River City Writer

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.