It’s been a pretty stellar year so far at the Fringe, no real stinkers, honestly nothing I’d give below a 3\/5 if I were handing out stars. I’ve even gotten more companionship for shows than I expected. Here’s a quickie roundup of everything I’ve seen up til sunday night:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trampoline \u2013 Weeping Spoon \u2013 Venue #3<\/strong><\/p>\n Trampoline is a sweet and sentimental romantic comedy with a tinge of music and two winning leads. Comparisons to Garden State seem to be the thing amongst reviewers\u2026 I can see it but I definitely enjoyed this more. The two leads (Shane Adamczak and Whitney Richards) are a winning duo that really make you care about their characters. Expect plenty of Awwww moments from the audience.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hunks \u2013 Venue #4<\/strong><\/p>\n A couple months ago this quintet started putting on monthly shows at the Park Theatre down the street from my new place. I\u2019ve been meaning to go but they are always the same night as softball or some other activity. It\u2019s just as well it seems because their fringe offering this year is essentially a \u201cbest of\u201d package of those first shows and it was all new to me. Really great sketchcom\u2026 Inventive, weird and just a hell of a lot of fun.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Searching for Dick \u2013 Tara Travis \u2013 Venue #19<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve long been a fan of Tara\u2019s work with Monster Theatre. The wives of Henry VIII was a tour de force for her and last year\u2019s puppet Agatha Christie number was incredibly charming. She has a stage presence that is simultaneously welcoming and comedic which really helps draw the audience into her stories. This year\u2019s journey is definitely something quite different than the show previously mentioned as she tells are more personal story about her visits with mediums on her quest to speak with her deceased in-laws to be prior to her wedding. Whether you think spirit communication is poppycock or not (and most of you know where I fall on that) Travis engages so strongly with the audience that you want to believe in her conversations. Plus she bakes brownies!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Seven Lives of Louis Riel \u2013 Monster Theatre \u2013 King\u2019s Head<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen this show before and quite enjoyed it, but it was definitely rough. Ryan Gladstone explained that he\u2019d had trouble finishing the script about the father of Manitoba and had really only finished it several days prior. I\u2019d heard he\u2019d revised it and polished it so I decided to give it another go (the fact that it was around dinner time at the King\u2019s Head mid-long fringe day didn\u2019t hurt either.) I\u2019m glad I did. What was a good show is now a great one and Ryan\u2019s enthusiasm for storytelling makes the manic hour of seven stories fly by.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n D&D Improv 8 – GSAC<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t really have to \u201creview\u201d this do I? Saturday\u2019s show was definitely an eventful one though as the second early death seemed to throw a big wrench into the works. It\u2019s easy to see why as it seemed as if the character in question is meant to be the narrative driver of the show. The rest of the show saw our (NEW!) DM freaking out and whispered conversations as they looked to retool the plan going forward. I wished I\u2019d booked a ticket to Sunday night\u2019s show to find out how well that worked out but I guess I\u2019ll see at the finale.<\/p>\n Highlight this year is definitely the Beholder puppet that Chadd was running, that thing is fantastic.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sunday:<\/p>\n Two Ruby Knockers and One Jaded Dick \u2013 Venue #4<\/strong><\/p>\n I believe this is Tim Motley\u2019s third go round here with Dirk Darrow\u2019s film noir stylings and he certainly seems to have a regular audience full of fans at this point. It\u2019s a long way from the first time I saw him in a 10 person audience at MTC up the Alley.\u00a0 His experience shows and the characters film noir patter is perfect even as he ad-libs with the audience and occasionally has his slight of hand thrown off by slowpoke audience \u201cvolunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Becoming Banksy \u2013 Venue #3<\/strong><\/p>\n The tale of an Englishman fleeing a failed marriage via holiday in NYC only to be mistaken for the popular street artist. Let me start by saying that I enjoyed this.\u00a0 The performers were talented and the story was cute\u2026 That said I really felt like the script wasn\u2019t quite there. Some bits hit well, others were less successful and the whole show dragged a bit in spots. I would imagine that was the point of trying it out on the fringe circuit though and one more solid rewrite will probably have it ready for its New York debut.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lord of the Thrones \u2013 Sound and Fury (and some guy named Ryan) \u2013 WECC<\/strong><\/p>\n The CBC reviewer somewhat savaged this year\u2019s Sound and Fury production and while I don\u2019t think it was quite that bad I have to admit that I don\u2019t think they\u2019re a must see for me anymore. The performers are talented and energetic but their show feels less finely tuned every year.\u00a0 Whereas the occasional blown line was once a planned or unplanned laugh point they are now so common as to make one wonder about lack of rehearsal time. I get it, they have a massive fan base with seemingly endless good will towards them and all three guys are genuinely nice guys\u2026 at some point it would be nice to see them deliver a honed and polished (if endearingly silly and slapdash) performance again.<\/p>\n Worth noting, the using a volunteer from the audience as the hero thing was a cute idea\u2026 and on the night I went the guy they chose was very game and into it\u2026 I could see this completely being death if you got a stiff up there though. The show just relies on him too much.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Marathon \u2013 T.J. Dawe –\u00a0 WECC<\/strong><\/p>\n How does he do this? Seventy five minutes, multiple narratives, all twisting together until you walk out with a sense of wonder. A picture painted with words, a comforting cadence and the occasional movement , you\u2019re spellbound. When people ask me \u201cWhat is fringe?\u201d TJ\u2019s pieces are always a go to reference in my mind. I love my comedy, I love a good drama or improv\u2026 but it just isn\u2019t fringe to me without a storyteller and Dawe remains the best. It\u2019s good to have him back in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Birdcage \u2013 Venue #6<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s the movie, more or less scene for scene but with fringe production values. That doesn\u2019t tell the whole story though. The performers bring their own touch to the characters and the show incorporates some local drag queens to often hilarious effect. The Christine Baranski role is played by a HEAVILY pregnant (and nowhere near old enough looking) actress lending her line about not being maternal an extra laugh.<\/p>\n I do have a few complaints, one would be that I think Val (the son) comes across as a complete dick in this version instead of just desperate. The Barbara character is also even more of a non-entity than in the film. And honestly, I get that fringe budgets are slim as hell but I think there could have been a bit more of an effort to create a south beach vibe for the opening\/exit staging. I get that neon is out\u2026 but a pink light doesn\u2019t cut it.<\/p>\n Overheard in line:<\/strong><\/p>\n (10 Minutes before James & Jamesy started) What do you mean you’re sold out?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n My Highlight:<\/strong><\/p>\n Tough one, I can’t really pick one this time.<\/p>\n Trampoline, Searching for Dick and Marathon were all completely stellar though.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Flyers Received:<\/strong>\u00a0Mid 80s<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Up next:<\/strong><\/p>\n Three Men in a boat, Broadway to Obscurity, Fire in the Meth Lab and Eleanor’s Story, boy free advance tickets is amazing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s been a pretty stellar year so far at the Fringe, no real stinkers, honestly nothing I’d give below a 3\/5 if I were handing out stars. I’ve even gotten more companionship for shows than I expected. Here’s a quickie roundup of everything I’ve seen up til sunday night: Trampoline \u2013 Weeping Spoon \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,19],"tags":[172,168,108,150],"class_list":["post-934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theatre","category-winnipeg","tag-drag-queens","tag-fringe-2015","tag-summer-2011","tag-winnipeg-fringe-festival"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3qtCo-f4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheatingbulldogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheatingbulldogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheatingbulldogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheatingbulldogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheatingbulldogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cheatingbulldogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":935,"href":"https:\/\/cheatingbulldogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions\/935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheatingbulldogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheatingbulldogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheatingbulldogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}