Fringe Review: No Tweed Too Tight
Stage 15 — Campus St. Jean (8406 Rue Marie-Anne Gaboury)
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Fringe stage legend Grant Canyon returns for another inebriated and incoherent tale of murder, mystery, and malarky.
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This isn't the first time Ryan Gladstone's beloved character has graced an Edmonton Fringe stage. Gladstone stars as Grant Canyon, a high-profile insurance investigator in the 1970s prone to kung-fu poses and drunken blackouts.
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The one-man show often feels like watching Memento starring Ron Burgundy and set on the plane from Airplane!. Gladstone gives a tour de force performance as he trades witty barbs and pugilistic barbarity with himself, deftly switching back and forth between Canyon and his adversaries.
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It's the kind of character work you'd see on many comedy YouTube channels these days, except those performers have the luxury of editing, green screens and costumes. Gladstone has none of those conveniences, which makes for a compelling watch as this washed-up and two-bit insurance investigator pulls the threads of an already torn-up sweater and unravels a mystery he can barely remember.
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The fact that Gladstone has been touring this character for so long is both a blessing and a curse, though. While the writing is sharp and the jokes are amusing, there are a few elements that are painfully and obviously dated. I particularly balked at Gladstone's attempts at some truly awful South American and Eastern European accents that veer a little too close to offensive to get a chuckle out of me. It may be set in the 1970s, but the audience lives in 2025.
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