2-HANDER!

Ribbit Productions—Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall (UofW)

“If you want to hear God laugh, announce your plans.” The Fringe program announced that Jon Patterson and Fraz would be doing this two-hander about 2-handers. What could go wrong? A bicycle accident that put Fraz hors de combat. But the show must go on, right?

The solution was to have a variety of game performers step into the lights with Jon Patterson and do the show script-in-hand. Could be a recipe for disaster, but on the day I went, Patterson played opposite Ryan Gladstone, and they had some great comic moments. Patterson is a performer who I would watch washing the dishes. He’s always interesting and has one of the quickest minds on stage. Gladstone is also a seasoned performer. We didn’t get the show the program promised, and because of the lack of preparation time, some of the timing was a bit off, but they got us into the spirit of the adventure and worked the flubs for laughs, too. The script is funny, the performances were great, and if I didn’t get a chance to see them do Laurel and Hardy or Burns and Allen, I was happy to see them do what they did. Great lemonade, guys.

Kevin Longfield