Pull up the curtain on an adventure
Don’t be afraid to take a chance on your viewing, you may even be able to say ‘I was there’ for a world première
ON STAGE What: Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival Where: Downtown Victoria When: Continues to Sept. 3 Tickets: Single tickets are $9 and $11. You must have a $6 Fringe button to see shows. For advance tickets, see intrepidtheatre.com or ticketrocket.co. Buy in person at Ticket Rocket at 101-804 Broughton St. or the festival box office at 1609 Blanshard St.
The Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival can appear daunting. After all, Vancouver Island’s biggest theatre event features a whopping 58 shows.
So what’s the best way to choose them? My best advice is — just take a chance.
Yes, one can play it safe by selecting shows reviewed well elsewhere. But remember, the essence of fringe theatre is adventure and experimentation. Why not try something that’s making its world debut in front of your eyes?
Still wary of booking the babysitter and spending 60 minutes with an absolute dud? OK, here are a few recommendations to get you started:
The Birdmann and Egg: Birdhouse (Fairfield Hall, opens tonight, continues to Sept. 3).
Aussie risk-taker Trent Baumann has hatched some of the weirdest, existentially funky comic theatre I’ve ever witnessed. His bizarro-world shows are packed with absurdist jokes, reminiscent of Steven Wright’s nonsequiturs. This strange shtick is not for the faint-hearted. However, when Baumann gets it right he can be downright brilliant.
The Inventor of All Things (St. Andrew’s Kirk Hall, continues to Sept. 3)
Britain’s Jem Rolls is a veteran fringe hero who combines dazzling linguistic gymnastics with an incisive humour. He’s mainly known as spoken-word poet, but don’t go expecting a staid reading — Rolls routinely delivers sufficient energy to power a mediumsized city.
This well-reviewed performance is inspired by the true story of a Hungarian nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. Interstellar Elder (Metro Studio, continues to Sept. 3)
The great thing about Ingrid Hansen is that she follows her quirky muse with pure fearlessness, just like the kid who leaps from the barn roof in an attempt to fly. Hansen typically combines a whimsical point of view with an unrelenting subversiveness. This time, the University of Victoria theatre graduate stars in a collaboratively crafted show about an old woman adrift in a spaceship carrying cryogenically frozen humans.
Beau & Aero: Crash Landing (Roxy Theatre, opens Monday, continues to Sept. 3)
A rock-solid source deep within the Fringe hierarchy offers this as a pick-to-click. Oregon-based duo Amica Hunter and David Cantor star in a clown show about two oldtimey aviators who have crashlanded. This physical comedy romp is rumoured to be a bit silly — expect plenty of balloon hijinx.
Olive Copperbottom (Metro Studio, opens Monday, continues to Sept. 3)
New Zealander Penny Ashton was voted best female performer at the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival for her critically acclaimed Jane Austen spoof Promise and Promiscuity. Now she’s back with the delightfully titled Olive Copperbottom, a onewoman musical based on the writings of Charles Dickens. The show has been praised as a funny and lively tour-de-force.
Stories About Love, Death and a Rabbit (St. Andrew’s Kirk Hall, opens Saturday, continues to Sept. 3)
London’s Charles Adrian has won a fistful of honours on the international fringe theatre circuit, including the Grand Prix award at the Stockholm Fringe Festival. In this show, Adrian sports a dress to play a spinster whose world-view shifts profoundly when she looks after a friend’s pet rabbit. One critic deems it sharply observed “cringe humour.” Aspergers: A Tale of a Social Misfit (Roxy Theatre, opens Tuesday, continues to Sept. 3)
Schwartz is a young standup comic who’s on the autism spectrum.
Asperger syndrome makes maintaining relationships difficult, as those affected have difficulty picking up social cues. In Aspergers: A Tale of a Social Misfit Schwartz bravely jokes about his challenges, touching on his efforts to make friends and find a girlfriend. The show was created with a team that includes Victoria comic Curran Dobbs, who’s also autistic.