Kelowna’s Fringe Festival begins
It’s finally arrived. The much-anticipated Kelowna Fringe Festival goes from today until Sept. 4 in Kelowna, West Kelowna, and Lake Country.
I am urging every reader to purchase their bear pin for $5 and start “Fringing.”
Individual shows are $15 each, but one is encouraged to become a “Frequent Fringer” and purchase your pass for five or more shows to receive a discount. All ticket sales go to the artist and their show, so get out and support as many as you can – especially the travelling shows that rely on your attendance.
I have been speaking with many show creators and I find myself torn at which shows can I see before jumping on the stage at The Black Box and performing my own.
Here are a few more that sparked interest:
One of the most interesting and well conceptualized plays happening at Fringe Festival this year is Bathsheba and the Books. This 45-minute play will be performed inside Sun FM room at the Rotary Centre for the Arts. Victoria-based writer David Heyman went on a quest to read the Holy Bible and came upon the story of King David and Bathsheba. With only eight per cent of the Bible featuring stories of strong woman, he wondered why her story was included.
Bathsheba was the wife of a warrior in King David’s army until the king spotted her bathing naked on a roof and wanted her for his own. From widow to queen mother – and now the assumed curator of the holy books of the Bible. The play features four actors telling this story with wit, humour, and great intelligence. I myself am choosing this as a top pick.
The first performance is today at 12:30 p.m. and then again tonight at 8 p.m. and repeats Thursday at 6 p.m., with its last show Friday at 10 p.m.
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Another play on my radar is The Morning After with Pam and Paula, a mature comedy play about the quest to win the highly revered TV breakfast show host positions away from their rivals, while getting ready for their high school reunion (which is happening that same evening). This extremely funny hour of ’90s throwback was inspired by a Saturday Night Live sketch but morphed into what it is now. Winning accolades across Canada and awarded the highly acclaimed “Best
Use Of Spandex” at the Calgary Fringe Fest. The heart of the show reveals true friendship, with feelings of isolation and body image but wants to make you laugh… and you will.
It’s performed by Hilary Fillier as Pam and Joanna Rannelli as Paula, and it’s directed by Erika Conway (director of Tomatoes Tried To Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life). The play will be performed at Creekside Theatre, located at 10241 Bottom Wood Lake Rd. in Lake Country, with their first show happening tonight at 7:30 p.m. then again tomorrow at 5 p.m. It’s plays twice on Friday at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and then at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
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Comedy is ripe and Stupid Ed at the Mary Irwin Theatre in the RCA is a wonderful palate cleanser to the other shows on the venue playbill; Sadec 1965: A Love Story, Screamish, Josh + Bex.
Comedian Ed Hill is at Fringe this year and follows up from his Amazon special Candy and Smiley.
This 50-minute comedic show is more theatrical than stand up and explores his relationship with the female figures of his life and his motherland of Canada. The show promises to be relevant, realistic, and at times, ridiculous.
Hill found his voice on the stand-up stage about 13 years ago when workshop classes were being offered across the road from his graduate school. Hill began taking these classes because he was always curious about comedy ever since watching a Chris Rock special and thinking how cool it was to have a job where you observe the funny side of situations, and no one punches you in the face for it… well, not then at least.
Stupid Ed premiers at the Fringe tomorrow at 3 p.m. and then again the same night at 9 p.m., Friday at 5 p.m. His last performance is a Saturday matinee at 1 p.m.
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On Monday, I was able to see the first performance of The Thin Place, by New Vintage Theatre – the hosts and organizers of the Fringe Festival.
This 90-minute ghost story is less about a psychic and her clients and more about the need to believe and be reassured that afterlife is still life. The play’s name derives from how one of the characters sees the world as pocked with portals or “thin places.”
She goes on to say “imagine an octopus in an aquarium pressed up against glass, except that there’s no glass, and no octopus.” The actors do a stellar job with natural dialogue and conversations that dangle a carrot for the audience as we wonder “where is this going?”
Just when you think you are sitting in the pocket of understanding, it’s stuffed with a new twist of dialogue and picks up the pace.
The play was performed by four wellknown faces on the theatre scene in Kelowna: Kendra Hesketh, Medium Linda, Sarah Cole, and Client Hilda – with appearances by Tamie Williams and Jerry-Christopher Iversen, who come in two-thirds of the way through to add more tension and questions to the storyline.
The play is directed by Bonnie Gratz and written by American playwright Lucas Hnath, a recipient of an Obie, Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as a fist full of other awards and a 2017 Tony nomination for best play.
There are two more chances to see The Thin Place: tomorrow and Friday, inside the Harmony Honda Studio at the RCA. Both shows are at 8 p.m. and tickets can be purchased through kelownafringe.com/2022-fringe-shows-tickets.