Click on a play title to see reviews by the Hamilton Fringe Community Reviewers.
Your comments are welcome. (Please be polite.)
A Different Woman
Company: Texpatriate Productions
Playwright: Veronica Russell, adapted from My First Thirty Years by Gertrude Beasley
Directed by: Veronica Russell
Cast: Veronica Russell…… Gertrude Beasley
Genre: Solo dark comedy performance
Audience: General Audience (with some advisements- recommend age 12+)
Warnings: mature content, language
Plot Summary:
BANNED internationally, DESTROYED at U.S. and British customs, and considered SHOCKING by some of the greatest literary minds of its day….. The memoir of a west Texas schoolteacher written in 1925.
Don’t miss this groundbreaking adaptation of schoolteacher Gertrude Beasley’s controversial 1925 autobiography, My First Thirty Years. It was immediately banned as obscene in Europe and the U.S, and she was institutionalized by authorities for the rest of her life. Fortunately her words remain; an unvarnished, outspoken, unapologetically cynical and humorous tale of rural Texas told by a woman who pulled herself out of the cycle of poverty and abuse in which she found herself.
DAC Theatre, 28 Rebecca Street Hamilton
90 minutes
July 17 (8:00), 19 (7:30), 20 (8:00), 21 (6:00), 22 (10:00), 23 (6:30), 24 (noon)
A Harmless Game
Company: Unicorn Productions
Playwright: Sondra Learn
Directed by: Sondra Learn
Genre: Drama
Audience: General Audience
Warnings: Language, mature content
Plot Summary:
Aileen, Mara and Trista are at a sleep-over at Catherine’s. Mara, a bitter and angry girl, dislikes Aileen with an alarming passion. Mara decides, against Trista’s misgivings, to play a new version of the game ‘truth or dare’. Each teen must tell a secret that she has never told to anybody. The secrets become increasingly more tragic with a devastating result for one of the girls.
“Some secrets you keep. Some secrets keep you”.
Aquarius Back Stage, 190 King William Street Hamilton Ontario
40 minutes
July 15 (9:30), 16 (5:00), 17 (5:30), 19 (5:30), 22 (9:30), 23 (3:30), 24 (3:00)
An Inconvenient Truthiness
Company: Third Beat Productions
Playwright: Sharilyn Johnson
Directed by: Laura Anne Harris
Cast: Sharilyn Johnson
Genre: Solo autobiographical dramedy
Audience: Mature Audience
Warnings: Language, Mature content
Plot Summary:
“Fan” is not a 4-letter word, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get dirty. Misdirected search for validation spawns a 15-year journey on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen, a hotel room in Winnipeg, and through the gutter on the internet. But when it all goes wrong, in the most heartbreaking and public way, what’s left? It’s one woman’s absolutely true story of fake love, fake devotion, and fake news.
Aquarius Back Stage, 190 King William Street
50 minutes
July 14 (9:00), 16 (6:30), 17 (3:00), 19 (8:30), 20 (5:00), 23 (5:30), 24 (9:00)
Beyond Puppets Who Kill
Company: Puppets Who Kill Productions
Playwright: John Pattison
Directed by: N/A
Cast: John Pattison
Genre: Spoken word and comedic puppetry
Audience: Mature Audience
Warnings: Mature content, language, small amount of smoke
Plot Summary:
John Pattison – Gemini Award winning writer/creator of the hit TV series Puppets Who Kill – presents a show of puppetry, poetry, spoken word and the odd violent death along with stories from a career which included 5 years as a writer/puppeteer on Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson.
Aquarius Studio, 190 King William Street
60 minutes
July 15 (6:30), 16 (3:00), 17 (10:00), 19 (6:30), 20 (10:00), 21 (4:30), 22 (8:00)
Book Worm
Company: Local Rascal Productions, Toronto, ON
Writer: Corin Raymond
Director: Morgan Jones-Phillips
Dramaturg: TJ Dawe
Cast: Corin Raymond
Genre: A drama for general audience
Plot Summary:
A story about a father reading to his son, growing up in a library, Spiderman, Ray Bradbury, and meeting the Minotaur just outside of Wawa.
“Corin Raymond is a storyteller who by the end of the night you’ll have known your whole life.” — The Globe and Mail
DAC Theatre, 28 Rebecca Street
50 Minutes
July 15 (6:30), 16 (9:30), 18 (5:00), 20 (5:00), 21 (8:00), 23 (8:30), 24 (2:00)
Closing the Door
Company: Hammer Entertainment
Playwright: Jason Dick
Directed by: Jason Dick and Monica Cairney
Stage Manager: Monica Cairney
Cast: Jason Dick, Michelle LaHaise, Chris Vergara, Duncan Thompson, Daniel Grant
Genre:A dramedy for general audience.
Warnings: Language
Plot Summary:
To truly love someone first you have to find what you yourself are passionate about. Once you have that, and you know what that is, then you are open to give the rest of your heart to someone. Until then love truly is blind and we might as well be walking around in the dark with our eyes closed. This is the story of how hard it is to move on when the light from a door shines so brightly that even though it is only open a crack it is enough to keep one man from searching for his own door.
DAC Theatre, 28 Rebecca Street
50 minutes
July 16 (3:30), 17 (10:00), 18 (6:30), 20 (10:00), 22 (5:30), 23 (3:30), 24 (8:30)
Confessions of a Fairy’s Daughter
Company: dancingstorysinger, Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico
Playwright: Alison Wearing
Directed by: Stuart Cox
Cast: Alison Wearing
Genre: Comedy
Audience: General Audience
Warnings: Some language, questions about sexuality
Plot Summary:
Award-winning author Alison Wearing’s true story of growing up with a gay father. Masterfully woven through music and image, this monologue moves from Alison’s carefree childhood to the moment she learned, at age twelve, that her family was a tad more complex than she had thought. The ensuing eight years were a time of confusion and disbelief, puff pastry and opera, bath house raids, scandal and celebration. Balancing intimacy, history and downright hilarity, the Mexico-based creators of Giving Into Light (Hamilton Fringe 2009; BEST OF FEST: Wakefield, Quebec) offer another captivating tale of love, laughter and grace
Aquarius Theatre, 190 King William Street
50 minutes
July 15 (10:00), 16 (8:30), 17 (1:30), 18 (7:30), 21 (6:00), 23 (2:00), 24 (5:30)
Dick Darrow NCISS
Company: Tim Motley, Elwood, Australia
Playwright: Tim Motley
Directed by: Tim Motley
Cast: Tim Motley
Genre: Noir, comedy
Audience: General Audience
Warnings: Mild Mature Content ( PG 13)
Plot Summary:
Follow the trail of a killer through the murky world of the paranormal in the world’s first one-man comedy film noir magical murder mystery! Marvel at Dirk’s detective skills! Wonder at his supernatural sleuthing! Gasp at his shameless exploitation of grand hyperbole! Think Sin City meets X-Files meets Naked Gun. Part stand up, part mentalism, part theatre, all gritty 1940’s nostalgia.
“Four Stars … It’ll have you on the edge of your seat for the entire performance, and leave you wanting to go back and see it again.” -Indie Adelaide: Adelaide Fringe Festival 2011, Australia
“Hilarious” The Advertiser: Adelaide, Australia
“Spectacular sleight of hand and mental tricks.” – RHUM: Melbourne, Australia
DAC Theatre, 28 Rebecca Street
60 minutes
July 15 (8:00), 16 (5:00), 17 (6:30), 19 (9:30), 22 (8:30), 23 (2:00), 24 (5:00)
Don Quixote
Company: Make Art Theatre
Playwright: Ryan Sero & Aaron Craig
Directed by: Tom Carson
Cast: Aaron Craig …… Don Quixote
Ryan Sero …… Sancho Panza
Genre: Comedy
Audience: General Audience
Warnings: Mild Language
Plot Summary:
A lovely and comedic adaptation of the classic work by Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote tells the tale of the titular hero, who believes himself to be a knight, his farming neighbor to be a squire, tavern wenches to be lovely maidens and, of course, windmills to be giants. Don Quixote is a work which focuses on the power of belief and how the sane and insane stack up. But best of all, Don Quixote is a story about friends, heroes and adventure.
DAC Theatre, 28 Rebecca Street
90 minutes
July 15 (9:00), 17 (4:30), 18 (8:00), 19 (5:30), 21 (9:00), 23 (noon), 24 (6:30)
Escape
Company: Majik Man Productions
Playwright: Robert Savoie
Original Songs by Chris Cracknell
Directed by: Brian Morton
Cast: Joshua Shutter…… Robbie
Chris Cracknell…… Older Robert
Carla Zabek…… Amelia
Genre: Musical Drama
Audience: General Audience
Warnings: Fog Machine
Plot Summary:
It’s Halloween night, 1973, and ten year old Robbie finds himself alone in the time out room once again. But it’s through the eye of an older Robbie, the narrator, that we learn of the circumstances leading up to that incarceration, and the life journey that followed. Thanks to the help of Amelia, a young social worker, and “Harry”, a mental patient in the St John New Brunswick Insane Asylum, that journey was not one of escape from life but to life.
“Believe” – Harry Houdini…
DAC Theatre, 28 Rebecca Street
80 minutes
July 16 (3:30), 17 (6:30), 18 (5:30), 19 (9:00), 22 (9:30), 23 (12:30), 24 (5:00)
Far From The Tree
Company: Glasswater Theatre
Playwright: A collectively created piece by the company
Directed by: Mairin Smit
Cast: Hilary Krull, Jessica Rose, Emily Opal Smith, Kate Werneburg
Genre: Family Drama
Audience: General Audience
Plot Summary:
Deadly: Far From the Tree is a story of how the seven deadly sins affect the everyday lives of a modern family. As 15 year-old Melanie Flynn struggles to find her identity within her family, she begins to uncover the deep secrets and tragedies that have shaped the people closest to her and herself. Incorporating dance and innovative movement, this play explores and challenges our notion of family conflict and how, through an understanding of where we come from, we gain insight into who we are.
Aquarius Studio, 190 King William Street
55 minutes
July 15 (8:30), 16 (5:00), 17 (6:30), 18 (6:00), 21 (6:30), 23 (9:00), 24 (4:00)
59 Minutes in the Maxwell Suite
Company: Bandler Corporation
Playwright: John Bandler
Directed by: Tom Mackan
Cast: Jared Lenover as Luton Maxwell
Elaine Hale as Naomi Verne
Steve O’Brien as The Commentator
Genre: Psychological Drama
Audience: General Audience
Warnings: Language, Mature Content
Plot Summary:
Decades from now, in an era of customized realities, billionaire Luton Maxwell—inventor of the psycho-invasive, mind-augmenting Maxwell Patch—is under Congressional investigation for ethics and human rights violations. Indeed, everyone is after Time Magazine’s most hated man on the planet. The night Luton provokes Naomi Verne, actress and daughter of a presidential candidate, into storming his hotel suite, a suicide squad—supported by a dirty bomb—supposedly takes over the floor below. Fact or illusion, in the frenzied swirl of allegation and revelation, Luton’s plan for her survival unfolds—to begin with, Naomi must forsake her identity.
DAC Studio, 28 Rebecca Street
59 minutes
July 15 (8:30), 16 (2:00), 17 (10:00), 18 (7:30), 22 (5:00), 23 (2:30), 24 (8:30)
Company: Black Box Fire, EAS Series, Hamilton ON
Playwright: Sarah Kane
Director: Damion Leclair
Cast: Allison Warwick, Andrew Vowles, Kate Jackson, Natalie Welland, Sierra Tischler
Genre: Docu-drama
Audience: 17 +
Warnings: This performance contains mature language, blood effects, strobe lights and loud noises.
Plot Summary:
What happens when we look into someone’s eyes and they don’t look back? Sarah Kane’s 4.48 PSYCHOSIS is the exploration of a girl’s fight for connections within the prison of her own mind. Surrounded by a vortex of apparitions and doubts, PSYCHOSIS proposes that perhaps it has better not to be loved then to have loved at all.
Aquarius Back Stage, 190 King William Street
75 minutes
July 14 (8:30), 16 (7:30), 17 (2:00), 18 (8:30), 22 (7:30), 23 (1:30), 24 (5:30)
The Funny Ones
Company: Parsons and Morel
Playwright: Parsons and Morel
Directed by: Frank VanKeeken
Cast: Jenny Parsons as herself and as funny ladies: Lucille Ball, Gracie Allan, Rosalind Russell, Mae West, Jody Foster and Sarah Palin.
Steve Morel as himself and as funny men: Ricky Ricardo, George Burns, Gary Grant, John Wayne, Anthony Hopkins and George Bush
Genre: Biographical Sketch comedy
Audience: General Audience
Warnings: Some mature content
Plot Summary:
“The Funny Ones” is the latest offering from Parsons & Morel. Currently they are on the Family Channel’s hit TV show “Wingin’ It” as the Principal and the drama teacher. Their stage show is about their real-life relationship. It’s about being a husband and wife duo and doing comedy for a living and the comedians who have inspired them along the way: Lucy & Ricky, Burns & Allen, even Palin & Bush. The show is a mix of sketch and music behind two mics. It’s like stand-up with songs. But so much way cooler: Steve plays Uke. Jenny plays washboard.
DAC Theatre, 28 Rebecca Street
60 minutes
July 16 (8:00), 17 (3:00), 23 (5:00), 24 (10:00)
Hear Nuclear Lies
Eco5 Creative Greens Presents: “Hear Nuclear Lies”
Writer: Peter Ormond
Director: Peter Ormond
Genre: A play-ducation for general audience
Plot Summary:
Einstein returns from the dead to explain humanity’s obsession with nuclear technologies. This includes nuclear power, the uranium cycle, military links, and the sobering implications of radioactivity. Notice the foggy silence of Chernobyl, Fukushima, and more? It’s time to take the biggest issue of all time to the stage. Of course we attempt to sing, dance, ask trivia questions, and even poke some fun. However, upon completion, the startling reality of this tingling play-sentation will have you scratching more than your head.
DAC Studio, 29 Rebecca Street
50 minutes
July 16 (5:30), 17 (8:30), 18 (10:30), 20 (7:00), 21 (5:30), 23 (8:30), 24 (12:30)
Interface
Company: Reaching Symmetry Theatre
Playwright: Stephen Near
Directed by: Patti Cannon
Cast: Sara Weber as Sophie, Nea Reid as Amy, Valeri Kay as Karina, Stephen Near as Voice
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: General Audience
Warnings: Language
Plot Summary:
A solitary musical note breaks the barrier of time and space to form a bond between an isolated man in the future and a lonely woman in the present. But will the link bring salvation or destruction to both of their lives? A science fiction play about hope, fear, and love at the end of the world, Interface is a thought-provoking story about the evolving relationships between and across technological barriers. The play was originally work shopped at the 2009 Alumnae Theatre New Ideas Festival and is the First Place Winner of the 2011 Hamilton Fringe New Play Contest.
Aquarius Back Stage, 190 King William Street
50 minutes
July 14 (7:00), 16 (9:30), 17 (4:00), 19 (7:00), 21 (9:00), 22 (5:30), 23 (7:30)
Minced
Company: Quarter To Nine Productions
Writer: Peter Gruner
Director: Al French
Cast: Jo Skilton, Shari Vandermolen
Genre: A drama/comedy for general audience
Warning: Strong Language
Plot Summary:
Take a cantankerous mother who wants to pass on the secret family recipe before she dies. Add a guilt-ridden daughter who wants to mend her relationship with her mother. Throw in past hurts and an uncertain future, then sprinkle in some tears and laughter for good measure and you get the makings for Minced. From the team that brought you previous Fringe pleasers, Laund-o-mat at the End of the World and I’ll Be Seeing You… comes the world premiere of Peter Gruner’s new play, directed by Al French, starring Jo Skilton and Shari Vandermolen.
Aquarius Studio, 190 King William Street
50 Minutes
July 14 (7:30), 16 (1:30), 17 (5:00), 19 (10:00), 22 (6:00), 23 (12:30), 24 (7:30)
Missed Connections
Third Kid Productions, Toronto, ON
Writer: Toni Maggio
Director: Aurora Browne
Cast: Rob Norman, Alicia Douglas, Benjamin Ball, Toni Maggio, Steve Boleantu, Allison Price
Genre: Musical Comedy for general audiences
Plot Summary:
Poking fun at the personal ads found in newspapers and websites, this musical comedy explores the question – what if the person you caught eyes with on the subway really is your soul mate? With characters ranging from the owner of a magazine to an overzealous social activist, to a guy that grew up living in a bubble – you’ll see people fall in love, overcome obstacles and of course, break out into song! This show is guaranteed to make you smile.
Won Best of the Fest in the Bad Dog Short Play Festival
Aquarius Back Stage, 190 King William Street,
50 minutes
July 15 (7:00), 16 (3:30), 17 (9:30), 19 (8:30), 21 (7:30), 23 (noon), 24 (9:00)
Mona Rita
Company: White Rooster Theatre / She Said Yes! St John’s, Newfoundland
Playwright: Shannon Bramer
Directed by: Sherry White
Cast: Sara Tilley……Mona
Ruth Lawrence……. Rita
Mark White…… the Dapper Hairstylist
Genre: Dark Comedy
Audience: Mature Audience
Warnings: Language
Plot Summary:
MONARITA is the hilariously surreal story of two close friends at a crossroads. After Mona becomes a mother, she loses herself— and the greatest friendship of her life is in danger of being lost when best friend Rita breaks it off to make a new life without her. Will Mona let Rita go? Can Rita exist without Mona? Isn’t love supposed to last forever? MONARITA was directed by award-winning filmmaker Sherry White and features some of Newfoundland’s talented and accomplished actors. MONARITA is the debut script from the made-in-Hamilton poet, Shannon Bramer.
DAC Studio, 28 Rebecca Street
50 minutes
July 18 (9:00), 19 (7:30), 20 (5:30), 21 (10:00), 22 (8:00), 23 (4:00), 24 (10:00)
Nicholas Wallace: The Mind Reader
Company: Exploding Motor Car, Vineland, ON
Playwright: Nick Wallace
Directed by: Tony Wallace
Cast: Nick Wallace
Genre: Interactive magic/ mind reading show
Audience: General Audience
Warnings:
Plot Summary:
No fancy props, no scantily clad assistants and no special effects, just bamboozling feats of magic and mind reading. Not a serious show, but a serious attempt to present magic and mind reading as a performance art. All these elements combined create a show that is mysterious, challenging and most importantly, entertaining.
NAMED “BEST IN FRINGE” TWO YEARS IN A ROW BY THE HAMILTON FRINGE FESTIVAL
NAMED “PATRONS PICK” AT THE 2010 LONDON FRINGE FESTIVAL
DAC Studio, 28 Rebecca Street
55 minutes
July 15 (10:00), 16 (7:00), 17 (2:00), 20 (10:00), 21 (7:00), 23 (5:30), 24 (7:00)
Roller Derby Saved My Soul
Company: Jellybelly Productions, Toronto (ON) / Broken Turtle Productions, Ottawa (ON)
Playwright: Nancy Kenny
Directed by: Tania Levy
Cast: Nancy Kenny
Genre: Comedy
Audience: PG – 13
Warnings: Language
Plot Summary:
Sibling rivalry, *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* and misplaced superhero worship: one woman just wants to save the world, one hip-check at a time.
Winner: Best in Fest and Juror’s Honourable Mention at the 2011 Ottawa Fringe Festival
“(Kenny) celebrates the hero in all of us, and makes us want to go out, lace up pair of skates, and like this play, kick some ass.” – Hannah Christie, Fully Fringed Ottawa
“This is a feel good funny show with serious undertones. Go see it.” – Alvina Ruprecht, CBC Radio
“I can’t stress the fact that this show is pure gold.” – Matthew Champ, Shouldyouseeit.com
DAC Studio, 28 Rebecca Street
50 minutes
July 15, (5:30), 16 (8:30), 17 (5:00), 20 (8:30), 22 (6:30), 23 (10:00), 24 (2:00)
Scaredy Kat
Company: MYTP Alumni
Playwright: Julie Otten
Musical Composer: Darryn de Souza
Lyrics: Julie Otten and Sarah Otten
Directed by: Jasmin Goode, Katy Eldridge
Cast: Katie Preisner….. Mom
Emma Bradley…… Kat
Erin Vallaincourt……Dad
Stephanie Rietman…… Jack
Julia Hunter……Monster Therapist
Kim Moreira…… Monster Therapist
Genre: Children’s Puppet Theatre
Audience: Family Audience
Warnings: use of blacklight
Plot Summary:
“Scaredy Kat” is a fun and colourful puppet show that explores the things that scare us, and why. Children and adults alike will love the menagerie of puppets, black light effects, nursery rhymes, and upbeat songs that bring “Scaredy Kat” to life. “Scaredy Kat” will have the entire family on their feet singing “Don’t Call Me Scaredy Kat”!
Aquarius Back Stage, 190 King William Street
55 minutes
July 15 (5:30), 16 (2:00), 17 (8:00), 20 (6:00), 21 (4:00), 23 (6:00), 24 (3:00)
ShLong Form Improv
Company: Probationary Theatre Company
Playwright: N/A
Directed by: N/A
Cast: Mark X. Guinn, Jessica Coyle, Kevin Brenneman, Margaret Whittum, all improvisers
Genre: Improvisation
Audience: General Audience
Warnings:
Plot Summary:
Seoul, Korea’s most hilarious ex-pats perform a delightful mix of SHort and LONG form improv comedy! The audience randomly selects two short form games – the type of games one might see on the show ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’, such as Doo-run, Hitchhiker, Stunt Double, New Choice, Asides, and more! The short form games will inspire two separate and innovative long forms. Featuring veteran improvisers from the Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Seoul Improv Festivals, PLUS guest performers from the Hamilton Fringe!
Aquarius Back Stage, 190 King William Street
60 minutes
July 18 (7:00), July 20 (9:00), July 22 (4:00), July 23 (10:30), July 24 (noon)
Suicide(s) in Vegas
Company: MW Productions, Denver, Colorado, USA
Playwright: Evan Placey
Directed by: Margaret Whittum
Cast: Elinza Pretorius ….. Lydia
Amber Green….. Jane
Genre: Dark Comedy
Audience: Mature Audience
Warnings: Language
Plot Summary:
A random internet search brings together two women who want to end it all, but not alone. Lydia’s an over-commercialized self-help guru. Jane’s a lonely tollbooth collector. But surviving (and dying) are tricky in this dark comedy about the fantastic awfulness that is –
Vegas. By Evan Placey, winner of Canada’s RBC National Playwriting Competition, Tarragon Theatre
Aquarius Back Stage, 190 King William Street
60 minutes
July 18 (5:30), 20 (7:30), 21 (5:30), 23 (9:00), 24 (1:30)
Sustainability: the Musical
Company: Green Feat, Hamilton, ON
Playwright: Michael Nabert
Directed by: Michael Nabert
Cast: Michael Nabert…… Sustainability Edutainer
Genre: Musical
Audience: General Audience
Warnings: Mature content: TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it)
Plot Summary:
All peoples everywhere are dependent on only five things: the atmosphere, water, food, energy, and community, with other people as well as with biodiversity in thriving ecosystems. Sustainability is 5 documentary musicals about those five topics, with another on the economics of sustainability and the last one on the psychology of why we aren’t doing it. If you breathe, drink, eat, use energy, love, want, or contain a brain, it directly affects you. From somber undertones to high notes, it’s what you need to know about what’s shaping tomorrow. Learn six simple steps to dance from the world we live in into one with a future, and invest in life!
DAC Studio, 28 Rebecca Street
45 minutes
July 15 (7:00), 16 (10:00), 17 (3:30), 19 (6:00), 21 (8:30), 23 (7:00), 24 (3:30)
Waiting for the Go
Company: The Corktown Players, Hamilton ON
Writer: Rick Rivait
Director: Rick Rivait
Cast: Carson Gale, Michael Patricelli, Brenna MacNaughton, Andrew Noble, Iain Lacourt, Crystal Jonasson
Genre: A comedy for General Audience
Plot Summary:
Eddie is a young man sleeping in the cemetery on York Boulevard, and Victor a homeless middle-aged man living under the T.B. McQueenston Bridge. The two transients eagerly await their bus one frigid winter’s night in Hamilton. The bus is late; very late. Assuming the worst, they contemplate how to resolve their predicament. Death is an option! But before in comes to that, they’re joined by a confusing lady named Lucy, and met with big Bruno the bus driver. Together, whether they like it or not, they’re Waiting for the GO.
DAC Theatre, 28 Rebecca Street
59 minutes
July 15 (5:00), 16 (6:30), 18 (10:00), 20 (6:30), 22 (7:00), 23 (10:00), 24 (3:30)
When Harry Met Harry
Company: Flaming Locomotive Productions, Perth, Australia
Playwright: Allan Girod
Directed by: Igor Sas
Cast: Allan Girod
Genre: Comedy
Audience: General Audience
Warnings:
Plot Summary:
2010 WINNER – BEST OF FEST WINNIPEG FRINGE.
Quirky, comical and bittersweet. Set in an office environment, Harry is dedicated to finding perfection. How will he cope when screeching tyres, Tai Chi and an overly positive personal coach conspire to intervene?
Physical comedy at its best.
Have you met Harry?
4 1/2 Stars ”captivating and funny” Adelaide Advertiser 2011
4 Stars “Go meet Harry. You’ll be glad you did.” J Schmidt, CBC 2010
Aquarius Studio, 190 King William Street
55 minutes
July 18 (9:30), 19 (5:00), 20 (6:30, 21 (8:00), 22 (4:30), 23 (7:30), 24 (12:30)
Writer’s Block
Company: Apocryphal Productions
Playwright: Kristofer Van Soelen
Directed by: Kristofer Van Soelen
Cast: Kevin Ritchie…… A
Karen Knox…… B
Andrew Perun…… C
William Moynihan……D
Genre: comedy
Audience: General Audience
Warnings: Gun Shots
Plot Summary:
Kristofer Van Soelen is a self-professed genius of neo-Shakespearean profundity. Unfortunately, he doesn’t always have time to actually write a plot. Or name his characters. Or establish a conflict. So A, B, C, and D are left to their own devices, struggling against Kristofer, and attempting to force him to give him a show.
Aquarius Studio, 190 King William Street
60 minutes
July 15 (5:00), 16 (10:00), 17 (8:30), 20 (6:30), 22 (9:30), 23 (4:00), 24 (2:00)
My thoughts about ‘Writer’s Block’:
The premise of the play was interesting. I am a Jasper Fforde fan so as I was watching the play I was wondering where the playwright would go with Writer’s Block. [Jasper Fforde: writes great fiction where his heroine travels in and out of fiction; creates a whole world where fiction lives including the writers, characters, bad guys; Miss Havisham as a Jurisfiction agent inside fiction, etc.].
‘Writer’s Block’ unfortunately lost me at the vomit & dump bucket scene; bad fight scenes; escalating violence; confusing character question & answer segments. The strongest feeling I have is that the play ‘objectifies’ women. This objectification was seen in the way the playwright used the female character in his play for his own gratification. It was disturbing that many patrons laughed when the female character ‘B’ shared her ‘backstory’ of abuse and; then one of the male characters wanted to ‘use’ her story for his own ends. People who have suffered domestic abuse may find those scenes difficult to tolerate. The ‘use’ of women is a common attitude in our patriarchical society and thus, the play was not one I enjoyed despite what was an interesting premise. Yours, Susan.
I haven’t seen the show, but this is a really well put review. I would suggest re-posting it as a comment on the community review for the show, so more people can see it.
While I (generally) agree that it would be difficult to watch those scenes if you’ve suffered abuse, I must disagree with the overall sentiment. First, B defends herself quite admirably from C’s attempts to use her strife for gain. Second, A also admits that it’s wrong and tries to help B and takes her side against C. Third, it’s a satire of other plays. The reason people laughed was not at B’s tragic backstory, but rather that the backstory was arbitrarilly assigned by the playwright-in-the-play because, as the characters state, he can’t write decent female characters. A large portion of the play deals with the fact, through satirical and absurdist humour, that women are poorly written on stage, often by male playwrights. It’s also making fun of the fact that the go-to storyline for women is abuse and rape, a fact which became more and more obvious as I have seen other shows at this and other Fringes and, almost to a one, each featured a woman with a rape in her past. Kris Van Soelen’s play is questioning other plays for their, arguably, frivolous use of the “raped victim woman” in place of the kind of authentic character development shamefully reserved for male characters. In other words: the in-play “Writer” was a sexit perv hack, but the out-of-play writer, Van Soelen, is a satirical genius.
I think the truth lies more in the middle, but I tend to side closer your point than Susan. I don’t think Van Solen’s play effectively does everything it sets out to, but at a Fringe level, it’s quite the high expectation to hope for. This is a very interesting and helpful conversation. The vomit scene was a little much, in my opinion, and I wonder if it could have been substituted with something of more substance and less shock value.
Susan, thank you very much for coming to see the show, and for entering into it enough to form an opinion. I definitely agree it was very disturbing the way that the ‘writer’ used his female character to serve his needs, and the way that she is often objectified in the show. but R’s interpretation is exactly how it was intended. I think it is very sad that women in theatre seem to need stories of domestic abuse or rape in order to be “well rounded”, while men can have any back story at all without fear of being labeled ‘flat’. i think that this has become a problem in theatre, and has become a new type of gender inequality in theatre.
this was the attempt, and it seems this did not come across for you. thanks very much for your feedback though. we will take it, and see if we need shake some things up.
Until I found this I thought I’d have to spend the day inisde.
Hear Nuclear Lies – Hear it, See it?
People attend theatre for many differing reasons. The same is said of other media – TV, film and movies. Each has particular formats and niches for their manufacture, sale and delivery. One enduring facet for audiences is a sense of sharing an experience.
Watching Hear Nuclear Lies I am reminded of the origin of theater. Continuing into Shakespeare’s time the spectacle of theater in the streets seemed quite spontaneous. It took place in streets or courtyards where key individuals acted out issues of interest. Often it was a commentary, be it comedic spoof, or perhaps more a political diatribe. Topics ranged from local gossip – commenting upon appropriate behaviour in the local or not so local community to greater political issues – who was or wasn’t paying taxes, taking bribes, unreported bonuses or who had laid waste to place, property or person. Issues not so unfamiliar, today. Many of these well-worked themes made their way into the Baird’s great work.
Hear Nuclear Lies admirably takes on one of the most contentious and yes, world/life-threatening issues of our time. But as the evidence – a little too dryly laid out, makes clear it is not just an issue for our time. The impact and waste of nuclear generation lasts multiple generations. Generations we assume will be smarter than us and of course solve this growing problem we hand our children, grandchildren and their great grand children.
Enter Einstein to counter the pro-nuclear advocacy of the attractive expert. Oh the well paid and employed nuclear consultant who so placidly gives way to Einstein’s facts and figures. One wanders why she does not fight harder for her industrial employer? The audience is quite. Their role is to listen and they do it well. It is hardly a two sided- debate. The Nobel Laureate, incarnate has stolen the podium and the stage. We are at a hi-jacked conference. Something I have never seen tolerated in my conference going days. If debate was intended, there was none. In any other forum there would be varied voices, anxious if not raised voices, multiple viewpoints and interactive discussion if not debate. That is what hints at the street drama – the history of theatre. I am thinking of the friend of a friend who assuredly stated that nuclear was a clean energy solution. I couldn’t stop my reply that as long as a few million years of contamination did not count. But, back to the play and theater.
I wanted a boo or a nigh, even a yes from the people present. But then the stage is revered, dark, simple and adorned by a well-schooled consultant and Nobel Laurite, incarnate. Einstein emerged, uninvited, from the dark shadows of a corner to wrestle with the subject and take the podem away from the lovely consultant. There was no hand-to-hand, head to head contact. Wrestling was somewhere else. It would not have been so in Shakespeare’s time or earlier when controversy and debate was seen as lively entertainment maybe even illuminating entertainment. Thus Einstein visited and became part of the edutainment, the play promised.
The striking likeness to a youthful Einstein was appealing as was the desire for a champion. But oh, I wanted interaction – not an almighty power using their authority to conquer a young opponent., who seemed to have little fire in her belly. Paid, as Einstein noted, something like two hundred thousand annually, one would think she would like her salary well enough to put up a little fight. It is a feature of a well entrenched industry when many have a stake in this omnipresent –every where, present, industry that serves the needs of a few, well. For these two there was no sign of amorous attraction but then it was past meets the present – somehow.
From causing to curing cancer to photocopiers and through irradiation that creates long lasting foodstuffs, the nuclear industry has demonstrated profitable enterprise from what is a technology of unknown expense. This is what we learn. This is edutainment. Hearing the many sides to such a world altering debate is timely. It is also timely to demonstrate the many roles of theater. Safe as the medium has perhaps become with tried and true musicals and the great plays that endure changing times, there is increasing certification in scripts, actors and technicians and the forum. Yet it is, as in Shakespeare’s time, through risk, change and new ideas that an art remains fresh to a culture. Here Nuclear will, in the future, benefit from letting some explosion happen. I urge the creator, actors, and director to allow some interaction and yes it may need to be controlled. It may even need to go underground to test and enhance performance, endurance, transmission and interaction. The last is a timely social trend that represents engagement and even learning – seemingly key factors of edutainment. Go – Hear Nuclear Lies. Written by J. Cardno
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