Sex? But I’m Canadian!

HappySad Theatre—Onstage at Pantages

Full disclosure, I have absolutely zero idea what radio programme is being parodied in this show, but this lack of previous experience had little impact on my enjoyment of the show. Nico Dicecco tells us a few stories about a middle aged couple who are introduced to Fifty Shades of Grey, and embark on a sexual journey of unprecedented proportions.

Dicecco has a natural charisma and charm in his storytelling. At times I found myself laughing, and at other times cringing as unfortunate and embarrassing circumstances befell our formerly more wholesome couple.

What’s fun about this show is the relatable content. Perhaps I speak for myself, but I think finding new ways to explore and experiment with our partners is an important and exciting part of relationships. Sometimes this happens early on, and other times it happens after 20 years of marriage. Human beings are complex beings, and sometimes we have desires and interests that may remain unknown to even ourselves until the right opportunity presents itself. However, sometimes having that part of our lives blatantly displayed to our family and friends can be horrifying, but I think that human sexuality is worth celebrating and being open about. Take some risks kid. Have some fun!

Calantha Jensen

A Sad-Ass Cabaret

TJ Dawe—Dragon Arts Collective

Based on the name and the write-up, I expected an array of boohoos but many of the stories aren’t sad at all. They’re sometimes feisty, sometimes angry, but always spirited. Veteran Fringer Dawe delivers the tales while each bio has accompanying songs. There are some problems with the singing falling off key but they still manage to achieve a mood of melancholy.

I am curious about the red lighting throughout the show. Normally, red associates with anger and blue connotes sadness. I would rather see the blue since the continuous red cut through my eyes like lasers into my brain. Sorry but I had to put on sunglasses 10 minutes in, which helped a bit.

Ray Yuen

Hamlet Chapter Two: Back In Black

Dark Horse Theatre—Onstage at Pantages

Contrary to the content of this piece, I do enjoy a good Shakespeare spinoff and adaptations of his works. Every year there seems to be at least a few Hamlet parodies or re-interpretations. Hell, a few years ago I saw the entire play written into a half hour rap! (Loved it.)

This particular production places us in modern day Hollywood, as a scuzzy movie producer attempts to resurrect Hamlet in the form of a sequel (despite most of the characters having DIED in the original play). What follows is a hysterical, sometimes cringey (Hamlet a zombie? GOLD!) performance using a variety of actors, themes and outrageous ideas of how to bring Hamlet back to life in order to manage a sequel. We see a man broken by how horrid this entire movie idea is, and is baffled that it somehow turns into a cult classic (the Room, anyone?)

Its satirical, its clever and its very funny. Inserting plenty of the original prose from Hamlet, references to current pop culture and impersonations, what you’ll see is an entertaining, thought-provoking and interesting version of a much loved production. Definitely a new spin that in my years of Hamlet fandom I haven’t quite seen before. Its fun, so get thee to a funnery!!

Calantha Jensen

Dark Horse Theatre

Hamlet Chapter Two: Back In Black—Onstage at Pantages

Only two chances left to catch Dark Horse Theatre’s production of “Hamlet Chapter Two: Back In Black” at Venue #4. Our first few shows played to packed houses and gales of laughter. One hour of manic performances and more pop-culture references than you can shake a Yorick at! It’s fast! It’s funny! It was among the top 12 shows to see as selected by the CBC before the Fringe even began! Come and see not only the sequel to Hamlet, but the story of the making of the sequel to Hamlet, the aftermath of making the sequel to Hamlet, and most importantly, why you should NEVER make a sequel to Hamlet! Hesitate no longer! Get thee to a funnery!

new best friend

Today, For Now—School of Contemporary Dancers

From the creators of shows like Sperm Wars and Mars comes a brand new comedy that’s sure to get you thinking about the nature of your own mortality!

Today, For Now takes place during the last 2 weeks on Earth before we all get destroyed by an asteroid. If you’ve ever wondered about our inevitable extinction and found yourself chuckling at the sheer futility of life, this show’s for you!

Art by Dave Pruden

If you are wondering why the two remaining Jenny Boxes have been empty the last few days it is because we are only doing a few limited runs of these one-sheet issues as all of our content is online. We ended up with a lot of leftovers of the final printed issue last year so we reduced the number of copies of those special printed issues. The good news for people who are looking for some printed copy is there will be a new issue out later today (Wednesday) that features a column from Coral, which you can also see below.

The new cartoon from Jenny Illustrator Dave Pruden also got me thinking about how much paper the Fringe generates. It is a lot! Posters, Flyers, Programs, Tickets, and the Fringe Programs. Unfortunately most of that paper is necessary to promote and provide information about the shows. The Fringe is trying to help with this in moving to the one piece tickets and generic advance tickets picked up at the venue. The latter is probably generating a lot more paper as an unintended consequence of people printing out their ticket confirmations. Hopefully everyone does their part to at least recycle as much of the paper generated as possible.

Murray Hunter

And now Coral…

This Is How We Do It—Sorry for the Earworm.

Oh, how I dally and delay when there’s no press deadline to meet and no print shop hours to beat. Still, after spending the front weekend wandering around the square, I figured it was past time I pitched in with my 2¢ worth. (And you know what 2¢ is worth these days).

With all the scut work (explaining for the newbies what is Jenny, how to Jenny, what SSPs are, etc.), done most excellently, by the intrepid Murray and Ray, bless their organized little heads, I am free to concentrate on those things that have been dealt with only in the broadest terms.

Last Gasp—Let’s begin with the end.

The 27th annual Jenny Awards is your final show at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

‘Round about 10’ on Sunday night (July 29th) , come to the King’s Head’s 2nd floor and be prepared to make a hell of a lot of noise in support of the nominees you hold dearest. Now who they’ll be or what kooky category they’ll be shoehorned into is a mystery at this juncture, but they will all have one thing in common—they will all have been in the Jenny in some way.

That is embarrassingly easy make happen. If your show is reviewed, or you write a review of someone else’s show (mention your company or show in your byline), or you write a letter, or have Fringe stories or beefs or bouquets to share, DO IT. (If you don’t want to write it, tell it to me, or Murray or one of Jenny’s other industrious scribes. Or, (and I can’t stress this enough):

Write a Shameless Self-Promotion!!!

Come on, performers! Out of 181 shows (by my hasty count) only 23 have whipped up a little hyperbolic pandering on their own behalf. Who, better than you, to toot your own horn? Not only do you get another 80 or so words to tell the Fringe hoards why what you got is what they want, it automatically makes you eligible to be nominated for one of our terrific Jenny Awards.

(You can’t pawn them, but you won’t want to because they are 13 of the loveliest, little, unique, stuffed Jenny donkey trophies crafted by the skilled hands and quirky imagination of Michelle Cook, who, now that she doesn’t have to get Jenny from web to print, to you, can devote all her time to the herd.)

As to SSP guidelines, it’s 80 words or so, NOT your program copy—and now that the SSP shares space (on our site) with the actual program blurb, and your Jenny reviews, it’s just silly to put the same thing twice.

Oh yeah, Skip the stars, please. Even if you were awarded a galaxy somewhere else on the Fringe trail, all it says is that somebody, somewhere, likes you. Tell us why we are going to like you.

To all the rest of you out there, sit down at a computer (or if you must, write it out long hand and put it in our hands, or in a Jenny box (there’s one in the stage left Beer Tent), and tell us what you think of a particular show or any part of your Fringe experience.

Thanks to Ray’s organizational skills, the Jenny staff writers are getting to as many shows as possible but they are only humans, over caffeinated, sleep deprived humans, to be sure, but even they can’t cover it all.

And I know the Jenny’s philosophy of letting the ticket buyers talk about the shows has caught on at the Fringe to the point that even the program is soliciting reviews along with, but separate from, its two media sponsors, the Free Press and CBC. And then there’s Facebook and Twitter and probably other sites I don’t know about and, frankly, don’t want to know about.

The point is, you have your pick of outlets to share your opinions, most of which don’t necessarily ask for real names or emphasize content over one-liners of praise or pain like we do. But if you share your thoughts in our digital pages, you might be the reason why that show you loved goes home with a new little donkey friend. And isn’t that a good thing?

Coral McKendrick
Editorial Goddess

Terms & Conditions

Bossy Flyer—PTE – Colin Jackson Studio

Two people who are unexpectedly thrown together as roommates must learn to live together in a small apartment in this comedy featuring the acrobatic duo of Cynthia Price and Taylor Casas (who also appear in Flight). Their acrobatic abilities add a different dimension that isn’t usually seen in a comedy like this, and it really takes the slap-stick up a notch. It also makes the various battles that ensue really amazing as they flip and balance and spin around each other. Very well done!

I appreciated that they let the audience know before the show that in a few movements where they will be doing taller balancing that they would be done in specific spots in the otherwise low ceiling venue.

Murray Hunter

Whiteface

Whiteface productions—The Rachel Browne Theatre

Cowboys versus Indians—the Indians are the baddies and they should die. That’s how Hollywood used to portray westerns, and that’s how the show opens. Unfortunately, that theme continues to run rampant today. Society has made a lot of progress but we have a long, long way to go.

Don’t think so?

Call someone the N-word and what do you think those in earshot would say? Call someone another drunk Indian—now what do you think those nearby would say? Would the reaction be the same? I think you know the answer.

Whiteface looks at the debasing and marginalisation of our Indigenous peoples from multiple angles. Through the adventure, you undergo various emotions, including anger, hate, sympathy, sorrow, and the list goes on. You can feel the emotion pulse through the actions and the dance, and hopefully, it resonates with you.

This powerful piece expresses through imagery, dance and expression. The show runs 45 minutes. If I had a suggestion for improvement, I would take the extra 15 minutes and include more dialogue—more discourse on the abject wrongs that have sieged your people through history, and continue to do so today.

Don’t hesitate to see this brave and important piece of work.

Ray Yuen

Journey to Kalcedon Island: A Steampunk Adventure

Kiss the Giraffe Productions—John Hirsch Mainstage

Kiss the Giraffe is back with a fantastical new musical. This steam punk adventure follows two genius inventor sisters who set out on a quest to find their mother and their place in the world.

This show was fantastic! I loved the steam punk aesthetic that was very well integrated throughout. Steam punk, for those who don’t know, is a sci-fi genre set in the Victorian era with futuristic technology powered mainly by steam and gears. The set itself looked impressive with a giant backdrop and wings that were hand painted and filled with gears.

The cast raised the bar for musical theatre. I could easily see this show transitioning to Broadway with the cast being so talented. I couldn’t even pick a standout because the entire ensemble was so strong. The singing was beautiful and the dancing phenomenal. I was blown away by this cast and you will too.

The only issue I had with this show was volume. The cast was so strong that solos were often drowned out. I had a hard time hearing what was being sung to me so I missed some plot points. This is an easy fix with the addition of mics.

Bravo Kiss the Giraffe and congrats on another great show!

Kaitlyn Kriss

James & Jamesy in the Dark

James & Jamesy—PTE – Mainstage

The dynamic duo from the UK are back to shed some light, well, in the dark. This whimsical pair start in the dark, and proceed to playfully use huge headlamps to come into reality, first with themselves then later with the audience. Squeaking, sighing, body contortions, puppet with body parts, there’s nothing these Brits don’t experiment with. Absolutely a joy to watch this kinds of theatre with these inventing characters. Oh, there’s no tea in this one, however you can win a basket of tea in the entrance.

Kevin Campbell