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

C
The Legend of Ice Ball
Jiff Martin
Venue 5
This legend has a problem and yo, I'll solve it. Check this review while the DJ revolves it. Earl Jay's sweet '80s rap has everybody bustin'-a-move. His hit, Hey Girl, is funny - the Son of Warehouse audience loved it and the cheesy dance moves that accompanied it. Then Earl goes gangsta rap, Ice Ball is born, and jokes are falling flatter than guests at a Suge Knight party. This production needs some work because, as predictable as this 45-minute rise and fall is, it's unpredictably lame ending left me shaking my head. All that was missing was the swelling music when Ice Ball comes to the 'epiphany' that people just need to be true to themselves. - GB

B
Love, Love, Love
The Awkwards
Venue 13
From London, U.K., Matthew Bellwood and Harriet Plewis play a pair of singleton losers who lament their lots in love-life at a karaoke bar. Bright-eyed Harriet still believes in love and, more to the point, the rejuvenatory powers of love songs by the likes of Bryan Adams, Celine Dion and Phil Collins. Ahem. Matthew is more of a moper, his cynicism a mask for his shyness and insecurity, and the slings and arrows he directs at Harriet are often hilarious, cutting barbs. Home-made, karaoke-style singalong videos accompany much of the performance, with the best being an explication of the modern love song that should be required viewing for 13-year-olds everywhere. At the end of this exercise in deconstruction, the unanswered question is which is more pathetic - the delusions of the perpetually romantic (Harriet) or the bitter sadness of the perennially disappointed (Matthew.) - JK

A
Lucrezia Borgia
Canadian Musical Theatre Development Group
Venue 18
The idea of a modern musical about this infamous 15th century duchess isn't exactly 'I must go' appealing. But hell, does Joseph Aragon know how to pull it off. This production is virtually flawless, the singing and acting incredible and the story believable. Much of this is down to Aragon's writing ability and the immensely talented cast, which moves seamlessly from one scene to the next thanks to great stage direction and choreography. A must see.- LH

A
Maxim & Cosmo
Big Sandwich Productions
Venue 1
TJ Dawe's determined to take the standard out of double standard. In this one man show, the funny, fast talking Fringe vet tackles the studs vs. sluts debate, as well as any other gender generalizations, stereotypes and inequalities he runs into along the way. Severely likable, this 90-minute monologue never tires. Dawe's lively delivery and incredible sense of humour is thoroughly engaging, even if he can be quite the rambler - inserting the 'c-word' into a popular Sharon, Lois and Bram song, explaining how a cool dude like Jesus could never have been celibate, or announcing that he'd stop the show immediately for a blowjob. Such topics don't seem to fit the point, he's making but they're funny nonetheless, so ramble on, man. - JS

B+
Men Seldom Make Passes at Girls Who Wear Glasses
Theatre Incarnate
Venue 20
Only certain Fringe plays have the ability to balance drama, snapping wit and good writing - and this is one of those anomalies. Men Seldom Make Passes at Girls Who Wear Glasses is an adaptation of some of the writing and poetry of Dorothy Parker, one of 20th century's greatest writers. The solo performance of Brenda McLean as Parker is engaging and charming. She steps into the T-strapped shoes of her muse with a careless ease and walks her way through a gin-soaked, wonderfully arranged set. The neurotic and excitable scenes in the 60-minute play keep the audience enthralled through fits of laughter and constant clever banter. - SA

C-
Mennonite's Guide to Savage Street Fighting
Crosseyed Rascals
Venue 4
Don't let the awesome title fool you. Unless your last name is Friesen or Penner, these squeaky clean Mennonite in-jokes are probably not for you. Comprised less of improv and more of simply copying one another these tired skits fail to produce anything savage whatsoever. Ok, I know the title is a play on Mennonite pacifism, but rarely is this theme explored to its fullest extent. The juxtaposition is potentially hilarious, but when anything dangerous creeps its way in, it is immediately shut out. On a talk show game, one audience-given topic was gay marriage. Finally some edgy stuff, but it was avoided like bad borscht. The best part of this show was not even Rascals-generated, instead it came from an audience member's answer to what a Mennonite says in a street fight - "Sorry!" Good on the Crosseyed boys for attempting dirt-free improvisation, but this needs a whole lot of improvement. - JS

B
Metamorphosis
Theatre on T.A.P.
Winnipeg aerial ballet expert Talia Pura runs through the stages of a typical woman's life - paranoid little Prairie girl, professional dominatrix, aging movie star, and so on. After climbing her circus silks 25 feet above the stage, Pura completes her monologue with some impressive high-altitude manoeuvres.- QM-F

B
Miss April Day's School For Burgeoning Strippers
Good Humour Productions
Venue 7
My grandma always says, "You can't go wrong with nudity." Man, she's weird, but I tend to agree. There's actually no nudity here, but Miss April Day's School for Burgeoning Strippers is a show about getting naked, so how can't it be great? For the first half, however, Morrow's strip tale fails to really take off. Not that its bad or anything, I mean when was the last time you heard the phrases "cooze juice" or "muffin mullet" - in any situation? Morrow brings the sexy back in a big way when she gives an unsuspecting audience member a lap dance. A little ass-to-face action picks things up and the play dances to its end quite well. Those partially ad-libbed moment's show Morrow is a very funny woman and, with a little more work, this show could be tighter than a two-sizes-too-small G-string. - JS

C+
Mothers of Invention
po'house productions
Venue 7
I want to like Laura Poe, I really do. Mothers of Invention is what its description claims - "a multi-media romp." Unfortunately, there is a great deal of romping, from scene to scene and character to character. She has created a whole cast of interesting personae but the story just doesn't flow smoothly, getting bogged down with unnecessary dialogue. A long introductory video was just one of many elements that could have been cut. Still, Poe is quite a talented actress and deserves kudos for all the effort that has clearly gone into this story.- GB

B
Mozart: Ze Complete History
The British Comedy Club of Great Britain
Venue 6
Nothing spoils a good Powerpoint joke like a Powerpoint punchline that pops up too soon. Why people continue to enjoy Rainer Hersch's amateurish multimedia presentations is beyond me. Of course, it is music, not Powerpoint, that is his forte. So, either I would suggest more time spent at the keyboard or an upgraded version of Microsoft Office. It has some wonderful new templates and many performers are doing far more interesting things with a projector than white backgrounds and san serif fonts. Hersch does have a wonderful rapport with his audience and his best moments come with audience participation. You can see a sparkle in his eye as he invites another smitten fan onto the stage. While it seems the piano man can do no wrong, this Uptown man is once-again unimpressed - GB

B
Napoleon's Secret Diary
Monster Theatre
Venue 16
Terrific comic actor Ryan Gladstone portrays Napoleon as an accidental hero in this self-penned one-man-show with some fast ad-libs and even some subtle digs at current politics. A combination of bad jokes and what must be the silliest accent in the whole Fringe kept the audience laughing throughout. - QM-F

C
Necessary Truths and other deceptions
Summer Thought
Venue 7
This locally directed, produced and acted play follows the lives of two men from childhood to old age. After meeting in detention at an early age, Cory and Peter become the best of friends. They share the humours and heartbreaks of growing up, even as little lies pop up, coming to a head in their relationships with each other and Cory's mother Nancy. Featuring several veterans of Celebrations Dinner Theatre, the cast does a great job of portraying the dynamics and emotions of a gamut of ages. However, I couldn't help feeling I was watching the homophobic jocks from my high school grow up. While I didn't crack a smile, the audience barely had time to breathe from laughter throughout the 60-minute play. - SA

A
The New Art of Poetry Clubbing
The Fugitives
Venue 10
The Fugitives are singers, songwriters, poets and musicians from Vancouver who are playing a fringe festival for the first time, having already
establishing themselves on the performance poetry circuit. They arrive with a buzz but clearly intend to broaden their audience after releasing a
promising album, In Streetlight Communion. They will do so, too, if their performances are as consistently breathtaking as their opening night gambit. Accompanying themselves on various combinations of banjo, guitar, melodica and percussion, the four players - Barbara Adler, Mark Berube, Steven Chase and Brendan McLeod, - are capable of achieving dizzying, Arcade Fire-ish crescendos, replete with parallel melodies, complex harmonies and brimming torrents of emotion. Each individual is a fine performer, too; McLeod's observational sentiment is spot on, Adler's carefully crafted rants are breathlessly precise, Berube's alto is spellbinding and Chase is an accomplished instrumentalist. The verdict? Songs such as Headlines, Shiny Plastic Bags and Greyhound will indeed be heard by many more people. The only knock? At 45 minutes, this show was not nearly long enough. - JK

A+
On Second Thought.
WOG Productions
Venue 7
Paul Hutcheson's rubber face and dynamic storytelling abilities make this production feel as if you're listening to your funny friend tell tall tales over beers. This one-man show is a series of anecdotes of Hutcheson's trials, tribulations and hilarious adventures. He wears his heart on his sleeve through the retelling of his sibling battles, adventures in the Australian outback and his life as a video clerk. He also slips in commentaries on pop culture and the commodification of being gay It is refreshing to see a performer so in tune with his audience as Hutcheson. This show is worth seeing at least twice. - SA

C
One Last Thing
Stupid Gumball Dispenser Productions
Venue 1
One Last Thing is a much too earnest and self-aware production, written with a point about as fine as a jumbo marker. It's an awkward, writing-a-play-within-a-play format in which three young men - a serious actor/playwright, an insightful pothead and a ne'er-do-well who yearns for an ex-girlfriend -- write a play to say that 'one last thing' to the women who broke their hearts. The triteness of the subject is not overcome by the relatively solid acting of the cast and the odd laugh here and there. These playwrights are trying very hard to "say something" here, but they need a much lighter touch. - BS

A
Paradise: A Canadian Soldier in Vietnam
Prairie Boy Productions
Venue 17
It's never completely clear if this is a true story or a fictional account and, in a way, that's what makes this one-man play so powerful. Rod McDonald is Johnny Dumalski - a regular guy who grew up in Ituna, Sask. At 18, inspired by John Wayne movies and romanticized notions of heroism, he took a bus to Minneapolis and enlisted in the U.S. army. Eventually he was deployed to Vietnam. The experience changed him and, 37 years later, he still can't let go of the past. As he says, "Nothing was how it was supposed to be." McDonald is clearly a method actor. He not only looks the part of an aging Vietnam vet, he embodies it. He is Dumalski - wallowing in guilt, angry and vulnerable. He says that if people like him don't speak up, history will repeat itself. Given the current war raging in Iraq, his words sting. - MC

A
Petey Mack EMBALMED
Robo Productions
Venue 13
If you've yet to meet long time Fringe fave Petey Mack - the braces-clad brainchild of Winnipeg actress Robyn Slade - then you need to see this one-woman show. This time out,the perpetually awkward twentysomething finds herself working at her first real grown-up job - in a morgue. This line of work gets Petey thinking about her own death. Going through everything from her Top 10 Things to Do Before I Die list - laundry is No. 10 - to her self-written eulogy, we get a different look at this nerdy sweatshirt-wearing, Beyoncé-loving gal. Slade gives a delightfully unhinged performance as Petey, and the girl could give lessons in timing. Working with what could have been a throwaway sketch character nearly every line gets a laugh. Slade gives Petey plenty of depth and heart which, to quote our dorky heroine, makes it "much awesomer." - JZ

B-
PopTART
Pony Productions
Venue 3
This Chris Craddock-penned meditation on our obsession with celebrity culture aspires to great heights of insight, but it doesn't quite reach the peak of perfection. PopTART is the story of two sisters, one a do-gooding lawyer who likes sushi and theatre and works for a women's shelter, one an unemployed slacker who knows every move from Britney Spears' Baby, One More Time video. They awkwardly attempt to connect across the gap of vacuous culture. Throw in a crazed celebrity gossip-site impresario, name-drops of Oprah and Marshall McLuhan, some great physical performances and one-liners, and PopTART is a mixed bag of tricks. While the intentions are commendable and often very enjoyable, Craddock jams so much into this show that we're left with cultural-reference overload and a plot which was created piecemeal just to make "the point." - BS

A
Private i
Jolene Bailie/Cuppa Jo
Venue 9
Winnipeg dancer Jolene Bailie once again dazzles with a creative wonder. In Private i, Bailie bends both her physical and mental prowess to reach beyond pure dance, incorporating spoken-word musings between dance pieces. Bailie is an engaging and endearing performer and, while the spoken word elements are not always as successful as the dance elements, Private i is a thoughtful, daring endeavour. With everything from odes to beautiful, glittering Betsey Johnson shoes (most definitely worth the adoration) to an a cappella rendition of the Motown classic, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, Private i is a uniquely wonderful work showcasing Bailie's myriad talents. - BS

B
Risk Everything
At Home Theatre
Venue 1
Plays by the popular George F. Walker have become a staple at the Fringe. This production of Risk Everything makes a pretty admirable attempt to bring gambling addict Carol (Susanna Portnoy), her daughter Denise (Jacqueline Loewen) and son-in-law R.J. (Kevin Klassen) to life. At Home Theatre's performance is well paced and humorous, marred only by Portnoy's inconsistencies as the reckless mother. Loewen and Klassen make a convincing pair whose botched attempts to help Carol out of a sticky spot provide plenty of great moments. John Callander, as Carol's lover Mike, is ridiculous and hilarious as a porn director captivated by Carol's charms. Theirs was a slightly shaky first performance but ultimately worth seeing. - LH

C
Rhyme Machine
birthmark_productions
Venue 6
Call this a children-friendly primer on the birth of hip-hop and the makings of a local rap star. Major technological glitches interrupted a show that seemed to have a few bumps as it was, but there are some good ideas here with some funny lines and strong performers. With a live MC, human beat-box interludes, and the all-kid Breaker's Dozen Crew. - QM-F

C
The Rivals
The Shoestring Players
Venue 6
Oh what a disappointment this was. If you saw the brilliant Mr. Flannery's Ocean last year you'd be expecting another gem from the usually excellent Shoestring Players. Instead, The Rivals plays out like a high school production replete with dialogue fluffs and lacklustre performances. Its only saving grace is Carol Stephens, who stars as the linguistically-challenged Mrs. Malaprop in this 18th century British comedy. Stephens is splendid, lighting up the stage with her cheeky retorts and perfect timing. Sadly, the same can't be said of the other performers, who rushed their lines without appearing to understand what they were even saying. - QM-F