Stephen Hopwood Is Not Dead

Pengwin Productions—Asper Centre for Theatre and Film (U of W)

This dramedy follows Stephen Hopwood (Luke Falconer) as he wakes up from a bender in a place called “The Rooms”. With the help of a guide (Leith Clark) it is meant to be a place where you can fix your problems, aided by the way you can control what happens in the Rooms with the power of your imagination. There are a number of vignettes of Stephen’s past including his time in university with his roommate (Giovanni Navarro) and him falling in love with and his obsession over Anna (Alexis Silver). His baser instincts are represented by a sock puppet (Shawn Kowalke), which surprisingly enough, was the second jizz sock- sock puppet I’ve seen this Fringe (the other being in the Container). It can be a little crude at times, but overall a good show with good performances, and a good ending.

Murray Hunter