2 Sherlock Adventures

THEATrePUBLIC—One88

Outstanding! Two excellent actors amazingly in sync. Perfect timing and smooth exchanges, and well-played characterizations.

Two classic Holmes & Watson stories played out quickly, sharply, and with an air of effortless that only excellent actors can affect. Will hold your attention and inspire a few guffaws.

Kylea Fulton

MIDDLEhood

Kimmy Zee—Red River College – Roblin Centre

This touching portrayal through laughter, tears and genuine honest performance and writing, highlights the truth in aging and motherhood. It is brilliant from start to finish. Kim’s performance is comically engaging, while pushing honestly into the heartbreak and joy every mother and woman feels. Beautifully strong and simplistic staging that enhances the lovely reoccurring thread of poetry and characterization. Bravo!

Kris Diaz

So I Was At A Threesome Last Week

Sons of Tremendous—Creative Manitoba

The show features two “bros” relating a story about how they ended up in the midst of a threesome; if you look for any more depth than that, you won’t find it. It’s a singular topic but it’s one that they cover quite well. Ask a hormonal teenage boy just reaching manhood what he thinks about engaging in a threesome. You know what the answer is likely to be—but what if the threesome involves two guys and one girl? What if the other guy is your friend?

This exploration digs into the psyche of what happens when the situation actually knocks at your door? True to the subject, this is not a road to personal actualisation or enlightenment; this is more of a high school boys’ night out where they tell tales of conquest.

It’s funny but not hilarious. If you’re looking for a light-hearted laugh to lighten the evening, this show’s for you. If you’re looking for a coming-of-age growth saga, this isn’t it.

The main entrance requires you to climb 75 steps up four floors—don’t let that stop you from seeing the show though. If you have mobility problems, the kind folks at Creative Manitoba are happy to lead you to their elevator.

Ray Yuen

Bad Habits

A Little Bit Off—West End Cultural Centre

The Portland duo who have been at the Winnipeg Fringe before, with “Beau and Aero” and “Bella Culpa”, bring a new comedy show about nuns. It is hilarious due to the physical comedy, the interplay between the characters and how they constantly break the 4th wall to engage the audience and make light of the script absurdities and the nuts and bolts of doing a live show.

Those of you who are familiar with them will know that they are gifted acrobats. They do not disappoint, ramping up the difficulty by doing some very difficult balancing while on hoverboards. Flying nuns indeed. It really is a lot of fun.

WECC has a Fringe Special of $5 adult beverages, for those who might not be so pious.

Murray Hunter

Old Dyke Tales

Howl Theatre—Red River College – Roblin Centre

As a queer woman myself a show entirely about lesbians can be disgusting, or enlightening. This was more than enlightening, it was funny, touching, and real. It is so important today in the young queer community to remember how far we’ve come, even in these last few decades, and that’s exactly what this show does. It’s the people like Maeve, the focus of the show, who allowed kids to be (more) open than she was. We are taken through her life in a series of monologues, scenes, and poetry so beautifully woven together that I barely had time to settle before moving on to the next scene. While sometimes it was a little difficult to tell when she switched characters, it was relatively easy to follow. Call me biased, but this is nothing less than a must see, especially for today’s gay youth.

Arden Pruden

Big in Sudan: The (Mis)adventures of a Vagabond Musician

Melanie Gall Presents—Creative Manitoba

My first encounter with Melanie Gall occurred at Fringe 2016 where her commanding voice immediately handcuffed my attention. I’ve seen hundreds (if not thousands) of Fringe performances and Gall has one of the greatest singing voices among all of them. Trained as an opera singer (she has five musical degrees!), Gall’s voice transcends much more than operatic arias.

In her past shows, Gall highlighted famous singers with a journey through their bios. This year, Gall decided to highlight her own journeys as she has toured the world many times over, traversing 58 countries in the meantime.

As an accomplished story-teller as well as professional singer, Gall engagingly takes us on some of her adventures through foreign lands, highlighting some escapades in song. I’m used to seeing Gall adapt song-after-song effortlessly as she entrances you into the moment. Today, I sense that she’s taking on some songs that are a bit out of her normal comfort level, which is great. That doesn’t take anything away from another tremendous performance, despite some audio difficulties. As a last minute addition, the show includes some travel photos, which really help bring the viewer into the moment.

Exceeding my expectations again, Gall delivers another performance that I will remember as one of my favourites of Fringe—bravo!

The main entrance requires you to climb 75 steps up four floors—don’t let that stop you from seeing the show though. If you have mobility problems, the kind folks at Creative Manitoba are happy to lead you to their elevator.

Ray Yuen

Taking Heat

Liquid Desert Productions—MTC Up the Alley

Tim Lee is at heart a California surfer, and his quest for the perfect wave has taken him to many far flung locations around the world. He is also a scientist and stand up comedian and uses these skills in his show to try and raise awareness about climate change and other man-made ecological disasters. He shows a number of slides that show how some previously pristine areas are now mostly dead wastelands due to human greed for short term gains over long term costs. His comedy includes a number of “groaners” but his personability keeps the audience with him.

Overall an interesting show, the only criticism I have is that the projected graphs and slides were a little hard to see due the stage lighting washing out some of the screen.

Murray Hunter

Cubicle Jockeys

8Box—The Cinematheque

As a former call centre employee I was curious. As an audience member I was disappointed. Never before have I walked into a show and seen the performers going through technical cues 20 minutes before it was set to start. There were attempts at humor from what could easily have been a one man show, but in all honesty the funniest parts were from a volunteer in the back playing a couple extra roles over a mic. Despite the frequent slogs through uninteresting and sometimes even tedious dialogue, the play still fell nearly 20 minutes short of its 75 minute time slot, which was perhaps a blessing. Our leading man spent more than enough times trying to signal the technicians to increase the volume of recordings, which again I have never seen. Perhaps they missed the tech, perhaps there was an unforseen conflict, and if so I sympathize, but the quality of this show (or lack there of) was unacceptable.

Arden Pruden

Game On

Gearshifting Performance Works—Tom Hendry Warehouse

Echoes through the audience reflect words like “fantastic,” “marvelous,” and “spectacular.” Maybe it is and I don’t get it. I have several degrees, but none of them are in Fine Arts—maybe if I did, I would get it.

They pose a couple of causes where they hold my hand and say, “here, this is what we’re talking about,” and I got it. The rest? I’m not sure—but that’s okay! The dancing and the athleticism make for a visually powerful performance that’s worth the price of admission by itself.

Surprisingly, a lot of people brought their kids along and I definitely do not see this as a kids’ show. I hear some youngster rustling but largely, the kids seem to enjoy it almost as much as the adults.

Ray Yuen

Burns & Allen – A Loving Tribute

The Probable Cast—Onstage at Pantages

The great comedy duo of George Burns and Gracie Allen are brought back to life by Stephen Sim and Caity Curtis who share the chemistry of the vaudeville/radio/tv pair. It is great to see how the comedy from that era still holds up today. The duo also update a few bits and then perform an improv version of a TV episode based on suggestions from the audience. You can tell Stephen’s banter with the crowd in soliciting the suggestions from the audience plays on his long experience with improv troupe CRUMBs. Caity also adds some lovely humerous numbers on the ukelele.

For those that saw the show last year, they do re-use a couple of the best bits from last year, but I enjoyed seeing their updated take on Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on first” routine and the “Pick a card” bit again as they are both so well done.

Murray Hunter