Fringe reviews #6: You enter the venue and immediately trip over the fourth wall

Winnipeg Free Press

4 days ago

CANCER WIFE
Sherri Elle Theatre Projects
Creative Manitoba (Venue 22), to Sunday, July 27
⭐⭐⭐
What would you do if someone you'd just started dating received a life-altering health diagnosis? This one-woman performance follows an unnamed character as she struggles through such a scenario, supporting her partner through his leukemia treatment while trying to make space for her own fears and uncertainties.
Written and performed by Sherri Elle, Cancer Wife crams in a wide variety of themes at a breakneck pace. Unfortunately, many plot points are brought up and then left unexplored within the 60-minute runtime. The timeline occasionally feels unclear, and the narrator is never given the space to become a fully developed character.
Elle brings a lot of emotion (and a strong singing voice) to her performance, and there are several moments where her monologue effectively drags the audience through her character's innermost confessional thoughts. But a more casual speaking style undermines the script's power, and it rushes past some weighty life decisions without examining their long-term impact.
— Matt Schaubroeck
DRAG ME TO THE OPERA
Aida Cupcake Presents
Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4), to Saturday, July 26
⭐⭐⭐⭐
There's more sweetness than a bonbon in this autobiographical musical written and performed by drag queen Aida Cupcake (a.k.a. Calgary's Steven J. Morton), who has a mellifluous tenor voice as smooth as honey.
Aida delivers a compelling one-hour narrative chronicling her journey to becoming an international opera singer, exploring the way the question 'Can I plausibly pursue this?' haunted her, preying on artistic insecurities and self-doubt. She peppers her monologue with a series of famous arias from Mozart to Puccini, seamlessly changing wigs and costumes like a chameleon. One of the most gut-wrenching scenes comes when she recounts the death of her father, breaking into deeply felt Dido's Lament in which all lines between art and real life blur.
However, just when you think you know how this gender-bender is going to end, Aida surprises us all (no spoilers here) with the dramatic flair worthy of a diva. Now at peace, she ultimately discovers her true, authentic voice before one final confection from Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment, nailing every one of her treacherous high Cs and performing with military zeal.
— Holly Harris
HOUDINI: THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND.
Oddly Entertainment
Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4), to Sunday, July 27
⭐⭐⭐
Local performer Brett Oddly's opening show was fraught with jitters over a hastily assembled attempt to meet the promised hour of entertainment.
Still, what unfolded — a reproduction of some of the beloved illusionist and stunt artist Harry Houdini's greatest escapes — was fulfilled with skill.
In between some factoids are dispersed — not much of a deep dive, but some curious and distressing facts about straitjackets are included, and the ultimate wrangle out of one is a grand finale.
A testament to the last-minute machinations was the performer's off-the-cuff remark that the hardest part of the show was remembering he was supposed to be Houdini. Such is Oddly's charm that it came off as vulnerable as opposed to a bait and switch.
— Lara Rae
I HOPE YOU KNOW
Interstellar Theatre Company
Creative Manitoba (Venue 22), to Sunday, July 27
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Patiently tapping their fingers on a suitcase before the audience takes its seats, queer theatre student Niko (Adia Branconnier, 17) arrives at the station ahead of schedule, but as always, the train is late, and so is a straggling passenger: Niko's father (Mike Branconnier), who awkwardly wraps his child in a side-hug before a blazingly original, unabashedly open and side-splittingly funny hour-long trip to Toronto's Union Station. Written by the teenage performer — a two-time winner of the Scirocco Drama Manitoba high-school playwriting program — I Hope You Know announces Adia Branconnier as a major talent.
While the younger Branconnier's acting chops, both comedically and dramatically, are excellent, their father proves to be a skilful scene partner, often communicating his character's discomfort, regret and hope for forgiveness with only the whites of his eyes. The production makes wise use of background noise, mixing raindrops, clacking train tracks and the distant clatter of Old Market Square to imbue each moment with the space and time necessary to process a brilliant fringe debut.
— Ben Waldman
LYSISTRATA
R-G Productions
One88 (Venue 23), to Sunday, July 27
⭐⭐⭐⭐
It might be surprising that 2,400-year-old jokes can still get laughs today, but such is the power of phallic humour. Some not-so-nuanced wordplay and stiff props earned many laughs in this comedic retelling of an all-woman sex strike that tries to usher in peace, in direct opposition to their husbands' penchant for more military solutions.
A large troupe does its best with the source material, with sometimes uneven delivery but no lack of enthusiasm for the punchlines. Some awareness of the original plot might help fill in some narrative gaps that were quickly glossed over, but no homework is required to appreciate the absurd antics.
Clocking in at a lean 50 minutes (not the 75 advertised) the script occasionally felt rushed and lacked much of the source material's social commentary. Sticking largely to Aristophanes' original story brought some millennia-old jokes to life, but the current global situation driven by certain warmongering men might have given a sharper, more modern perspective on this classic.
— Matt Schaubroeck
MOMS MOMS MOMS: A BURLESQUE COMEDY
DD Brassiere
PTE — Colin Jackson Studio (Venue 17), to Sunday, July 27
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Performers DD Brassiere and Your Mom Kathy let it all hang out as they combine the sensual art of burlesque with comedy.
The middle-aged women say they're doing the show to get some time away from their kids (DD has one, Kathy has three) and let loose. And they sure do. The duo sing, dance, drink wine, tell jokes and anecdotes (including a serious story about an overdose) and get naked — Manitoba Naked, DD says, noting the women were going to use pasties over their nipples, which now can't be exposed after breastfeeding.
The 60-minute production is akin to a variety show with each performer taking the spotlight to do a bit of standup and stripping — to much hooping and hollering from the boisterous crowd, who were treated to some literal eye-popping reveals.
And if you think Your Mom Kathy — a self-described larger MILF — isn't a good burlesque name, she claims the top categories on Porn Hub would say different.
— Rob Williams
THE MONKEY'S PAW
Stumble Upon a Story
Asper Centre for Theatre and Film (Venue 10), to Sunday, July 27
⭐⭐⭐
Winnipeg's Stumble Upon a Story troupe adapts the 1902 horror story by W.W. Jacobs using masks and puppetry, and a reading of the story for good measure.
If you're not familiar with the horror classic, it's about an old couple who come into possession of the titular artifact, taken from an elderly visitor as he attempts to toss the thing into the fire. It grants the bearer three wishes, but the wish involves an unanticipated sacrifice.
Jacob's much adapted and copied story relies on plucking at the reader's imagination, so it's a solid idea to adapt the story to the stage for two performers (Sarah Higgins and Jo Dixon) clad in robes and masks.
But perhaps it's too much of an abstract thing, factoring the hypnotic music and sound design by Darin Janzen.
The Monkey's Paw is a horror story first, and any production would need a jolt or two to counter the slow ritualistic music and action and the dark cool atmosphere of the venue, all of which conspire to soporific effect.
— Randall King
NERVOUS BREAKDOWN IN G MINOR
Lewis Rawlinson
Théâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 3), to Sunday, July 27
⭐⭐⭐⭐
A vulnerable young gay man aspires to be a concert cellist, but the trauma of a Mormon upbringing, drug use and psychological distress put his dreams on hold.
Given the abdication of dignity that can come along with elite pursuit, owing to the historic amount of abuse in classical music against anyone who isn't a cis male, the cure can be worse than the disease.
Their loss. Here is a brave queer soul finally living his best life: a story well told by the Chicago-based actor-musician, interspersed with well-handled Rachmaninoff in the titular minor key.
— Lara Rae
NEUROHILARITY EXPOSED
Neurohilarity
Planetarium Auditorium (Venue 9), to Saturday, July 26
⭐⭐⭐
'When I get nervous, I talk about trains. And baby, I'm always nervous.'
That quip by Adam Schwartz, who has autism, typifies the self-affirming tone of this hour-long showcase for four standup comics under the banner of Neurohilarity, a Winnipeg organization that promotes neurodiverse artists.
The comedians take ownership of their awkwardness and poke fun at the behaviours that accompany their ADD, ADHD or autism, from poor impulse control and hyperfixations to being terrible at small talk and fibbing.
The funniest set is by Rollin Penner, who was diagnosed with ADD in his 50s and is so forgetful and distractible that he can't quite recall what food one of his kids is 'deathly allergic' to.
Carole Cunningham confesses to having a 'closet of shame' for her abandoned hobby supplies. Danielle Kayahara describes herself as 'a wallflower who's bad at telling lies.'
It may be unpolished, but Neurohilarity Exposed demonstrates how laughter really can take the sting out of differences.
— Alison Mayes
TESS TALKS
The Tess Effect
Planetarium Auditorium (Venue 9), to Sunday, July 27
⭐⭐⭐ ½
The five Canadian storytellers who compose this TED Talk-inspired show — Sally Scott, Nicolette Richer, Tessa Emery, Marc Dionne and Theo — met during a retreat called Flying Soulo at the Hollyhock Cortes Island Retreat Centre in B.C., which is where these stories were born. They kept in touch and now, they are baring their souls at the fringe.
Addressing everything from depression, pelvic pain (and the painfully long journey for answers) and a midlife sexual awakening to an ayahuasca trip and a journey into the abyss, these stories are vulnerable, touching and quite often funny, delivered by engaging people.
Not everyone on the bill is as comfortable with their material as others, however, and some of the tellers are on the quiet side. At 66 minutes (a shade shorter than the 75 advertised in the program), it also feels a bit overlong. But if you're looking for relatable tales of humanity and heart, this is your show and these are your people.
— Jen Zoratti