Apologies for the late posting of this. When I got home from the fringe last night, I had power. As soon as I booted my computer, the neighbourhood went out until early this morning. So here it is a day late.
O(h)
O(h) is everything that I could ask from a dance piece at the fringe!
To draw a theatre comparison, this could easily be titled this is a dance, in reference to Daniel MacIvor's this is a play.
Through a series of narrated duets and solo numbers, and with a tremendous sense for and of their audience, performers casebolt and smith expose, play with, and sometimes send up the dance world.
If you have any experience with dance, you will laugh at yourselves. If you have no experience with dance, you will be guided with joyous mischief.
This is dance that is totally accessible and enjoyable for theatre people!
Be not afraid, oh fringers, but journey into this hall of dance!
Very highly recommended!
St Francis Talks to Birds.
Tedious brief.
A play there is of some fourty minutes, which is as brief as I have known a play. And yes by fourty minutes, it is too long.
It is perhaps not good of my to be uncharitable to a play about the life, or rather final monomers of st, Francis, and so I shall be brief. The show, a dialog between a dying st, Francis and the vultures that are consuming his remains, starts in the middle of a desert and goes pretty much no where. The jokes are bad, the characters are flat, the performances are as cut out as the cactus on the set.
Recommendation avoid.
It's Always You.
When I figured out the premise of this new musical about fifteen minutes in, I was sure that it would not be able to sustain itself for the full ninety minutes that it was scheduled for. I am so happy to report that I was proven wrong.
In this production we are given a glimpse, between two and five minutes long into the lives of three characters. Then time is reset and we get another glimpse into the same lives, but in a world in which different past decisions have led to different situations. As we see the different outcomes, we discover that these are always the same three characters, but that at some point in the past a single moment was the splitting pot for their disparate lives. One theme, multiple variations, and, as the lyrics of the overture indicate, every one is true.
This show has heart, comedy, top rate performance, and an very interesting premise, well executed.
I understand that advanced tickets have sold out and people were lining up for this one about seventy five minutes before curtain. If you want to get tickets be sure to arrive well in advance as this show will sell out.
A Young Lady's Guide to Vivisection
This docudrama looks at a term of study of the medical class of 1884 at Queen's university, the first year to admit women in the program.
Falling too strongly on the side of factual recreation, the material is interesting, but the script needs more craft to truly engage. There are some excellent moments, and there is great dramatic potential to be mined. Good themes too, as goos questions about the nature and speed of social and scientific progress are raised. these are structural successes more than dramatic. However the show is still very much ore.
One directorial choice that I have to take issue with is the cross casting of some of the roles. One of the women students is played by a man, and one of the male students by a woman. Though I can make academic guesses to justify the choice, in practice it was more consuming than illuminating.
Recommendation, worth seeing if the subject matter interests you. Don't expect greatness.
Stealing Sam
A touching and heartfelt piece.
Steven Gallagher is Jimmy, long time friend, and one time love of the titular Sam. As the show opens, we find Sam preparing to give Sam (who has died three days earlier) a final farewell. The theft of SAMs ashes, mentioned in the show blurb, is ultimately a bit of a red herring as the focus of the show is on Jimmy's life, his paths taken, mistakes made, and his sense of loss and confusion as he looks forward to his fifties.
This is a beautiful piece, and Mr. Gallagher gives an open, honest, and truly moving performance.
Strongly recommended!
Supperfesta.
Earlier I talked of a show that was tedious brief, this show, sadly, is tedious long. The plot is simple. a married newly vegetarian older sister finds out her younger sister is seeing a new guy, and invites them over for a diner party. mildly dysfunctional mayhem ensues.
This show might have looked funny in outline, but in final draft and execution, it falls flat. The initial establishment of characters takes too long, and the main event, the dinner party, lack narrative or emotional shape. A ticking clock sound effect used to signal the passage of time served primarily to remind me to look at my watch and hope that the ninety minute run time would soon be over.
Awkward pauses and slow pick up on line cues serve only to point out that there's nothing particularly super about this supper.
O(h)
O(h) is everything that I could ask from a dance piece at the fringe!
To draw a theatre comparison, this could easily be titled this is a dance, in reference to Daniel MacIvor's this is a play.
Through a series of narrated duets and solo numbers, and with a tremendous sense for and of their audience, performers casebolt and smith expose, play with, and sometimes send up the dance world.
If you have any experience with dance, you will laugh at yourselves. If you have no experience with dance, you will be guided with joyous mischief.
This is dance that is totally accessible and enjoyable for theatre people!
Be not afraid, oh fringers, but journey into this hall of dance!
Very highly recommended!
St Francis Talks to Birds.
Tedious brief.
A play there is of some fourty minutes, which is as brief as I have known a play. And yes by fourty minutes, it is too long.
It is perhaps not good of my to be uncharitable to a play about the life, or rather final monomers of st, Francis, and so I shall be brief. The show, a dialog between a dying st, Francis and the vultures that are consuming his remains, starts in the middle of a desert and goes pretty much no where. The jokes are bad, the characters are flat, the performances are as cut out as the cactus on the set.
Recommendation avoid.
It's Always You.
When I figured out the premise of this new musical about fifteen minutes in, I was sure that it would not be able to sustain itself for the full ninety minutes that it was scheduled for. I am so happy to report that I was proven wrong.
In this production we are given a glimpse, between two and five minutes long into the lives of three characters. Then time is reset and we get another glimpse into the same lives, but in a world in which different past decisions have led to different situations. As we see the different outcomes, we discover that these are always the same three characters, but that at some point in the past a single moment was the splitting pot for their disparate lives. One theme, multiple variations, and, as the lyrics of the overture indicate, every one is true.
This show has heart, comedy, top rate performance, and an very interesting premise, well executed.
I understand that advanced tickets have sold out and people were lining up for this one about seventy five minutes before curtain. If you want to get tickets be sure to arrive well in advance as this show will sell out.
A Young Lady's Guide to Vivisection
This docudrama looks at a term of study of the medical class of 1884 at Queen's university, the first year to admit women in the program.
Falling too strongly on the side of factual recreation, the material is interesting, but the script needs more craft to truly engage. There are some excellent moments, and there is great dramatic potential to be mined. Good themes too, as goos questions about the nature and speed of social and scientific progress are raised. these are structural successes more than dramatic. However the show is still very much ore.
One directorial choice that I have to take issue with is the cross casting of some of the roles. One of the women students is played by a man, and one of the male students by a woman. Though I can make academic guesses to justify the choice, in practice it was more consuming than illuminating.
Recommendation, worth seeing if the subject matter interests you. Don't expect greatness.
Stealing Sam
A touching and heartfelt piece.
Steven Gallagher is Jimmy, long time friend, and one time love of the titular Sam. As the show opens, we find Sam preparing to give Sam (who has died three days earlier) a final farewell. The theft of SAMs ashes, mentioned in the show blurb, is ultimately a bit of a red herring as the focus of the show is on Jimmy's life, his paths taken, mistakes made, and his sense of loss and confusion as he looks forward to his fifties.
This is a beautiful piece, and Mr. Gallagher gives an open, honest, and truly moving performance.
Strongly recommended!
Supperfesta.
Earlier I talked of a show that was tedious brief, this show, sadly, is tedious long. The plot is simple. a married newly vegetarian older sister finds out her younger sister is seeing a new guy, and invites them over for a diner party. mildly dysfunctional mayhem ensues.
This show might have looked funny in outline, but in final draft and execution, it falls flat. The initial establishment of characters takes too long, and the main event, the dinner party, lack narrative or emotional shape. A ticking clock sound effect used to signal the passage of time served primarily to remind me to look at my watch and hope that the ninety minute run time would soon be over.
Awkward pauses and slow pick up on line cues serve only to point out that there's nothing particularly super about this supper.