REVIEW: Super Soul Sistas
In their unending forensic probing of pop music for discerning dinner theatre patrons, the Mayfield Theatre is trying something new – well, not really new, but something a little different. Instead of giving us a musical genre (folk music) or a group (The Beatles) or an individual (Buddy Holly, Patsy Cline), they have combined the […]
1 senseless Fringe SKETCH comedy
Peter N’ Chris’ Best Bits By Peter N’ Chris, Vancouver, Venue 23 (Princess Theatre) Peter N’ Chris (Peter Carlone and Chris Wilson) are a Vancouver sketch duo who have played at many a Fringe here and elsewhere all over North America. They have done the Just For Laughs Festival and their sketch work has been […]
1 exquisite Fringe LEMOINE
The Exquisite Hour By Teatro La Quindicina, Venue 12 (Varscona Theatre) During the last hour of sunlight, when the setting sun travels through more of the atmosphere, the illumination comes from soft, indirect light. In The Exquisite Hour, Edmonton playwright Stewart Lemoine has used this beguiling time of day as a magic opportunity for two […]
1 grand Fringe OPERA
Pagliacci By Pop Goes The Opera, Venue 16 (Holy Trinity Anglican Church) At the Fringe you can expect most anything. Somewhere young ladies are reading naked (see program: page 107) Elsewhere you can catch a grand opera. Granted, there is no symphony orchestra in the pit or heavenly choir in the loft for Ruggero Leoncavallo‘s […]
2 more UNEXPECTED Fringe hits
The Superhero Who Loved Me By Blarney Productions, Venue 28 (The Playhouse) “It all started with the invasion …” are the terse words that blast off Chris Craddock’s first new Fringe play in six years. As quick as a photon torpedo we are ensnared in this galactic tale. Observes Superhero Samantha (The Governess), matter of […]
FRINGE: Dark office comedy in deep Kafka
The Receptionist By Desperate Theatre Productions, Venue 14 (Holy Trinity Anglican Church) Adam Bock’s The Receptionist may not seem like a comedy, but it is billed as such. If it is, it’s the blackest of black comedies. You can make up your own mind. Not that it begins as black – that comes later. The […]
FRINGE: Andrea House delivers the full Willie
Chasing Willie Nelson – A Tribute By Stardust Players, Venue 39 (CKUA building) The Stardust Players are a group of like-minded professional artists who, in recent years, have gathered together to create original works that play to their specific talents. Their latest is billed as a tribute to Willie Nelson. But it goes much farther […]
3 Fringe MUSICAL COMEDIES
Urinetown: The Musical By Grindstone Theatre, Venue 16 (Holy Trinity Anglican Church) Be careful not to laugh too hard at this musical that cheerfully subverts some of our most basic functions. It may lead you to a need to pee and, as the rather bizarre Urinetown: The Musical points out, that could lead to dire […]
2 MORE MASTERS of the Fringe
No Exit By Bright Young Things, Venue 12 (Varscona Theatre) A man enters a room. It’s set in Stygian darkness … a couple of sticks of furniture … some pillars, one with a statue on it. It’s hot … a little too hot. No pictures. No mirrors. The lights never turn off. A man turns […]
2 UNEXPECTED Fringe hits
Make a right turn at the Fringe and you find an old favourite. Turn left and you come across something you might have never expected. That’s part of the fun. Onions and Garlic Empress of Blandings Productions, Venue 11 (Studio Theatre) The multi-talented Dave Clarke is a familiar Fringe participant, but his co-writer for Onions […]
2 MASTERS OF THE FRINGE
Each year the captains of comedy and drama come to the Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival with gifts of superb entertainment. Regular Fringers will recognize these troupes and individuals as trailing long records of happy hours spent in the theatre. They are indeed Masters of the Fringe. Here are two of many: The Apple Tree From […]
REVIEW: Shakespeare comedy goes disco
The Merry Wives of Windsor, one of two Shakespearian plays featured this summer by Edmonton’s Freewill Shakespeare Festival, was a commissioned work – by a patron no less than Queen Elizabeth I. Her Majesty loved the portly, sack-quaffing knight that Shakespeare created for his Henry IV, Part 1 and further developed in Henry 1V, Part […]
