All the Fringe reviews that fit, we print
Presenting… 46 reviews from the Winnipeg Fringe Festival
Reviews by Marlo Campbell, Liz Hover, John Kendle, Melissa Martin, Quentin Mills-Fenn, Barb Stewart, Jared Story, Peter Vesuwalla and Jen Zoratti



Last week we gave you our first 15 reviews from the 2006 Winnipeg Fringe Festival, courtesy of reviewers from CBC Radio One who travelled to the Montreal and Toronto fringes to see shows headed to our neck of the woods.

This week we offer up 46 more reviews in our quest to capture the whole of the Fringe Festival. Next week we’ll wrap with a rundown of the final 60 or so shows our team of reviewers will catch after this week’s deadline.

So sit back, read on and circle the shows you’d like to see before the festival wraps up on July 30.

• • •

C-
40 Needles
Reimer Reason
Venue 4
Kristian Reimer’s story about becoming a pharmaceutical test subject isn’t exactly the sort of Irvine Welsh/Lou Reed nightmare for which one would hope. Reimer is a likeable guy, but the show needs a lot of work. He spends most of it doing Ronnie Corbett-style ramblings and tangents from the main story, spinning off into observational comedy, but never manages a really good punchline. Along the way he talks to two facets of his personality, beginning with a pessimistic Woody Allen on his right and an optimistic Fat Albert on his left, but at the July 21 show those pesky imaginary characters kept switching sides. When he did finally get to the bit about the 40 needles it was an anti-climax. Perhaps if there had been some big tie-in, like having the experiment turn out to be the cause of his incessant rambling, he might have something. Reimer could learn a lot from the surprises in Chris Gibbs’ The Power of Ignorance. — PV

C+
Adult Entertainment
Venus.calm
Venue 17
Cops, mistresses, gunshots, moral ambiguity, some cheap laughs and a whole lot of talk, talk, talk — if you like that sort of thing — fill this play written by the prolific George F. Walker, member of the Order of Canada. The rest of the audience seemed to buy it. I didn’t. Generally, though, the play is well acted. The cast almost makes you believe in the onstage shenanigans.— QM-F

B-
Ash Dickinson — Electric Dandyland
Ash Dickinson
Venue 5
It would be unfair to describe Ash Dickinson as a watered-down Jem Rolls (although I think I just did), but the performer, sporting long hair and a skeleton T-shirt and introducing himself as a thinking-person’s Axl Rose, sets up a more hard-edged act than he delivers. His collection of spoken-word poems is entertaining enough but mostly banal — the best one being about the dangers of renting a movie as a second-date idea. It would be more fitting, perhaps, to stick such a poem in the middle of a standup act. Perhaps I’m being biased and snobbish, but in an hour of poetry I’d like to eventually hear something at least bordering on profound. Instead, he closes the show on a sentimental note that sounds like something he wrote exclusively to impress chicks. I wish him well. — PV

F+
Audition
Andrea Productions
Venue 3
If this year’s Fringe is showcasing “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” then Audition is the pock-marked bar wench with no teeth and a lazy eye. Like the name would suggest, the show allows audience members (ideally those who have spent the day in the beer tent) the chance to sing in front of a real live audience. While this notion works well in theory, the problem with Audition is that it’s a comedy you can’t laugh at. Many of the volunteers were acting as if a talent scout were lurking somewhere in the audience, so they took it way too seriously. I mean, come on. I’m not even allowed to laugh at young girls with wavering voices and awkward dance moves and guys with thick accents belting out ’90s pop hits? While a woman with a very thick German accent tries to adjudicate the performances? That’s cruel. — JZ

B
The Bible: The Complete Word
of God (Abridged)
Wolf Productions
Venue 6
Brush up on your religious knowledge because, if you’re anything like me, your Sunday-school teachings have been blurred by a life of sin and Slayer. That’s the problem with this play — if you don’t know much about God, well goddamnit, you can get lost. Thankfully, this three-man troupe sticks mostly to the well-known biblical stories. Even atheists know about the Three Wise Men and will be quite amused to find out they all actually bought Jesus baseball gloves from Sears. You may not know the story of Abraham, but when God asks him for his foreskin, you’re going to laugh. One other possible problem to note: this is the Bible abridged, so before you can say ‘amen’ the play’s jumped from the Old to the New Testament. It’s fast-paced right down to the dialogue, so you’ll need to pay close attention. ADD sufferers should continue on to the next show. — JS

B+
The Big Stupid Improv Show
The Probable Cast
Venue 1
Crumbs’ Stephen Sim and Lee White, joined by a couple of Edmontonians and a Georgian, played one hella-hilarious game of Director’s Cut, an improv competition in which each performer gets a chance to direct a scene, with the funniest prevailing as improv champion. On this night a small, enthusiastic group witnessed incredibly intelligent delinquent hoodlums, inept Fringe performers “smoking” ecstasy and a witch-friendly resort, but those scenes were no match for the knee-slapping amusement provided by two lackadaisical pirates and their unenthused monkey. Arguing in the most laid-back of monotones about the feebly annoying primate, the performers received a firm smack for breaking character and accidentally smiling. Some may have a problem with the lack of audience participation and question whether this is pure improv, but who cares? Funny is funny. Will they improve on the pirates? Go and find out. — JS

C+
Britchick
Goddess Productions/Alex Dallas
Venue 14
Alex Dallas is very funny, smart and edgy. Britchick is rarely any of those things. It feels as though Dallas is still in the planning stages of the show, trying to finding its footing and point. Because it’s unclear where Dallas wants to take the work, Britchick ends up being a string of uneven observances about the differences between Canada and England. There is a really funny and interesting show in here somewhere, and Dallas’ comic elegance occasionally finds its way through the mediocrity of it all. That makes it all the much more frustrating because you can see what she’s capable of bringing to the stage and what she’s settled for with this production. — BS

B+
Burden of Poof
Poofy du Vey
Venue 1
Watch out for Courtney Cunningham: one day she just might become the clown princess of the Fringe — talented, beautiful and very funny. Although there isn’t much in this current production I haven’t seen in other clown shows, I rarely see it done so well. Like most good clowns, Cunningham’s Poofy du Vey character is an absurd reflection of her audience. When the red nose is on, every human whim and desire — such as getting in shape, organizing one’s life and finding true love — is outed as a ridiculous exercise. But I’m making it sound too heavy. Cunningham masterfully involves her audience, sometimes risking disaster but also inspiring deep laughs. If you’ve never seen a real clown show before (and a surprising number of people haven’t), this would be a great place to start. I just hope she finds more original subject matter in the future. — PV

A
Candy From a Baby
Squeezebox Mama
Venue 3
This highly entertaining dark comedy is a true family affair in the most Fringe-worthy of fashions. Written by Debbie Patterson, it stars Patterson’s partner, Arne MacPherson, and the couple’s children, Gislina Patterson and Solmund MacPherson. Candy From a Baby is the tale of ex-con Warren and his terribly precocious children, the worldly 12-year old, Gloria, and the heartbreakingly silent eight-year-old, Skunk. On his first day out of jail Warren manages to bumble his way back into the criminal life, dragging his kids with him. But he soon learns that apples truly don’t fall far from the tree. The cast is fabulous, the writing is bang on and the show is a delight, but be warned that just because a family stars in a show does not mean it’s family-appropriate. — BS

A
Conclave: The Musical
Kiss the Giraffe Productions
Venue 6
Singing Canadian pilgrims, an evil bedpan fairy and a drunken Irish nun who swears like a sailor — perhaps Rome really is a Catholic Disneyland. Conclave: The Musical is a melodramatic religious foray that sees a group of young pilgrims lead by the ever-earnest Father Thomas (Shawn Kowalke) caught up in the whirlwind of Rome during a conclave. With hilarious songs and snappy comedic timing, this is easily one of the stars of the Fringe despite the occasional sound issues. Both ridiculously slapstick and smartly witty, Joseph Aragon’s musical gently addresses the religion vs. science battle in a way that walks the fine line between being wildly offensive and uproariously funny, making for a highly entertaining show. It’s hard to describe a musical that deals with the devil, Interpol, The Mario Bros. and Jesus in a sparking halter dress, so we’ll let the character Amy Gardiner sum it up: “OK, like, what the …?” — JZ

A
Criteria
Timothy Mooney Repertory Theatre
Venue 13
In the future, an energy-starved United States will be torn apart by divisions based on people’s social-security numbers. Silly what inconsequential things discrimination is based on, isn’t it? Timothy Mooney’s one-man show is provocative, funny, thoughtful, shocking and compelling. Stuff like this is what the Fringe is all about. See it. — QM-F

B+
Dancingmonkeyboy
Paul Thorne
Venue 4
Paul Thorne is a master of the ‘callback.’ That’s when a comic references a joke from earlier in the act. It’s even better when it’s improvised and then worked back into a routine later, and Thorne had a great time with his Friday audience, seamlessly shifting between his prepared standup bits and improv banter. He resisted the temptation to really dig into individual audience members (even though a critic from UMFM foolishly sat in the front row, notepad in hand) and used his barbs as a gentle ribbing or a neat segue into a bit. His material was, for the most part, top notch. Thorne’s light-hearted observances of the differences between British and Canadian culture got a lot of laughs, and an early bit about eyebrows and pubic hair was priceless. — PV

C
Dario & Bario
DB Productions
Venue 9
When walking out of this one, my brother looked at me and threw his hand over his head in a state of bewilderment. Yeah, I didn’t get it, either. That’s not to say Dario & Bario is bad — actually, it’s quite entertaining for a while. George Lewis (Dario) and David Taft (Bario) are two incredibly talented physical comedians, and their circus-like stage moves keep one amused at show’s beginning. But the two stooges’ slapstick antics become tiresome after the viewer realizes this story is going nowhere. It’s only evident that they’re clowns of some sort, Dario being the head honcho and Bario his imbecile sidekick. Too abstract for this reviewer, this one’s only for the easily amused and people who can see a whole lot in nothing. Could be a pot-smoker’s delight. — JS

B
D.A.V.E. A Dark Ascension of
a Vindictive Embrace
Ascend the Throne
Venue 8
D.A.V.E. is a competent and entertaining dance/live music piece chronicling the disintegration of one relationship and the subsequent romantic entanglement of one of its participants and the effects on the other. The play has some lovely moments (some too arty for its own good), and one participant seems slightly out of place in the dance elements. All in all, though, D.A.V.E. is a charming work whose ambitions are grand, perhaps just a bit grander than its execution, but its attempts are admirable and nonetheless enjoyable. — BS

C+
A Door Must Be Kept Open or Shut
Prize Pony Productions
Venue 2
A short, comic yet poignant vignette of love in high society written by French romantic (and lover of George Sand) Alfred de Musset, A Door Must Be Kept Open or Shut requires comic timing and subtlety of character not quite within the grasp of its two actors. While this show is passable Fringe fare it definitely feels like a student production. Mary McCown-Kobinger has a few shining moments as the Marquise, but Ronald George Moore seems unable to find a comfortable footing as the Baron, and ultimately the door of enjoyment for this production remains closed. — BS

C
Ease
Dimestore Watch Theatre Works
Venue 8
Ray and Willis are a couple bumping along dysfunctionally, talking at cross purposes. Then their ‘friend’ Nate drops by and secret desires are exposed, sort of. The play, by Priscilla Yakielashek, leaves a lot unexplained, even becoming incomprehensible at one point. The cast members gives it their best despite the sketchy characters. — QM-F

A-
Every Time I See Your Picture I Cry
Daniel Barrow
Venue 18
If I still have time after reviewing 36 Fringe plays and a handful of movies, I’m going back to see Daniel Barrow’s astounding “live animation” presentation again. The first time I was too overwhelmed by the medium, which is unlike anything I’ve ever seen at a Fringe performance, and I might have missed some of the finer details in the first few minutes. Barrow sits at the back of the venue with a microphone and an overhead projector on which he layers transparencies on top of one another, moves elements around the frame and pans across backdrops, creating something cinematic. He tells the story of a boy nicknamed Helen Keller due to a childhood eye infection. The brutality of the story doesn’t let up, but it didn’t depress me — rather, I felt inspired by it and left feeling good without having been told to. — PV

C-
Everyone’s a Critic
Gelatinous Nun Productions
Venue 4
Hardly the biting satire of theatre life the title implies, this is more a wannabe romantic comedy — only without the romance or comedy. Max Collins plays a struggling, housecoat-clad playwright who lets a bad review get him down around the same time he finds out his best friend (Jeremiah MacKenzie-Willner) is dating his sister (Laura Falk). The review within the play actually provides the biggest laugh, but the play doesn’t really go anywhere with it, instead focusing on the characters’ temporary, ultimately inconsequential breakup. Add some mediocre performances from the apparently inexperienced cast (Collins in particular seemed to be coasting through her lines on opening day) and the whole thing comes off as lightweight. Collins’ character doesn’t sink nearly as low as he ought to to be funny, and MacKenzie-Willner and Falk’s breakup is hardly the stuff of Neil Labute. — PV

A
Father, I Fem for Myself
LEITHelle Productions
Venue 2
“I knew that boy was different the day he was born,” says Larry Clark. That line, and the bemused, laid-back way Clark delivers it, is key. The title of this play is misleading because it sounds like every other story about coming out to one’s parents — an experience so common it’s now a cliché. But Leith Clark was never in the closet to begin with — no closet could hold him. His father, Larry, with whom he co-wrote this two-man show, doesn’t play an intolerant redneck oblivious to his son’s leanings but a patient redneck who’s simply puzzled by his son’s behaviour. Back and forth they go, taking turns delivering little nuggets of monologue, Larry beside a bar table and Leith behind a makeup table, never forgetting they’re in a comedy. Leith’s shtick works not because he’s effeminate but because he’s over six feet tall and not particularly delicate. Ironically, it’s his trace of masculinity that’s funny. — PV

B
The Great Love of Queen Victoria
PKF Productions
Venue 6
I’ll start with the caveat that my utter contempt for the Royal Family prevented me from being completely absorbed by Danette Boucher’s quite astounding performance as Queen Victoria in a monologue about her marriage to her cousin, Prince Albert. It’s impossible to dislike Boucher, and I admire her ability to command the bare stage and keep the audience enthralled, but sometimes theatre is a personal experience, and there just wasn’t much here that interested me. Queen Victoria’s story is simply part of an antiquated notion that the Royals are somehow important, and although Boucher portrays the queen with humanity, sensitivity and even a bit of pathos, I just couldn’t get around that. So I’ll recommend the show to history buffs, fans of the era and theatre buffs who enjoy a good one-woman show. — PV

B+
Hands On
Hot Thespian Action
Venue 15
Your dishwasher has a problem and needs help. Do yourself and it a favour: Stop giving in to that bottle-a-day lush whenever it screams, “Gimme that Jet Dry!” That was just one of the side-splitting sketches this youthful local cast delivered so well. It all starts off a little rough, but the sketches get better and better until you’re begging for more by show’s end. Press Here pokes fun at virgin bus riders who just can’t open the back door. Oh Humanity shines some light on why the dodo is extinct, and But Were Afraid to Ask answers every penis question girls have ever had — and many they probably never thought to ask. — JS

F
Have I None
Inadmissible Productions
Venue 5
I think this is supposed to be about a futuristic new world order. At least, that’s what the program hinted at. Humans are committing suicide en masse or abdicating all personal control to Big Brother, as is the case with the two main characters — I think. A husband, who might be cop of some sort, and his wife, who keeps hearing knocks at the door, spend a good chunk of this play screaming at each other about whom sat in whose chair. Then her brother shows up. At one point the wife wears a cloak covered in plastic spoons. Some advice: if you’re going to tackle an ambitious and complicated theme, some plot development might be nice. And please stop yelling. Please. It’s a small venue and we’re all just trying to understand what’s going on. — MC

F
It’s OK, Jesus Will Forgive Us
Robot With Glasses
Venue 5
Sometimes awkward is funny if it’s awkward on purpose. But this show is awkwardly awkward, a train wreck of bad acting and poor writing. The show’s two performers, Derek Kroeker and Issa LeForte, begin by reading their own bad reviews from the Montreal Fringe — to absolutely no laughter. What are they thinking? The story then moves into the couple’s trying to come to grips with LeForte’s pregnancy. Her chaotic hormonal imbalances make for severe mood changes, all annoying and poorly acted. Kroeker is just as bad, lazily playing the voice of unreasonable reason in this relationship. The only funny part? These two seem to know this is a terrible piece of work. — JS

C+
Jesus Christ, I’m Sorry
Stupid Gumball Dispenser Productions
Venue 8
Brent Hirose, writer and star of this one-man show, is a fine, likable Winnipeg actor who manages to admirably pull off a variety of roles in this story of a high school grad’s crisis of faith. The problem is the tale itself is so narrowly defined that it seems unlikely to appeal to those who did not grow up with a strong belief in Christianity, and yet it’s so stereotypical — the gay Christian disowned by his father, for example — that it sincerely undermines Hirose’s abilities. JC, I’m Sorry attempts to be universal but is so terribly limited that it’s difficult to remain interested in the fate of the characters, even with the strength of Hirose’s charm. — BS

A
Joe: The Perfect Man
Crowning Monkey
Venue 4
A delightful absurdist comedy with hilarious audience participation, Joe: The Perfect Man features Rachelle Elie’s buffoon/clown as a 60-something man obsessed with pop culture, whose life ambition (after losing his job as a teacher) has become playing all the characters in Macbeth. Elie’s Joe is heartbreaking, hilarious and pathetic, and she physically and mentally inhabits this tragicomic character with eerily delightful ease. The show ranges from laugh-out-loud funny to quiet melancholy with a keen pace, plus it features bubbles, balloons and a musical number. — BS

A+
Josie With the Toes
LoCO Productions
Venue 3
Though the colourful props and clownish esthetic of Josie With the Toes looks ready for Sesame Street, don’t be fooled by appearances — Toronto actress Lisa Olafson’s one-woman play is a story only a grown-up could understand. With a pipsqueak voice and red clown nose, Olafson appears as Josie, who lives in a Technicolor garbage can with her sock-puppet sidekick Abigail. Josie has a tale to tell, and it’s heartachingly familiar — the story of one woman’s journey through passion, sex, love, heartbreak, loss of self and finally to healing. It sounds heavy, but Olafson’s whip-smart, often surprising script deftly avoids depression. It’s actually a hilarious play, thanks largely to Olafson’s pitch-perfect comic timing and zany physical acting. Even in the darker moments Olafson sparkles with an urgent vitality that makes her tale captivating. Josie is the manifestation of an inner child. Her crises, transformations and epiphanies are startlingly wise — right up to the goosebump-inducing closing line. — MM

B+
Kathryn: Starring as Herself, at Last
The Junes Company
Venue 12
Kathryn Albertson used her voice (and height) to escape from Winnipeg and work her way into the Toronto theatre scene, eventually making it to Hollywood. Three failed marriages, a 30-year alcohol addiction and one daughter later, the now-80-year-old woman has an arsenal of wry one-liners that she drops liberally throughout this 45-minute dish on the highs and lows of life, love and showbiz. Part tough broad, part vulnerable woman, Albertson is an engaging person with a fascinating story (she performed on Broadway alongside Ethel Merman, for God’s sake!), but she doesn’t go far enough in either direction. It’s like she can’t decide if she wants to relive the glory days or expose her dark secrets. More details, please. — MC

B
Lady-in-Waiting
Fifth Ventricle
Venue 10
In this interesting one-man performance, Toronto’s Charles Hayter goes where few playwrights dare — right underneath the pancake makeup of a drag queen. At the opening of Lady-in-Waiting, Kandi Kane seems stereotypical: one-dimensional and superbly hyper-dramatic as she presides over a fundraiser for her ailing drag mother. But as we soon learn, there’s more to Kandi than mere fabulousness. Conflicting events soon force the diva to drop the act, revealing her everyday persona as Kenneth, a dull, warm-hearted doctor and father who strives to keep his lives compartmentalized. While that conflict gives the performance heart, it’s also the place where it falters. The character’s struggle to reconcile glamorous Kandi with ho-hum Kenneth is very real and fascinatingly affecting, but it’s also the only point of substance to draw on — the rest is filled in with somewhat predictable gags and light innuendo. However, Hayter does look absolutely fabulous in a corseted fuchsia gown. — MM

B
Late Night At The Fringe
With Trevor Boris
Fringe Fundraiser
Venue 14
Native Winnipegger Trevor Boris returns to the Fringe with his customary late-night chat show sprinkled with Fringe performers who offer the audience a taste of their shows and answer Boris’ (slightly juvenile) questions. Boris is a natural on stage, supremely confident and unafraid to involve his audience. To a certain extent, the strength of this show rather depends on the quality of the guests which, on this night, ranged from the excellent duo of Natalie Joy Quesnel and Stewart Matthews of 52 Pick-up to the ridiculous Evelyn Reese, played by Susan Fischer. Despite the show’s vague chaos, Boris tickled most of the packed crowd with his down-to-earth humour. The format was more casual than previous years and felt as though it had been thrown together at the last minute. With improved interview skills Boris could deliver a first-class talk show. — LH

B+
Letters in Wartime
RIBBITrePUBLIC
Venue 9
Not exactly what you would expect from the company that brought us Bouncers, Be a Man and Boygroove, Letters in Wartime consists almost entirely of Melissa MacPherson and Jon Patterson sitting behind desks writing letters to one another. As the story of a man and a woman whose budding romance is interrupted when he becomes an RCAF pilot and she becomes a transport driver, the play becomes every bit as riveting as the highly physical plays for which the company is known. Patterson has an intense monologue about a bombing run that had audience members on the edges of their seats. While it takes a while to get used to the fact that they’re not exactly speaking in a vernacular appropriate for the period, there’s a heartbreaking quality about the way that, by the end, we can hardly recognize the world-weary characters as the same people who were once too embarrassed to kiss in public. — PV
B-
Long Black Veil
The Prairie Dancers
Venue 6
Upon exiting this show, I heard some fellow Fringers raving about how great it was, and I felt sort of bad that I didn’t really feel the same. Parts of this play are great. Long Black Veil is a highly visual movement piece that intricately fuses elements of dance, film and live music. The problem I have, however, is that the piece quickly loses the energy it begins with. The choreography seems to repeat itself, and even the dancers seem less into the show toward the end. Nevertheless, it’s the music that makes this show worth seeing. The Church Choir acts as a quirky live soundtrack, and a live band onstage is a refreshing change. Still, the multimedia aspects of this show are unique (particularly the masks). — JZ

C
Married Man: The Art & Science
Prairie Boy Productions
Venue 17
Regina’s Rod McDonald blew many people away with last year’s Glory Days, his one-man show about a boxer. This time he’s fighting out of his class, taking on comedy in an hour-long monologue intended to offer some lighthearted insights and bring some knowing smiles to the couples in his audiences. What ensues is an hour-long ramble through McDonald’s life story, in which he broad-strokes his way through all the familiar themes of relationship comedy. On opening night he noted that his wife had edited the script and taken his 30 best bits. If it’s true, that’s too bad, because those 30 bits are probably the show he should be presenting. — JK

B
My Morocco
The Desert Bus Company
Venue 10
This one-man show written, directed and performed by Ken Cameron tells the autobiographical tale of a holiday to Morocco. Cameron is a likeable storyteller who finds humour in tragedy and delivers a confident performance. He’s at his best when mimicking a persuasive Morrocan carpet seller and is able to contrast this humour with the news his sister has passed away. He tells us his instinct is to turn the sorry situation into a play, then he describes comical constipation and Moroccan tradition. While he falls a little short when he has to deliver numerous characters and switch between multiple emotions, Cameron nonetheless connects with his audience and this show is well worth its 70 minutes. — LH

B+
The Package It Came In
The Awkwards
Venue 3
In The Package It Came In, U.K. trio The Awkwards takes the audience on an interactive comic romp through the lighter side of recycling. Right off the top the concept is refreshing: it’s not a play but an information session. As the story goes, fictional British supermarket chain United is slated to open stores in Canada, so to reassure its new consumers United has organized a public open house to explain how the chain will act to reduce packaging waste. The panel of ‘speakers’ includes United spokeswoman Annie Upsom, lugubrious British talk-show host Jeremy Hoeg and hopelessly dishevelled environment professor David Norwood. All three are engaging, though Upsom is particularly outstanding. Together, the trio uses creates an endearingly frisky comedy that pokes gentle fun at corporations, academics and environmentalists alike. Most impressively, the performance manages to promote environmentalism without getting preachy. —MM

D
Prometheus Bound
Elbow Productions
Venue 13
Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound is not particularly well known to the casual theatre-goer. Thus a modern multimedia reworking of the show is an interesting concept. Unfortunately, Brian Longfield has bitten off more than he can chew in trying to make the Greek tale a film/stage/mask extravaganza. The silent film that begins the show bodes well but, as the action turns to the stage, it’s impossible to follow the tale. Any audience members who don’t know the story (and even those who do) will be lost, and no amount of interesting film footage will change that. A multimedia production has to be finely tuned in order to work, and there are so many loose ends and sloppy audio issues with Prometheus Bound that it crumbles under its own artistic pretenses. — BS

A
The Power of Ignorance
Chris Gibbs
Venue 4
Chris Gibbs is an inherently funny human being with deadpan timing most comics would envy. This is a man, after all, who knows a dozen different funny ways to sip from a glass of water. He has a maddening talent for taking a comic premise and pushing it beyond all reason, and often his shows become meditations on why things are funny. Tackling the kind of New Age self-help craze that made Tony Robbins rich is like shooting fish in a barrel, but Gibbs and co-writer T.J. Dawe work hard to find less obvious laughs. Both writers specialize in observational comedy, revelling in applying logic to situations where it isn’t welcome. As the guru Vaguen, Gibbs reasons (convincingly) that the key to having power over your problems is to be blissfully unaware of them. This is ingeniously written, sharply performed and not to be missed. — PV

A
Requiem pour une ame seule
Isabelle Barbat
Venue 9
The show begins with Isabelle Barbat on the floor, lying in a spotlight about seven feet in diameter. The starkness of it all, and the Gustav Mahler music, evokes… I’m not sure, perhaps humility in the presence of God? Barbat begins her yoga-like floor work, taking nearly half the show to finally rise from the boards, all the time getting a bit higher but apparently weighed down. The performance then grows steadily frantic, apparently incorporating martial arts, until finally she simply runs in a circle around the stage, building to a climax. The audience isn’t required to understand exactly what it all means, and that’s part of the beauty of it. For Barbat it seems like a personal, spiritual experience, and you can pin whatever meaning on it you like. For me it was sad, beautiful and very moving. — PV

A-
Shock Corridor
What It’s Like When You’re Me
Venue 13
Based on Sam Fuller’s 1963 film, this George Toles/Ross McMillan co-directed production comes off like the vicious cousin of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Ken Kesey’s story realized that to succumb to mental illness is a defeat, but here’s a show that revels in the freedom and chaos of it all. In order to solve a murder at an asylum, Chris Read, who’s blessed with a square jaw and otherwise rubbery features, plays a reporter who has himself committed by cooking up a story about his lust for his sister. A few short scenes seem a bit superfluous, especially because performers must (sometimes awkwardly) enter and exit through doors off the stage, but the entrance of the nymphos is unforgettable. Uniformly strong performances turn whatever it was Toles saw in Fuller’s original screenplay into a magnificent mix of horror, camp and pulp noir. — PV

A-
Sound & Fury’s Canned Hamlet
Sound & Fury
Venue 6
If you’ve seen Sound & Fury before, even on the free stage at Old Market Square, where they regularly performed Romeo and Juliet last year, then you already know what to expect from their hilarious bastardization of Hamlet: lots of energy, fast-paced vaudeville humour and dick jokes from three very smart guys acting like very dumb guys. What makes the show funny is the group’s devotion to the lowest common denominator above all things. When Polonius (who’s inexplicably played Scottish) asks Hamlet what he’s reading, the prince responds, “Porn, porn, porn,” and when Hamlet and Fellatio meet the gravedigger, the play’s second-most famous speech is ousted in favour of necrophilia jokes. Mel Brooks famously said of one of his own films that it “rises below vulgarity.” That’s probably the best way to describe what Sound & Fury does here. — PV

B+
Switchback
Cuppa Jo Solo Dance
Venue 9
Cuppa Jo is Jolene Bailie, a Winnipeg dancer, choreographer and dance teacher with ambitious vision. Presenting a different show than at Toronto’s Fringe (hence a new review this week), Bailie showcases her power and control in the self-choreographed title piece, in which she becomes a lizard-like creature. Most fun, though, are the world premiere Gear Shifting, a fast-paced piece of synchronization for students Ruth Levin and Emma Rose, and a reprise of Joe Laughlin’s Walking Thru Myself, a whimsical romp through an alphabet field which suggests that people can be just as idiosyncratic with movement as they are with speech. Bailie’s interpretation of Rachel Browne’s Freddy, meanwhile, allows her to combine the best of Switchback and Walking… — as a cross-dressing woman-to-man in the Cabaret era of pre-Nazi Germany she is at once flowing and controlled. — JK

F
This Little Piggy is Classified
A Fairytale for Adults
Yourparentswon’tevenknow Theatre
Venue 5
Few have ever dreamed of a play combining Orwell, CNN and Jarhead, and fewer will be impressed with this attempt by Edmonton’s Yourparentswon’tevenknow Theatre, which follows an army of pigs warring against wolves. Wolves, we quickly learn, represent Muslims, while pigs represent the West. Amazingly, while the play promotes understanding between the factions it simultaneously manages to be shockingly condescending toward Islam. Too ham-fisted for satire and too trite for allegory, this unfortunate political bent would make even the most politically incorrect viewer squirm in his or her seat. Though the energy of the two actors is admirable, their output is not. To be fair, the script doesn’t give them much to work with. Jokes, where they exist, centre around lame puns (soldiers earn the rank of “pigtenant”) or criminally unfunny tangents, and the drama is flat — when it can be followed at all. This is one little reviewer who wishes she’d stayed home. — MM

D
Tinkerbell’s Closet
Daddy’s Money Productions
Venue 1
Poppy is the only gay kid in his high school and must deal with isolation, depression, drug abuse and a suicide attempt. Tinkerbell’s Closet is just as subtle as it sounds. Though well meaning, the play just tried to tackle way too much in its short 45-minute timeframe. It starts out too quickly, and we’re thrown right into Poppy’s rock bottom, which allows very little time for us to get to know him and his situation. What ensues is a series of tiresome screaming matches between him and his psychiatrist. This could have been a strong piece about a young homosexual trying desperately to fit in. Instead, the dialogue suffered from annoying I-hate-myself redundancies, and the show’s amateur factor was punctuated by angst-ridden overacting and a bad soundtrack. — JZ

D+
Train Your Man
Kirchmann Productions
Venue 10
Attention female comics: jokes about how men are like dogs, women fake orgasms and lovers can’t find a clitoris aren’t funny anymore. So, naturally, neither is Train Your Man. In this one-woman play, South Africa’s Sally Kirchmann stars as Sgt. Hettie, an obedience trainer in the ways of respect and sex for errant males. To demonstrate the process, Hettie recruits men from the audience, whipping them through embarrassingly demeaning scenes that end with her popping dog treats into their mouths and stamping “Trained” on their cheeks. Yikes. The main problem with the play, though, isn’t that it’s borderline misandrist: it’s that it’s a mess. Scenes with Sgt. Hettie are awkwardly interspersed with “case studies” of a heartbroken teenager and a spurned divorcee. Though Kirchmann gets credit for fearless physicality in the former and elegant acting in the latter, the concept itself is so weak that the additional vignettes make it collapse. Most disappointing is that the gorgeously lithe Kirchmann clearly has more talent than is shown here. — MM

B
Waiting for Aiden
Kimbo the (dirty-girl) Clown
Venue 4
Kim Zeglinski has all the facial expressions, charm and wit of Tracey Ullman, and R. Scott Pangman has a wonderful vaudeville-tramp kind of quality that makes for perfect casting in this two-clown show about a couple meeting, marrying having kids, growing old and falling in love — more or less in that order. The subject matter is ideal in a clown show such as this. People in real life should be forced to put on clown makeup when they go out looking for love. For the most part, both characters are at the mercy of Zeglinski’s biological whims, while the clueless man just hopes for the best. The scene in which Zeglinski attempts, month after month, to conceive Pangman’s child is easily the show’s funniest section. The final act is just a little too saccharin, but I’d be hard pressed to think of a different way to end it. — PV

B+
WOOL
Acky-Made
Venue 2
If you’ve ever thought sheep were boring, think again. Flaxen-haired Alex Eddington exquisitely tells the tale of a year in Mull, Scotland. Accompanied only by his bicycle and several hundred sheep in Mull, Eddington recreates his tumultuous year with sharp wit and a first-class delivery. He uses e-mails, a journal, his bike, traditional music and chalk drawings to bring Mull to his audience at breakneck speed. Barely taking time to draw breath, Eddington cycles, plunges his head into a tub of water, sweeps the entire stage and re-tells all manner of crazy experiences. Working as a chamber maid, staying miles away from anywhere, he philosophizes and waxes lyrical about an apparently mundane existence on a secluded isle. His only weakness might be trying to pack too much information into 70 minutes. Other than that, there’s nothing sheepish about WOOL. — LH

B-
Zombies
Screwed and Clued
Venue 1
No, there are no actual flesh-eating zombies in Screwed and Clued’s latest, although it does riff just a little on the first 15 minutes of Shaun of the Dead with the idea that most people are walking zombies already. Writer/performer Stewart Matthews continues his critique of bleak British life with the story of a man who wakes up one day with the ability to psychically see a person’s entire life just by looking in his or her eyes. Needless to say, he finds most people aren’t exactly living life to the fullest, and then he wonders about his own existence. The performance is accomplished, but the show lacks the self-assuredness of last year’s Tales From Another England, which better covered some of the same ground. While Matthews’ fractured, esoteric storytelling style is interesting and challenging, it takes away from the show’s ultimate love-story ending. — PV