Reviews by: Stacey Abramson, Grant Burr, Marlo Campbell, Liz Hover, John Kendle, Quentin Mills-Fenn, Amanda Stefaniuk, Barb Stewart, Jared Story, Jen Zoratti

B+
Decameron
Erik de Waal
Venue 8
Ribald, funny, sad story-telling from a Festival favourite as South Africa's Erik de Waal adapts stories from Boccacio's classic collection. A strictly unnecessary prologue goes on a little too long, but this one-man show keeps you enthralled with a minimal but effective set and one characterful prop. Rrrrrrrighteous. - QM-F

B+
Deep Fried Curried Perogies
Mahatmamajama Productions
Venue 2
Daughter of a Jamaican father and a Filipino mother, Michelle Todd has gone through quite the identity crisis. She's too black to be white, too white to be black, and nothing in between really fits. If people ask where she's from, this Edmontonian says "Canada", and they say "I think she means the village." Now she's having a baby with a Ukrainian Brit (hence the play's title), and even though Canada is multicultural, she's worried about the little ethnic mosaic she's about to give birth to. A top-notch performer, Todd portrays her immigrant parents hilariously and can dance to any beat. However, a little less time spent dancing and a little more time telling her story would greatly benefit this show. Just a little less, though, because watching a Jamaican/Filipino/Edmontonian doing the Boot Scootin' Boogie is freaking hilarious. - JS

A
Dickens of the Mounted
Beyond Chutleigh Productions/alliesallovertheatre co-op
Venue 8
Three trunks and two planks. That's all it takes for actor Kristian Bruun to bring Canada's frontier territories alive in this splendid one-man show. Based on author Eric Nicol's 1989 imagining of the life of Frank Dickens, the real-life son of Charles who served 12 years in the North West Mounted Police from 1874 to 1886. Dickens of the Mounted is a remarkable feat of writing and theatre. Using the conceit of letters written by Dickens to an old London friend, Ezra Butts (and after Butts' death, to Butts' daughter Emily,) the show touches on one of the most volatile periods in Canada's young history. Big, burly Bruun gives these letters an inspired reading - and turns this monologue into true theatre of the mind. As he does so, his Dickens encounters Louis Riel, Big Bear, Sitting Bull, Sir Sam Steele and mosquitoes that "are six inches across, and that's just between the eyes," in an hour-long performance that flies by in an instant. - JK

A
Die Roten Punkte
Tobias and Bartholomew
Venue 18
This could be the funniest show at the festival. Die Roten Punkte (The Red Dots) is brother and sister duo Astrid Rot (vocals/drums/glockenspiel) and Otto Rot (vocals/guitar/keyboards). They are a delightful parody of being in the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world. With their mix of music and humour it's clear that these guys not only write first-class comedy but can also play their instruments (they're even selling CDs). The duo has even taken time to give Winnipeg a starring role with reference to their adventures around the city. - LH

A
Dishpig
PKF Productions
Venue 14
Everybody's had a crappy job. Excluding javelin catcher, dishpig might be the worst. According to this one-man show written by TJ Dawe and Greg Landucci, it's like being a human toilet. Trying to keep one's composure and sanity while elbows deep in leftover muck and guck - without any wash gloves, mind you - well, let's just say this isn't a labour of love. Landucci, as Matt, delivers intensely repeated rapid-fire lines like a tweaked-out auctioneer, showing just how repetitive and stressing the job can be. Not just the dishpig, Landucci plays the whole staff, and whether he's Jeff hard-ass boss Jeff, Zach the dick or the ultra-annoying Murray, you really get a feel for Hell's kitchen. That feeling should result in you finishing every ounce of food on your plate the next time you eat out. - JS

A
Eleemosynary
Scattergood Theatre
Venue 4
You'd be forgiven if, having read the description in the Fringe guide, you were at all surprised by what unfolded on the stage at this venue. Total cutie and fringe first-timer, Lindsay Chochinov is perfectly cast as Echo, a super-smart spelling star coping with her dysfunctional family life and immense spelling talent. Jane Burpee is charm personified as Echo's grandmother. She swoops from one eccentricity to the next, frustrating Echo's mother (played by Nan Fewchuk) in the process. These three delightful women give terrific performances which moved some of the audience to tears. - LH

A
The Feel Goods
ArmstrongSchultz
Venue 11
This delightfully odd work tells the tale of the Feel Goods, a rather unique gang who exist to enact a positive revolution in the world through the careful placement of Bazooka Joe comics and the kidnapping of the saddest person in Winnipeg. This band of sweet but strange misfits cross the path of the very sad Lilith, and the results are suitably sweet and strange. With wonderful performances, a wholly original script and absolutely knock-out costumes The Feel Goods is a perfectly eccentric and lovely Fringe experience. - BS

B-
5 Winnipeg Comics in.."The Big Big Show: I Don't Want To Grow UP"
Easy-To-Swallow Gel Caps
Venue 19
Winnipeg has a pretty good comedy scene, accommodating both stand-up and improv groups, and you can experience it most any weekend, not only at the Fringe. If you're looking for a fully licensed, air conditioned venue, some occasional laughs, then head on over to the Winnipeg Press Club where Big Daddy Tazz MCs for four local comedians exploring the singular theme of childhood. Tazz easily controls the show, excelling with his reminiscences of growing up in small town Saskatchewan. Another person to watch out for is Rob Bruneau, who has some very funny material, even if he's a bit insecure in his delivery at times. A great sampling of Winnipeg's burgeoning stand-up community. - AS

B+
Flamenco con Fusion 2007
Ricardo Garcia's Flamenco Flow
Venue 18
Flamenco Flow features Barcelona-based flamenco guitarist Ricardo Garcia, Winnipeg dancer Claire Marchand and Montreal-based percussionist/bassist Roberto Benson. Together they create a smooth, hour-long performance that highlights Garcia's flamboyant, percussive guitar, Marchand's expressive dancing and Benson's multi-hued rhythmic talent. Marchand is a technically precise vision but the standout element of this Friday afternoon performance was a fiery bass-and-guitar fusion of flamenco, jazz and Latin elements that featured impassioned solos from both players and was punctuated by spontaneous applause throughout. - JK

C-
Flowers for Dennis
Kevin's Freak'n DuBrau Productions
Venue 9
What could have been an explosive and shocking production is undermined by some odd direction and staging. Bizarre characterizations, masks, and actors facing the audience when talking to each other diminish any emotional punch. This is too bad because this is a troupe willing to make some breathlessly bold theatre. - QM-F

A
The Genghis Khan Guide to Etiquette
Rob Gee
Venue 5
Rob Gee seems to have made talking at 100 miles-per-hour his profession. Directed by Jem Rolls, The Genghis Khan Guide... marks this British performance poet's debut at the fringe. Gee has a gift for seeing humour in tragedy and, much like a Dr. Seuss for adults, he crafts his words with terrifying sharpness, delivering them at breakneck speed. Gee's experience as a psychiatric nurse provides oodles of material and his self-deprecating nature makes for an unmissable show. - LH

A+
Giant Invisible Robot
The Baggy Pants
Venue 5
Jayson McDonald's Giant Invisible Robot is described as "the story of a painfully shy man and his compulsively destructive robot." For such a simple storyline, this show is actually quite complex. We meet Russell, a young and awkward boy whose best friend is Giant Invisible Robot - but GIR isn't exactly an imaginary friend. In a whirlwind performance, McDonald plays an assortment of characters who have had some sort of contact with the enigmatic android. Occasionally we hear from Russell as time passes, and more light is shed on his fractured family. Though this show is hilariously funny and hugely imaginative, Russell's underlying turmoil makes it very real. It's one of those deftly crafted pieces of comedy that ends up making you cry at the end. And you will. - JZ

A-
Giant Killer Shark: The Musical
Heart Like Giraffe Theatre
Venue 1
Wait a second, this plot sounds familiar. Giant Killer Shark: The Musical is the tale of everything gone wrong on Amity, a "copyright protected island." The brainchild of Steven Spielberg, I mean Sam Sutherland, it's a hilarious rock opera including a grizzled New York City cop, a crazy old fisherman and Sutherland as a hippie scientist. The guys become fairly good chums in their hunt for a great white evil. Mark my words, these fellows sing the crap out of funny and cheesy, especially 0n tunes such as Big Sexy American Beach Party. No Sound of Music, this musical will appeal to those born, say, after 1975, with its Tenacious D-like lyricism and delivery. - JS

C+
Girls Only: The Secret Comedy of Women
A.C.E. Entertainment
Venue 3
This show generated a bit of buzz with its 'girls only' clubhouse tag, but trust me, unless you were ever a 13-year-old girl, you really wouldn't be interested. Even if you have been, you still might not be interested. While Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein do incorporate some very cute girlie-girl elements to their show, such as the scenes in which they read excerpts from their junior high diaries, but there are also some scenes that just don't work in a show that clocks in at just over 70 minutes. That's too bad, because parts of this show were a charming reminder of what it felt like when your crush brushed against you in band practice. - JZ

C+
Grudge Match
Top Dog Productions
Venue 6
The first collaboration from local husband-and-wife team Josh and Primrose Madayag Knazan is sort of A Star is Born meets Flashdance meets Nacho Libre (the only wrestling movie I could think of). A steel worker dreams of a better life, so he tries out as a professional wrestler and lands a gig with Top Dog Wrestling, but there's more to life at the top than a belt with a monstrous buckle. A series of really short scenes slows down the momentum, making for a long production with real life pro wrestlers (!), who are the best part of the whole shebang. - QM-F