The Pursuit of Daydream

Rainy Day Productions—The Cinematheque

The reason I chose this show was due to the fact that I myself had just returned from a road trip to British Columbia a few days prior to the start of Winnipeg Fringe, and I hoped that hearing a story about a similar road trip would be exciting.

Our performer shares a story about his songwriting, his experiences and memories about a road trip to BC that took place about four years ago. He mentioned many places that I had seen, explained that this trip had had a positive impact on him finding himself, and played us a series of riffs on his guitar despite some malfunctions.

While I enormously respect getting up on stage to share a story important to oneself, as I can’t imagine its easy, the show left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. Portions left me feeling like I would have understood better if I could see what he’d seen; it was one of those “ah, you just had to be there” types of feelings. I felt a bit lost, like I was missing some context or the point. The story was very anecdotal and chronologically structured without really pulling me into the tale. However, I can relate very closely to the reality of telling travel stories. Sometimes its hard to communicate what you’d seen and how it had felt to someone who wasn’t or may never go there. The occasional pause in his storytelling made it evident that he was reminiscing and I just wished I could see what he was seeing. It made for a slightly disjointed account of said road trip as he tried to include what I know from experience to be a LOT of stuff that was seen and done in a short time, and I feel like the show would benefit from a bit more flow.

Calantha Jensen