The Naked Mennonite

Real Live Entertainment—Royal Albert

I grew up as a mild Buddhist, only paying homage a couple of times a year on the occasions. Come middle school, I was agnostic, and by high school, full atheist. Then my third run in university turned me antitheist. It should come as no surprise to you that I never sat through a god-based sermon in my life.

Twenty minutes into the show, I wondered if I Alan Fehr was about to deliver the first full-on preach of my life? Twenty minutes after that, things started to turn, and it got very interesting for me. These are the kinds of personal enlightenment that I enjoy hearing about.

Fast, energetic, and powerful, this coming-of-age tale is a great account of what happens when you have the intellect, courage and independence to break away from the masses. I’m curious that Fehr is still based in Steinbach, and how his community receives him?

If we count words per minute, this is the best bang-for-buck outing in the Fringe! From the start, Fehr smokes his tires at a neck-snap 130 wpm, barely stopping for a breath.

At times, I wanted him to slow down because my brain wasn’t able to process his jokes fast enough to get them. It caught up with him a few times as well, as he spoke so fast,he had to reset and recompose.

When the show ended at 66 minutes, I understood why he had to turbo-blast his waythrough the dialogue. He paused at the times when the moments called for it, but generally, it’s hyper-paced. There isn’t much I’d cut out, so perhaps a 75-minuteallocation would result in a more manageable tempo?

Regardless, it’s a fun run and anyone not too neck-deep into faith should enjoy this journey.

Ray Yuen