Ghosts, fire throwers, burlesque babes, human statues and swordsmen. Name it, you'll probably find it at the Edmonton Fringe Festival running until Aug. 21. But there's more than just roving performers.
Ghosts, fire throwers, burlesque babes, human statues and swordsmen. Name it, you'll probably find it at the Edmonton Fringe Festival running until Aug. 21.
But there's more than just roving performers. Gazette reviewers were checking out shows and here's a sampling of what's on tap.
Feather Fall
Campfire Tales
Venue 5
King Edward Elementary School
8530 – 101 St.
4 Stars
In Feather Fall playwright/composer/co-director Rico Espinoza explores one of the universe's great philosophical questions – meddling.
Not the next-door-neighbour gossipy kind. But the universal battle between celestials and demons where turf wars blur the lines of right and wrong.
The backdrop is Canada's war of 1812. The war between humans is merely a backdrop for the real struggle – a timeless conflict between the heavens and hells.
Back in ancient history, celestials and demons made a pact to not involve humans in their war of superiority. However, celestials realize that demons delight in creating chaos, and sent observers to spy on humans.
Seeing their role as guardians of the universe, celestials aim to protect their turf and make sure demons keep the pact. Instead all hell breaks loose when a young celestial, Lucy, is sent to work at a Canadian newspaper, a celestial observation post.
During her stay, Lucy (Morgan Galavan) breaks a cardinal rule. She falls in love with a soldier drafted to the front lines. A mad demon starts meddling and soon a trail of blood follows his every move.
The actors nail their roles, the subject matter is intriguing and the storyline is packed with unexpected twists and turns that keep the audience riveted.
Matt Mihilewicz, the insane Demon, is superb as the monster you love to hate. Oliver De La Harpe as Kendrick Hackett, a celestial editor of the newspaper, lends the play dignity and poignancy while St. Albert's Sophie Healy is a powerful presence on stage in her roles as the mean-spirited Madam Smith and a by-the-book High Celestial.
Special kudos goes to St. Albert costume designer Jamie Lievers for creating a period wardrobe that was both realistic and spooky.
Feather Fall is surreal, thought-provoking drama that proved to be a great experience.
– Anna Borowiecki
Letting Go of Alone
Soul Pancakes/Toy Guns Dance Theatre
Venue 8
Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre
8426 103 St. (Gateway Blvd.)
3 stars
Edmonton choreographer/director Jake Hastey won an award a couple of years ago for his desire-themed fringe hit ‘Red Wine, French Toast and the Best Sex You've Ever Had'. That piece is back this Fringe, along with two new Hastey works, and the prolific and very busy artist said he loves them all.
Letting Go of Alone is quirky, and a bit hard to figure out, if there's anything TO figure out. With a bit of prose, song and dance, the piece is touted as an ‘inventive exploration of relationships in the modern age', but it's sometimes hard to know where to look when cast members (Tia Kushniruk, Dylan Parsons and Justin Kautz) are on stage—a couple of them sing and play guitar—songs of heartache and other relationship woes—while another one or two do an interpretive dance. It's all lighthearted and pleasant to watch, even if we don't know what we're really seeing.
St. Albert's Nadine Veroba and Justin Kautz penned many of the songs in the show—it's nice to hear ably performed live music–and there's even a sing-along with actions for one number about road rage while driving to a loved one's place. The inventive, well-executed dance moves care of the talented Tia Kushniruk are also notable.
Letting Go of Alone feels short—coming in shy of 60 minutes—but it's long enough for this production.
– Lucy Haines
Ta Da!
Casavant Productions
BYOV 13
Old Strathcona Public Library
8331 – 104 St.
4.5 Stars
Every once in while you stumble into a show that is pure magic. This time around it's Ta Da!, a dreamy family show that takes you back to the innocence of childhood.
Morton loves magic. He practices it every spare moment, even when he should be studying. He would rather read Magic for Dummies than study his tables.
Tucked in his bedroom decorated as a junior magicians cave, he waves his wand, warms up with card tricks and rings, and makes a talking rabbit disappear and reappear across the room.
But Morton is troubled. There's a big talent show at school and he's eager to show off his tricks. But he's plagued by nervousness and fear – something we all empathize with.
Morton is completely presented in mime. Braydon Dowler-Coltman, formerly of St. Albert, brings a dreamlike innocence to the role that is completely captivating.
As Morton, he wears a full-face mask with a big smile painted across his mug. At first it's a bit jarring, but Dowler-Coltman's body movements fit seamlessly with each mood and the mask simply enhances his expressions.
A little girl about eight years old watching the show, sat on the edge of her seat, mouth wide-open with the occasional gasp at Morton's tricks. In some ways she was a poster girl for the sense of childlike enchantment that passed through the crowd.
Ta Da! is a great family show well worth seeing for every member of the family.
– Anna Borowiecki
Kid-Libs
Go 4 Broke Productions
Venue 11
Nordic Studio Theatre
10330 84 Ave.
3.5 Stars
You can't argue with the idea: improv theatre by kids, for kids. And it definitely works well for its intended audience.
St. Albert actors TJ Eggleston and Josh Languedoc, the latter a veteran of St. Albert Children's Theatre, bring together a small company of young improv artists to tell the audience variations of two popular story archetypes.
Kid-Libs seeks to tell stories that have never been told anywhere else before, and they certainly achieve that with help from audience suggestions. The result was one story about a gallant hero named Bonnieville saving a distressed damsel named Donnie Trampet from the evil clutches of the villainous Alvin, and another about detective Princess Leia tracking down the notorious crime boss Pineapple Banana Goat Sausage to rescue a man named Sandwich.
Silly? You bet it is. And judging by the infectious giggles coming from everyone in the audience under the age of 12, it's right on target with the young crowd.
The young actors take on the character roles, while Eggleston and Languedoc take it in turn to narrate the story and play the scenery and minor characters. This helps keep everyone moving along, and can redirect the story in the event things get too focused on the price of butter or one of the actors gets caught up in the story and forgets that saying “yes, and,” is the cardinal rule of improv.
– Doug Neuman
Bat Boy: The Musical
Straight Edge Theatre/Patient Mango Theatre
BYOV 39
L'UniThéatre, La Cité Francophone
8627 – 91 St.
3.5 Stars
As I sat watching Bat Boy: The Musical it reminded me of a cross-pollinated version of Hamlet and Rocky Horror Show.
The off-Broadway musical tells the story of a half-boy, half-bat found in a cave, captured and taken to the fictional town of Hope Falls, West Virginia.
He is adopted by the Parker family and slowly integrates into civilized life learning to speak, wear clothes and pour tea.
Meanwhile, local ranchers in the area panic when their cattle start dying mysteriously. They associate the plague with Bat Boy and want nothing to do with him.
While Bat Boy yearns for acceptance from the town, they in turn view him with prejudice, hatred and violence.
It's a show that touches on numerous themes – hypocrisy, acceptance, forgiveness, racism, revenge, scapegoating and religious allusions. And there's just enough camp-horror and surrealism to give the show an exaggerated patina.
The acting and vocal strengths in the cast varies. One of the standouts is St. Albert's Nadine Veroba as Meredith Parker, the mother who adopts Bat Boy as her flesh and blood. Veroba's vocal prowess is unmatched and her performance as a frustrated, anal housewife is bang on.
Bat Boy: The Musical is tongue-in-cheek production with some great rock numbers. Best seen as a nocturnal show.
– Anna Borowiecki
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
Opera NUOVA
Venue 11
PCL Nordic Studio
3 Stars
If you're looking for a safe bet, Opera NUOVA's You're a Good Man Charlie Brown is it.
The Peanuts styled set is simple and evocative with scattered, multi-purpose blocks, Snoopy's doghouse and Schroeder's grand piano.
The entire 90-minute show is a series of short vignettes interlaced with a dozen or more songs that enhance the characters' allegiances to each other.
Corben Kushneryk delivers Charlie's trademark sense of hopelessness and St. Albert's Sarah Ormandy is the bossy Lucy, whose poisonous stare could kill.
One of my favourite scenes deals with Schroeder diligently practicing his complex Beethoven piece while Lucy lounges at the other end of the piano trying to flirt with him. And of course, he's oblivious to all her machinations.
The musical numbers from this 1967 showcase sparkle with fun such as the razzmatazz Suppertime.
Although the storyline is a classic, the singing is strong and the acting impressive, the musical somehow bypasses the spirit of Charles Schultz's comic strip.
Having said that, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is easy on the eyes and ears and can be enjoyed by all ages.
– Anna Borowiecki
The Big Fat Surprise
Innocent operations
Venue 11
Nordic Studio Theatre
10330 - 84 Ave.
5 stars
It was weird. Really, really weird. But if you're into that sort of thing, and I am, then this performance was spectacular.
Or rather, series of performances. The Big Fat Surprise is more like a sketch comedy show than a play with a single overarching plotline, but considering how bizarre things get it's sometimes hard to tell what was intended.
St. Albert actress Sarah Ormandy and co-creator Jake Tkaczyk play a variety of characters who are perhaps in love with each as they go through a series of scenes that get progressively stranger. This is no small feat, considering the first scene involves Ormandy and Tkaczyk performing an unusual rendition of Minnie Riperton's Loving You while wearing the same wedding dress.
The crew and the audience became an integral part of the performance right from the start as the stage manager handed out the playbills to the already-seated crowd and announced, “You have to fold them yourself.” The sole stage crewmember announced it was a “mediocre play” as the cast and crew outnumbered the audience, although the scale did tip back in our favour with a few latecomers. After a few scenes, they fed us sandwiches.
The Big Fat Surprise is absurdist theatre at its best, as it seeks to turn one theatrical convention after another on its head as it builds up to the grand finale.
Unfortunately, so intense was the surprise that only the audience on the first night got to see it. At the second performance, we were told the Fringe directors had told them to tone it down… but I won't ruin the surprise for you.
– Doug Neuman
Half the Battle
Venue 9
Telus Phone Museum
10437 - 83 Ave.
4 stars
Two for the price of one. That's what you see at Half the Battle, a tour-de-force solo show that takes place during the Second World War.
Playwright-actor Owen Bishop, a former St. Albert Children's Theatre alumnus, chronicles the lives of two Canadian pilots stuck in the same body. The pilot and co-pilot were hit during a bombing raid and are now residing in the same body on their final journey to the great beyond.
Owen costumes one-half of his body as Adams, a heavily mustachioed Newfie with a fondness for the ladies and a drink or two. The other half is Davis, a bald, clean-shaven Alberta farm boy who learned to be a pilot when his father bought a crop-duster.
As they arrive at the realization they inhabit the same body, they try to grapple with what happened and reminisce about loved ones. Both pilots are unhappy with the situation, and their comedic tension is spot on.
Bishop's writing is crisp and there are poignant lines such as “It's going to be a special long eternity if you're going to be like this” or “We tendered our resignations when we went up in flames.”
And as an actor, Bishop is superb especially in moments of intense physical comedy when Davis and Adams wrestle each other for control.
Many shows at the Fringe run longer than their best before date. Half the Battle is one that could easily run longer than its 30 minutes and retain its magic.
– Anna Borowiecki
The Unsynchables
Dammitammy Productions
Venue 41
Rutherford School
8620 – 91 St.
3.5 stars
In the plethora of advice on the importance of friendship, The Unsynchables floats a new idea.
We meet three teenage girls determined to start a synchronized swimming squad. But there are a few small details to iron out such as finding a pool to practice in.
For the moment they practice in the bathtub. While their dream of winning a championship is unrealistic, the tight bonds of friendship drive them to accomplish the nearly impossible.
Mary (Alyson Dicey) is the team captain determined to prove her worth. Juniper (Madelaine Knight) is the bubbly group cheerleader and Kristin Johnson is Olga, the dim bulb Russian unable to float let alone perform water ballet.
By the way, Johnson's interpretation of Olga is hilarious and she basically stole the show with her wide-eyed innocent outbursts and elastic mugging.
The main competition is the Junior Girls Aquatic Squad represented by Twyla (Brianne Jang), a manipulative vixen who enjoys denigrating others with her inner sense of superiority.
