FRINGE 2019: Gordon’s Cream of Improv
Gordon’s Big Bald Head: Usurpermen! Stage 12 (Varscona Theatre) For this year’s episode of the long-running Fringe hit Gordon’s Big Bald Head, a trio of master improvisers stride on stage. “Greetings, people of Earth!” they intone. Apparent they are “strange visitors from another planet.” Anyone who has witnessed the supernatural abilities of the three to […]
FRINGE 2019, a RANT: Boomer monologue reveals entire obnoxious generation
Tomatoes Tried To Kill Me but Banjos Saved My Life Stage 2 (Big Rock Backstage Theatre) Boomers unite – your 2019 fringe play is ready, not just for your viewing enjoyment, but to reinforce everything you’ve been told about the world! Clearly enough of them saw this one coming a mile away as they nearly […]
FRINGE 2019: Marcus Ryan takes us on a Catholic Pilgrimage in engaging play
Marcus Ryan – Walk This Que Stage 13 (Old Strathcona Public Library) Any non-Catholics out there interested in doing the 800 Km Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Northern Spain in nearly 40-degree heat over the span of around 30 days? Thought not. There was an Australian kid named Marcus Ryan who did, for no earnest […]
FRINGE 2019: 3 plays chosen by the RANDOMIZER!
Let’s call these the random reviews – three plays brought to you by the 2019 Fringe website randomizer! So much entertainment choice. So little time. Fringe have given adventuresome (or indecisive, or lazy) theatergoers a way to simplify the selection process – requiring us only to forgive them for offering no refunds if the chosen […]
MASTERS OF FRINGE 2019: No mean girls allowed at inspired drag show
Flora & Fawna Have Beaver Fever (And So Does Fleurette) Stage 12 (Varscona Theatre) We are privileged to be allowed to attend the annual meeting of the NaturElles. When we first met the two founders Flora (Darrin Hagen) and Fawna (Trevor Schmidt) and their largely silent companion Fleurette (Brian Dooley), they were but eight years […]
MASTER OF FRINGE 2019: TWO an impressive acting duel, in a pub
TWO Stage 12 (Varscona Theatre) Jim Cartwright is a British screenwriter – penning such hits as Road and Little Voice. A couple of years back, he wrote a play called Two, a nostalgic tribute to that venerable British institution, the neighbourhood pub. The play is described by the author as, “No scenery, no props, no […]
PLAYBOT’s final FRINGE fantasy
EDITOR’S NOTE: Shortly after this story was first published in August 2018, the experimental A.I. program known as ‘PlayBot’ turned evil and had to be powered down permanently. This is its last report: *** FRINGE 2018 – By PLAYBOT Speaking as a computer algorithm developed to rewrite press releases in a snarky tone, I am […]
End of the Earth
Please somebody do this as a real Fringe play! NEXT COMIC: Bill Benson has a new Fringe play, too! NEXT: Bob the Angry Flower nails the whole negotiation thing:
FRINGE: 2 plays that TAKE A CHANCE
One of the great joys of the Fringe is taking a chance. If you have an hour or two, just walk between the venues and choose a show at random. Turn to the right and you get something memorable – turn the other way and it may stink up the joint. Today, For Now (Stage […]
REVIEW: 1 more 5 out of 5 MASTER of the Fringe!
The Zoo Story (Stage 17), like Charlie Brown, Little Shop of Horrors and almost anything by Daniel MacIvor, is a hardy Fringe perennial that keeps coming back. And why not? It’s a challenging little gem written in his youth by Edward Albee (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf) on his way to theatrical glory. All it […]
FRINGE: 3 captivating COMEDIES
The Red Bastard – aka Eric Davis – practices a form of audience participation called “bouffon,” in which an outrageous character engages the audience in an intimate exchange. He’s the archetypal clown, and because of our classic view of fools and jesters, he can be allowed anything. Davis’s new show is called RED BASTARD: Lie […]
FRINGE: 2 SCARY horror shows
Meet Daniel, a typical working man exhausted after a hard day at the office. Alone and sad, he tromps into his ratty apartment and slumps into his cheap armchair. He is lonely, restless, with only his memories to keep him company. So he has a cocktail, or two, as he does every night. He drinks […]
