BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
Die-Nasty and The Irrelevant Show alum Mark Meer plays the Taiko drums Thursday at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival in Old Strathcona. Meer will perform One Man Walking Dead during the festival.
JOSEPHINE: A BURLESQUE CABARET DREAM PLAY ★★★★ Stage 1, ATB Westbury Theatre
If you grew up in the world of performing arts, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the name Josephine Baker, a well-known dancer, singer and civil rights activist who worked from the 1920s until her death in 1975.
But knowing anything about Baker before going to see Josephine: A Burlesque Cabaret Dream Play isn’t necessary.
The play takes you through the life of the first African-American international superstar, in a first-person narrative from co-creator and performer Tymisha Harris playing the role of Baker, in which she shines.
Josephine: A Burlesque Cabaret Dream Play has it all: heartfelt songs and energetic dances woven with a history lesson about the treatment of African-American people in the United States during Baker’s lifetime. The show includes some sexual content and nudity, and is recommended for mature audiences. Alexa Lawlor AWKWARDHUG ★★★ Stage 11, Nordic Studio Theatre
Awkward Hug, a one-man autobiography about Cory Thibert’s late teenage years, is extremely wellperformed, but sometimes strays too far from the main focus.
It is an incredibly heartwarming recollection of Thibert’s family being forced to move from one affordable housing location to another while Thibert learned the extent of his parents’ disabilities. Without spoiling anything, the ending is beautifully touching.
But there is a little too much added to the main story. Segments about Thibert and his girlfriend debating buying a pet don’t make clear sense in the context of the rest of the show.
Thibert weaves a compelling yarn aimed at making you appreciate your family. It might not hit home for everyone, but some members of the audience were visibly moved. Matt Olson
JEM ROLLS: I, IDIOT
★★★1/2
Stage 13, Old Strathcona Public Library
Jem Rolls, the Fringe circuit’s grandmaster, makes self-deprecation an art, as you might guess from the title.
It’s not a poetry show, he says after a couple of poems. Rather, it’s a “verbal bouffon.” Rolls teases new meaning out of familiar words (who ever realized that Google has the same spelling as ‘go ogle’?), delivering on the promise.
Here we approach the cascading thoughts of an eccentric genius who always gets the joke first.
Canadians, the Brit says, have “borrowed two languages, you’ve broken them both, now you’re refusing to give them back.”
Rolls is far from the first to observe that we’re turning into machines while machines become more human, but he’s right, we are, and that’s really stupid. And so we learn that we’re all playing for Team Idiot.
I, Idiot fails to hold your attention throughout but it’s clever and thought-provoking.
Turns out, there would actually be hope if we stuck together.
But maybe we’re too dumb to figure that out. Cam Fuller
FIRE IN THE METH LAB ★★★★★ Stage 26, The Almanac
Jon Bennett is relatable from the get-go, chatting up the audience about his time in town and describing his sibling rivalry with his older brother Tim.
The show is charming, engaging and endearing as Bennett tries to understand how his black-sheep brother became addicted to drugs and ended up being chased by police after a meth lab explosion.
Melbourne-based Bennett blends anecdotes with multimedia, family photos and Australian pop-singer Jason Donovan’s music videos — Tim’s first addiction. (Bennett calls Donovan the poor man’s Rick Astley).
Bennett often refers to
The Jason Donovan trivia game, Straight from the Heart, and it’s something you can’t make up.
Bennett’s addiction story is from a different point of view, that of the family members closest to the person in the middle of the storm.
He tries to understand his brother, he looks up to him and wants the best for him. It’s a perspective Bennett hopes to bring to inmates in jails in Australia and New Zealand later this year.
Bennett is a ball of energy and his humour is on point. If you’ve never heard about vomit punches or belly-bucking, this is the show for you. Thia James
A NIGHTMARE ON EAST HASTINGS: A COMEDY ★★★★ Stage 1, ATB Westbury Theatre
The latest offering by Winnipeg ’s Bill Pats is heartbreaking and raw — and it’s billed as a comedy.
Pats, an engaging storyteller, effectively weaves humour into this look at life on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The grim picture sticks with you.
A veteran of the Fringe circuit, Pats moved to Vancouver because performing wasn’t paying the bills. He takes a room with a bed, a bar fridge and a view.
He soon becomes a building manager, despite a criminal record for stealing from a former employer.
His record is the subject of another Pats’ show, I Hate Bill Pats.
Pats ends up managing four apartment buildings. He repairs a strained relationship with his stepdaughter and everything seems to be going well. “But obviously, it’s a Fringe show, spoiler alert,” he tells the audience.
When he manages tenants who have addictions and mental illness, he’s left questioning his choices and calling for systemic change to end homelessness and addictions. In his stories, Pats treats the people with empathy, at times pausing to wipe tears.
He didn’t need props, sets or much beyond the few lighting changes to establish the mood.
He had his stories, and those were enough. Thia James
SO I WAS STRANDED ON AN ISLAND IN SOUTHERN NOVA SCOTIA ★★★ Stage 8, Prowse Crowne Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre
Andrew Lopatin combines storytelling and music. The troubadour has crossed the country 14 times in seven years.
We see him first trying to warm up by a dandy little campfire on the stage after losing his canoe.
Shouldn’t have skipped the portage; “A lazy man works twice,” he says quietly. Very quietly. The performer’s speaking style lies between uber-casual and mumbling.
He talks about the incredible hospitality he found in Nova Scotia, risking his life swimming a channel to get to an enchanting lighthouse island, happily stranded for a week with a dead phone battery. Lopatin plays some original instrument music on his acoustic guitars, showing off a unique modern-classical style with robust percussion.
The stories are interesting enough and the music is unique.
But it’s not really a work of theatre. If you’re sick of plays, here’s one that isn’t one.