River City Writer

In case you didn’t read my first quickie Fringe review post, the basic idea is that I write a review of a play I’ve seen at this year’s Fringe in 140 characters or less. Why only 140 characters? Because I’m writing these reviews as Twitter updates.

THE MOLE – Worth watching, but felt like something was missing. Flubbed a few lines, but good acting. Story was lacking something, though.

It’s Fringe time in Edmonton, and so I figured that it would be a good idea to add some reviews of plays that I’ve seen. I wrote some quickie reviews on Twitter earlier today, and thought that I’d share them here, as well.

Because Twitter updates are limited to 140 characters, these reviews are ultra-short. I’ve tried to get to the core of each piece (or at least, the core of my opinion on each piece). I’ll likely post more throughout the duration of the festival.

Here’s what I have so far:

THE SHAKESPEARE STORY – Very funny & entertaining, even if you know next to nothing about Shakespeare. Best show I’ves seen so far.

WHISKY, GIN & PINTS OF BEER – You’ve seen this story told dozens of times before, usually with better accents. Not bad, but not great.

DIE NASTY – Too many inside jokes this year. Not as funny, as a result. Fringe insiders will love it, others should get drunk before hand.

There are a lot of things going on in the city right now (as there will be all summer), so I figured the easiest way to share the information would be in a single round-up post.

• The Edmonton International Jazz Festival and The Works Art & Design Festival both wrap up this weekend. If you have the chance, check them outbefore they’re over.
• “Bash’d” the gay rap opera by Edmonton theatre alumni Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow is being performed as an off-Broadway production in New York City right now. The New York Times gave them a good write-up recently.
• The Freewill Shakespeare Festival (formerly the River City Shakespeare Festival) began this week, and continues everyday (excluding Mondays) until July 20. This year’s productions are “As You Like It” and “Richard III.” I’ve seen both already and they’re both good, though I have to admit that the performances don’t seem quite as strong as in past years. If you’re only able to make it out to one of the plays this year, I’d suggest going for the comedy, “As You Like It.”
• The Feats Festival of Dance begins tomorrow. I honestly didn’t even know that Edmonton had a dance festival until I started checking out the upcoming festivals at FestivalCity.ca. It looks like the festival includes a wide range of dance types, so there should be something for just about everyone.

Last night, I went to see “El Muchacho,” a Fringe play involving my friend Patrick Pilarski. “El Muchacho” is a Mexican-ized version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado.” It was a hilarious show, and a lot of fun to watch.

My one complaint was the male lead. Frankly, he wasn’t a very good singer. His solos were mildly painful to listen to, and there was something about his acting overall that bugged me. I’m not sure exactly what it was, but it bothered me.

Despite that, I can’t complain too much. The rest of the performances were solid, and the songs were all well executed. Plus, there were moments of improv, which is always fun.

I might be biased, because I had a friend in the show, but he was only in the chorus, and not one of the leads, so I think that I’m able to put any prejudice aside, and judge it fairly. Having said that, take my review with a grain of salt. Judge it for yourself, instead.

“El Muchacho” plays again today at 4:00pm, and closes on Saturday, August 25 at 6:30pm.

This weekend, I managed to attend a few Fringe shows. I didn’t get to see as many as I had hoped, because some of the ones I wanted to go to were sold out, but all of the ones that I did get to see were good. Some were better than others, but I enjoyed every one of them. Here, in brief, are my thoughts on the plays I saw this weekend. If you get the chance, you should check all of them out before the festival is over.

JEM ROLLS Up: Jem Rolls is a British performance poet. I saw him last year for the first time, and thought he was incredible. When I found out that my friends Nicole and Patrick were going to see his show this year, I couldn’t say no to the invitation. Jem is a master of word play, and is an incredibly energetic performer. He manages to blend humour, politics, lamentations about the state of the world, and spirituality into an almost seamless 60 minute performance. I’ll admit that his poetry might not be for everyone, but if you like spoken word with a twist, you won’t be disappointed.

Die Nasty: The Live Improvised Soap Opera: Die Nasty is a regular improv event in Edmonton, but it takes on a whole new level of awesome during the Fringe. I saw it on opening night, and laughed the entire time. It’s tough to describe the show, since it’s all improvised, but most Edmontonians already know that Die Nasty is a sure thing, so I can probably just leave it at that.

Louge-zilla!: Lounge-zilla! is a parody of gay cabaret, performed by Fiely A. Matias (aka: Lounge-zilla). The show is terrible. But, it’s terrible in all of the right ways. It’s raunchy, it’s cheesy, and it’s absolutely hilarious. It’s like a B-movie that’s so bad its good. Hell, it’s like Army of Darkness, not in terms of plot, of course, but in the sense that it’s aware of its own cheesiness. There is a nice undertone of irony to the show, without which, it might come across as just another cliché gay cabaret show.

The Fugue Code: The Fugue Code is billed as a musicology comedy-thriller. It’s impossible to understand exactly what that means, unless you’ve seen the show, but it’s a completely apt description. Contemplation of Bach’s fugue suites; humour that’s funny, even as it makes you groan; and a giant, undead Bach are all featured in this one man show by Alex Eddington. You have to see it to believe it, but it was one of the best plays I’ve seen all year, and probably the best one man act I’ve ever seen. This one is a must see.

The Komatsus are rolling in Old Strathcona, which means that the Fringe is close upon us. In fact, it’s just 7 days away. This means that it’s time to pick your Fringe Program, and figure out what shows you want to see.

Deciding ahead of time is more important than ever this year. No longer will you be able to buy tickets at the door. You’ll only be able to buy tickets from the main box office, or from the official ticket stations scattered around the main festival grounds. This isn’t a big deal for hardcore Fringers, since most of them buy their tickets in advance anyway.

Essentially, the new ticket system means that you won’t have to wait in line for hours in order to get tickets at the door, if the main office is sold out. In my opinion, this is a good thing. It also means that you can buy tickets farther in advance than in the past. In fact, they’re already on sale.

Unfortunately, the new system also means that more spontaneous festival goers won’t be able to just show up at the door and get tickets at the last minute. I’m not as happy about this, but I think the benefits outweigh this disadvantage. In fact, I’m kind of excited about getting my tickets ahead of time. I missed out on a few shows that I wanted to see last year, because I didn’t get tickets soon enough.

Hell, I almost didn’t get to see the show that some of my friends were in (Finer Noble Gases), because they went and got themselves a great review in the Journal, and tickets were selling like wildfire. In fact, that was a situation where I think I did end up lining up for hours to make sure that I got tickets.

I’ll be picking up a Fringe Program sometime in the next few days, and I’m already committed to at least one show, given that my friend Patrick Pilarski is going to be performing in a play again this year. If you have any shows to recommend to me, even before I have a chance to look at the Program, let me know, and I’ll do my best to check them out (and, of course, review them here on River City Writer).