The Buzz – Reviews – 2016

The Girl Who Hated Books

Rising Star Academy of Arts—The Playhouse Studio

What do you like to do on a rainy day? If it doesn’t involve reading then Paris is your girl. This spunky protagonist hates reading with all her might. When her cat knocks all of the characters right out of their books chaos ensues. The bright young cast from Rising Star Academy are very charming. They committed fully to the roles they were playing and delivered a few hilarious puns. While I did enjoy the show it was clearly not written for me. The play is performed by children for children. That would probably explain why I was the only twenty something without a little one at my side. There were several volume issues and I had a tough time telling what was going on at points. The story is very simple and sweet but it felt like it was better suited for Kids Fringe.

Kaitlyn Kriss

Oedipus The King

7 Ages Productions—Tom Hendry Theatre at the MTC Warehouse

Most people have some sort of familiarity with the tragedy of Oedipus—especially since there’s a psychological complex named after him. That’s about the extent of most people’s knowledge of this Greek tale. This play provides a great opportunity to learn more about the origins.

This rendition relates the classic story in an easy to approach fashion for the audience. When the characters first appear on stage clad with sports jackets (some rather ill-fitting), I brace for a modern twist. That does not materialise, which is just fine.

This 90-minute show may have been squeezed into a 75-minute slot as a few scenes drag a bit. That’s all right though as we highly anticipate the great tragedy to arrive. The actors do a fine job as viewers cringe in horror, despite already knowing the outcome.

Ray Yuen

The POLKA DOTS OF DEATH: The Making of a Supervillain

The Red Nose Diaries—MTC Up the Alley

Spenser Payne and Alissa Watson are the clown duo Winnipeg deserves but didn’t know that it needed. This powerhouse of comedy grabbed the hand of the audience and never let go as they whipped through crazy, weird and hilarious skits. The soundtrack for this show sets the mood to creepy carnival but the oversized cartoon cardboard props keep the show light and funny. There is definitely some comical violence but it’s so ridiculous I didn’t mind one bit. Some of the jokes and scenes ran on the long side but they tended to segue into the next scene nicely and a bit of improv kept things fresh throughout. I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard at someone’s attempts to murder their sister. I loved the relationship between the two actors. You can feel the love developed between the two and it is infectious. This zany insane super show made for a delightful start to my afternoon. Now if you’ll excuse me I am going to figure out where I can fit another viewing into my busy fringe schedule.

Kaitlyn Kriss

Kundalini Rising: A Journey through the Chakras

Leela Productions—John Hirsch Theatre at the MTC Mainstage

While sitting on The Square writing a review, sipping on a beer and enjoying the free stage show, an animated character came by and beseeched me to see his show. After inferring that I’m a reviewer, he pleaded harder that I must see his act. He wouldn’t say much except that it is a spiritual journey. Seeing as it fits in my calendar, here I am.

The message on the pre-show board strongly encourages audience participation. Hmm, I haven’t done any spiritual explorations in my life so I’m not sure if this is the standard. I soon find out that spirituality involves speaking when you want to speak and singing when you want to sing—and yes, you miss the fun if you pout and refuse to get into it. Just drop your pretenses and sway!

I’m an antitheist so I’m not likely to embrace spirituality after a Fringe show, but I enjoy the ride very much. The beautiful dance provides a lovely visual to the engaging music, which ranged from relaxing to exciting. At times, I want to close my eyes and pretend I’m sitting by the ocean sipping on a daiquiri; and at other times I want to jump out and dance in a street party. This is a journey that may or may not reach you spiritually, but it will give you a good time!

Ray Yuen

The Shadow Waltz

Wolfinger Productions—Son of Warehouse

When I was initially flipping through the program with a friend I saw the picture for this show and showed him. He said it looks like a ‘you’ show and I completely agreed. Just the image in the program was enough to entice me into seeing it. I genuinely feel as though I saw it at the best possible time, at 10:45 in the evening when it’s dark and quiet and you want to go somewhere else for a while. You go many places in this show but are always rejoined by our MC for the aptly named Shadow Time. That character truly is the highlight of the show. It’s a little weird and a little quirky, but never in a bad way. A solid one woman show with great music that is a gentle journey into imaginary worlds which in the end I didn’t want to leave.

Arden Pruden

War and Peace

Ryan Gladstone—Bandwidth Theatre

You pretty much know what to expect from the program. Ryan Gladstone proposes to cover one of history’s longest and most convoluted novels and its 632 characters in one hour. War and Peace is not light reading and following the plot as he races through the the complicated story is quite the challenge for both the actor and the audience. The multi-syllable Russian names makes this even more impressive and hilarious. He pauses numerous times to repeat the plot he has covered. I found his constantly repeating ‘632 characters- 1 hour’ annoying. Yes, we know. In the end, it was not so much of a recounting of the rich novel, but a feat of speed and memory. Exhausting for everyone concerned. Gladstone has brought some of the best quality works to the Fringe. This effort does not do him or Tolstoy justice.

Well worth seeing but not his best effort.

Lisa Campbell

Peter Fechter: 59 Minutes

Theatre by the River—The Rocker

I really enjoyed Theatre by the River’s Peter Fechter: 59 minutes last night, and yes, it does last exactly 59 minutes.

It’s a terrific script and performance that makes great use of the space. I do have a very tiny quibble that I am sure most people will see as overly pedantic. The character in the play is a well-read, intellectual young man, but either he or the actor do not know the distinction between transitive and intransitive regarding “lie” and “lay.” It happened twice. It just doesn’t fit the character, and I know that I would not be the only person to cringe inwardly when it happens.

That quibble aside, it’s an outstanding theatrical experience.

Kevin Longfield

The Sh!t Show: An Original Turd

The Talentless Lumps—John Hirsch Theatre at the MTC Mainstage

It starts out very silly, but as my father once told me, nobody ever says anything 100 percent in jest. Knowing that helps a lot in appreciating this show.

I can see why after a few minutes some people might think “this is very juvenile” and tune it out. That would be a mistake: a mistake that some reviewers made. If you have the patience to watch what you are seeing, and keep asking yourself what it all might mean, there’s a great payoff.

As my father used to say, you get out of life what you put into it.

Kevin Longfield

God Is A Scottish Drag Queen IV

Mike Delamont—MTYP – Mainstage

Mike Delamont has a good thing going on. He could probably go to Fringe festivals for as long as he wants to and get sell-out crowds at every performance, by doing the same thing over and over again. Name recognition can keep something going a long time, even when the present work might not be as good as it was originally. Delamont jokes that just like the Indiana Jones trilogy couldn’t be left there, he couldn’t stop at a trilogy either. Of course, he knows what people say about the fourth Indiana film.

Like previous iterations, this is basically a one-hour stand-up comedy routine by Delamont in a wig and flowery skirt, that he delivers while barefoot and pacing slowly forward and backward on stage. This time around, he doesn’t explain how he as God ended up in drag, so newbies – about half the audience when I went – might not understand this aspect of the show. He jokes about religion about half the time, and his main targets this time around are the Jehovah’s Witnesses as well as Jesus’s decline as a person after the Bible stories.

Some jokes are stand-outs, like him saying he as God is anti-vaxer because vaccines get in the way of him using plagues on peoples who disobey, as he used to do so in the Bible. Some jokes – like his screed against the musical Cats – didn’t register much with me, although the audience laughed at pretty much everything he said. For a change of pace, he got more serious and thoughtful when talking about the grim recent events in Orlando as well as the increasing atmosphere of intolerance in the United States, and this was effective. At the end of the show, Delamont hinted he may return as the devil for next year’s Fringe, but it wasn’t clear if he was joking or not. That would be a really good shake-up.

Konrad Antony

Piaf and Brel: The Impossible Concert

Sisterscene—Red River College

I tell people that I review for the Fringe and quite often, they marvel that you get to see as many shows as you want, whatever you want, and whenever you want. It’s not quite like that. Yes, we do get a fair amount of freedom to pick what we see but as the week goes on, the selections narrow. We coordinate
with our group to be sure that we don’t overlap and quite often you’re stuck with whatever’s free.

This is how I ended up at Piaf and Brel—and it’s the best thing that happened to me all Fringe.

Coming into this venue, I knew nothing about the show. What or who the heck are Piaf and Brel? It turns out that one’s a famous composer and the other’s a famous singer. Who knew? Apparently everyone in the audience but me.

I may not know much about the title characters but I know a lot about music—and what we get here is great music, coupled with exceptional entertainment. Melanie Gall immediately engages the audience with her commanding voice and shackles your eager attention for the entirety of the spectacle. Her expert storytelling sets the tone and the songs envelop you into their mystique.

From sad to solemn, sexy to sensual, sprightly to spirited, she draws you into the moment and cradles you through the experience. During this hour, my mind has sat on the Champs Elysees, journeyed to the Middle East, and watched my best friend die.

By the end, I think I held in tears of joy as I enjoyed this event so thoroughly. This is one of the best shows I’ve seen in all my years of Fringing.

Ray Yuen