multiple characters. Nancy McLear is a standout as the shrewish but passionate Katherine. Mat Busby is completely charming as the fickle Romeo and veteran actor Julien Arnold slides smoothly into each character whether playing Dogberry or Oberon.
Former St. Albert Children's Theatre instructor Garrett Ross displays an incredible knack for defining characters just by stooping his shoulders or waving an arm.
Director Troy O'Donnell has marshalled his actors well, but ultimately it is Belke's clever witticisms that win the day.
This two-hour show has a strong cast, a tight script and, best of all, you don't need to be a Shakespearean aficionado to enjoy it.
— Anna Borowiecki
Bells are Ringing – ★★★★
(Varscona Theatre, 10329 83 Ave.)
Bells Are Ringing is a story from a bygone era beautifully brought into the modern day.
The play dates from the 1950s and was first performed on Broadway in 1956 by Judy Holiday, who then went on to play the part on film with Dean Martin. It tells the story of Ella, played brilliantly by Jocelyn Ahlf, an operator for an answering service who becomes overly involved in her clients' lives. For one client, however — struggling playwright Jeffery Moss, played by Mike Zimmerman — she doesn't just become too involved in his life; she falls in love with him.
Her infatuation extends to where, against the boss's strict orders, she goes to Moss's house to deliver a message personally and lies about her true identity. From there, the plot gets a little complicated, but trust me, hilarity ensues. The story involves, among other things, a shady German bookmaker, an overzealous and largely clueless police inspector and a song-writing dentist.
The writing in the play is almost 60 years old, but the jokes still hold up quite well. To perform material like this requires a certain comedic timing that would almost seem extinct, but the entire cast seems to have found it.
The supporting cast play a variety of characters and play all of them well and really help round out the musical numbers.
Director Kate Ryan, who worked extensively with the St. Albert Children's Theatre, has brought together a superb cast and the production seems to have all the details covered.
A trip to the fringe that includes a stop at Bells Are Ringing will surely leave you smiling.
— Ryan Tumilty
