Hot ticket: Reviews of the Victoria fringe festival
The Times Colonist has you covered at the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival, running to Sept 6. Check online (timescolonist.com/fringe) and in print for daily reviews. All ratings are out of five.
God Is a Scottish Drag Queen II
Where: Downtown Activity Centre (755 Pandora Ave.) When: Aug. 29, Sept. 1,2, 4, 5 Rating: 5 stars Who knew the second coming of Christ would be preceded by a singalong to the Proclaimers hit 500 Miles, or that the deity’s comeback would be so darned hilarious? Welcome to the return of Victoria’s Mike Delamont, looking fabulously frumpy in his trademark floral 1980s polyester power suit, as the Almighty in God Is a Scottish Drag Queen II. “I feel like a chesterfield,” deadpans Delamont, who doesn’t disappoint in his irreverent, convulsively funny new instalment of his hit solo show.
He amusingly, and with apparent ease, reprises his Scottish brogue to skewer circumcision, the absurdity of Scientology, Noah’s Ark, Mormonism and more, using a tongue-in-cheek slide show to underscore his scathing wit. While Delamont, whose razor-sharp timing and improvised asides are something to behold, takes great delight in turning religion on its ear, it’s done so playfully and with such a lack of malice I suspect most open-minded theatregoers won’t take offence, although there will surely be some who will find the pleasantly profane deity’s observations seriously sacreligious.
Highlights in Delamont’s breezy, unremittingly funny show include his impersonation of a hairball-heaving cat, the Almighty’s hankering for Pagliaccis’ focaccia bread and his commentary on how scary-looking churches can be (cue the gargoyles), as when he says “If you thought those seats you’re sitting on now were uncomfortable…” before church pews appear on screen. He also wonders why West Edmonton Mall needs three (!) La Senza stores. Delamont has delivered another must-see Fringe show, so arrive at least an hour before showtime for your best chance of scoring tickets.
— Michael D. Reid
The Great Canadian Tire Money Caper
Where: VCM Wood Hall (907 Pandora Ave.) When: Aug. 29, 30, Sept. 1, 4 and 5 Rating: 4 stars Who among you hasn’t collected Canadian Tire money? It’s one of Canada’s national pastimes, which makes The Great Canadian Tire Money Caper a show most Canuck Fringe-goers will be able to relate to.
A natural raconteur with an earthiness and physical demeanour that recalls actor Donal Logue, scruffy Toronto songwriter Corin Raymond engagingly spins his own strange-but-true story of how he paid for the production of an album of Canadian folk songs. It was funded using $7,333.75 worth of the funny money we’re told would take about $1 million worth of purchases at the national hardware chain to earn.
His one-man-show is riotously funny, touching and surprisingly revealing, with Raymond coaxing laughter of recognition and even a sense of cockeyed national pride as he recounts his story that began when a song he wrote about Canadian Tire money went viral online. Relying on the kindness of both friends — including staffers at a Toronto bar that takes Canadian Tire money at par, and the owner of Toronto’s Rogue Music Lab, which does the same — and strangers who, after finding him on Facebook mailed him their own stashes of crinkled Canadian Tire money, Raymond’s tenacity is inspiring.
Performing solo on a bare stage, the former juggler whose show was dramaturged by T.J. Dawe is consistently captivating as he recalls the avalanche of media attention he unwittingly prompted. It included coverage in the Toronto Star, appearances on CBC’s The National and the front page of The Wall Street Journal, which sent its foreign currency correspondent to Toronto to witness Raymond’s tens of thousands of bills.
It’s just too bad Raymond didn’t extend the less-is-more approach he took with regard to set and props, to the storytelling component, which grows repetitive in the home stretch and could use a 10-minute trim. — MDR
Pretending Things Are A Cock
Where: Victoria Activity Centre (755 Pandora Ave.) When: Aug. 30, Sept. 1, 4, 5 and 6 Rating: Two and a half stars Australian comedian Jon Bennett’s natural affability, quick wit and mesmerizing rat-a-tat delivery help compensate for the superficiality of his one-man show whose title pretty much says it all.
The globe-trotting comic’s photos of himself strategically posing with iconic landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, an Air France jet and many other bizarre penis-like appendages are amusing for awhile.
And some of his travel tales and reflections on growing up as a stern preacher’s son on a farm in southwest Australia during an hour-long slideshow are fitfully engaging, but the concept wears thin as fast as this hit-and-miss romp’s seriocomic limitations become clear. — MDR