Shadowlands

Pretentious Productions—Red River College

The performer tells you off the start that you won’t know what’s going on for the first half of the play—and she’s bang on. The way the stage looks, you think you need to be front-centre to get a good vantage, but that’s not true. If you arrive later, you’ll be fine sitting on the flanks (everyone crowded in on this show and it was quite squishy in the front section with lots of empty seats on the sides).

In true Fringe spirit, you sit with the thought of “what’s going on?” Although the segments have nothing to do with each other, they all grip you in different ways. As the plot evolves, you see the similarities come together, but you still have no idea how this will come together (or if it will, in Fringe tradition).

Everything eventually ties together nicely and delivers a tragic story. You walk away with good satisfaction that a thoughtful story’s been told. I love the way that Savanna Harvey put this together and tied up all the loose ends. I never would have guessed the primordial goo’s role and the “pet’s” imitation is very convincing (being a former experimental scientist).

Not many people in the chairs tonight—this show deserves more. Come see it—it’s a great show.

Ray Yuen