The Buzz – Reviews

Shunga Alert

Theatre Group GUMBO—The Rachel Browne Theatre

Of the thousands of shows I’ve seen in my lifetime, this one stands as one of the silliest and most absurd outings yet! That also means that it’s loaded with wackiness, kookiness and fun. It was a bit hard to follow at times because so much was so ludicrous and I wasn’t sure if I heard correctly. Other times, the cacophony of din made it difficult to catch what happened. Even missing some of the plot coherence and cogency, there were plenty of laughs and good times to keep you engaged.

Ray Yuen

Daniel in Love (For One Night Only)!

Prairie Coast Productions—Son of Warehouse

In an endearing auto-biographical solo performance, Daniel unpacks (and packs away) the performative front he relied upon in his college years to endure the demands of modern life and (sometimes, maybe) loved ones. He soberly re-examines the alcohol-infused version of himself that relentlessly pursued peer admiration and immature concepts of romance in lieu of authentic self-expression.

The musical interludes that are meant to punctuate the actor’s exploration of familial examples of where the more enduring qualities of love might be found are mostly just long enough to negatively bring down the energy of this otherwise competent and heartfelt piece. Daniel is very relatable but perhaps not as clear as to where and how the love in his life guided him to a better place, and how that transformation serves him better today, beyond the obvious conclusion that alcohol is a poor substitute for personality.

Ashley Frantik

The Dirty Bucket Comedy Show

No Cheat Codes Productions—Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame

I would say that the comedians were funny and it was a great show, but honestly I was flustered about the show going a whole 15 minutes past the scheduled end time which made me miss my next show, completely throwing off my plans. I don’t want to spend a show checking my phone for the time. Plus most of these comedians I have seen at many shows in Winnipeg before. Although the bucket keeps it “fresh” by adding an improv element, the suggestions weren’t all great and I would’ve rather just seen them do their material in their normal setting. It just wasn’t good for Fringe.

Gita Brooks

Martin Dockery: TRUTH

Concrete Drops Theatre—Tom Hendry Warehouse

Mr.Dockery is back with his kinetic high energy story telling show about TRUTH. Martin shares the quandary he was in during Covid. Living on the tip of New York island, with a new born and his spouse Vanessa, who demanded he get out of the house. Martin’s a tad on edge being locked up for 15 months. HE knew no one in the neighbourhood, yet he craved adoration!

Upon opening up to some neighbourly folks, they provided an interesting gift for his new born. I’ll let Martin tell the rest of that story as he only can. So do yourself a favour and let Martin bend your ear…scream into your ear…his Covid antics. You don’t have to bring any lemon squares, MAGA hats optional.

Kevin Campbell

Tango, It Takes Two

PointeTango—John Hirsch Mainstage

Another stunningly beautiful performance by Erin Scott-Kafadar and Alexander Richardson. This year they have really added to the production by including video on the giant screen behind them. It starts by showing scenes from Buenos Aires and then the Tangos begin. The first 5 or 6 routines feature different tangos while Erin is dancing in ballet pointe shoes.

Their dancing is incredible, the amazing footwork, artistic leg movements, and powerful lifts as they flow almost as one across the stage. It is also very sensual. There are a couple solo numbers, before they rejoin after costume changes to match some of the vignettes of them in Buenos Aires that play on the big screen between routines. Truly spectacular.

Murray Hunter

The Great Gatsby

Illustrium Creations—Red River College Polytechnic

The classic, compressed down into an hour and reimagined with modern sensibilities and interpretations made explicit.

Some early Fringe jitters and verbal missteps definitely created confusion, with lines missed and occasionally under-enunciated. As well, some of the presentation decisions were a bit muddled (The way that characters getting shot was represented being the one that sticks out the most in my mind).

All in all, if the idea of a modernized version of the Great Gatsby on stage appeals to you, the flaws definitely do not overshadow the core of what’s being presented.

Josh Fidelak

All Hail Mrs. Satan

Still Your Friend—Creative Manitoba

Adam Bailey is in great form, as always, keeping up with his specialty in fast paced historical fiction. Following Victoria Woodhull’s life from a kaleidoscope of different perspectives and jumping throughout her life, from feminist activist to stockbroker to magnetic healer to presidential nominee, Adam keeps the energy up and ties together the threads into a coherent and engaging picture of this woman’s life.

Great for fans of historical storytelling and the uninitiated as well, this is definitely a wonderful way to start engaging with the work of a long term Fringe staple.

Josh Fidelak

1 Family Friendly Comedy Show, Please!

Happy Capybara Productions—Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame

The audience for this show kind of speaks for itself, which is you, if you’ve ever wanted to bring your kids to a stand-up show but you don’t want to wait until they’ve learnt most of the fun curses. As it turns out, kids are a tough crowd, and especially between the ages of 5 to 8, which was the entire audience (plus caregivers(and me)).

For adults with or without children, I would say that there was an unintentional Always Sunny in Philadelphia-esque atmosphere to the whole thing. Jokes that went over the youngests’ heads, crowd work falling flat in the face of resistant kids, and disruption from young ones wandering or shouting about all kinda came together to make this wildly funny in an unintentional but undeniably effective way. I would legitimately recommend people watch based on this, but only to a certain extent, as obviously this dynamic would be destroyed by too many irony poisoned adults. C’est la vie.

Josh Fidelak

Verbal Tapas

Rob Gee—Planetarium

The always personable Rob Gee goes back to his poetry roots in this performance. The self-described “Stand-up Poet” provides the audience with a menu of 20 poems to choose from as you come into the theatre. Some are older favourites of his, some are from his experiences working as a Mental Health Nurse, and some are newer creations, including a few created in his poetry workshops with varying groups of people.

Rob gives a little background on each of the poems selected and then tells the poem. His use of rhyme and meter are spectacular and always generates a laugh. We got to sample 13 of the selections in our performance. You can tell how much he loves entertaining people and everyone has a great time.

Murray Hunter

El Diablo Of The Cards 2.0

Ewerton Martins—Son of Warehouse

Fantastic card tricks and fantastic comedy, what’s not to love?

If you’re daring and a fan of magic, I would definitely both recommend this show, and also agreeing to sit on stage and being subjected to the tricks and mania of the Brazilian magician Ewerton Martins, as due to the nature of the card tricks he performs, most of them require assistants (or victims). Notably, there’s one magic trick that only one attendee can experience fully (the rest of the audience being rewarded with a strong comedy bit. If you saw him during his first visit to the Fringe, it’s essentially the same material as before, but even then, it was absolutely fantastic the second time around.

Josh Fidelak