Vancouver Fringe Festival Fresh Sheet: Sept 6

Vancouver Fringe Festival, Magic Unicorn Island

Don’t make this child shoot. Buy tickets to Magic Unicorn Island

So far, I’ve seen 15 shows that are playing the Vancouver Fringe Festival: four are stand-outs.

Topping my list is Jayson McDonald’s Magic Unicorn Island, a  satire in which the kids of the world all move to an isolated island to protest their elders’ culture of hate—and the adults turn their weapons on the young ones. McDonald is such a smart and charismatic storyteller that everybody I talk to is in love with him. 

Of the shows I saw in Victoria, I also particularly liked Jem Rolls ATTACKS THE SILENCEI’ve seen Rolls perform his poetry many times and this show is particularly fresh and playful. I love the poem in which the words rebel.

Of the six shows I’ve seen in Vancouver so far, I’ve really enjoyed Poor and Peter n’ Chris and the Kinda OK Corral.  In Poor, first-time playwright Suzanne Ristic takes a wickedly satirical spin on our attitudes towards wealth and poverty. And comedy duo Peter n’ Chris are so damn clever and metatheatrical that I just want to bite them.

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About Colin Thomas

Colin Thomas is a Vancouver-based editor, an award-winning playwright, and an established theatre critic. Colin helps writers unlock the full potential of their novels, short stories, screenplays, and children's books.

Comments

  1. Diana Anaid says:

    Go check out ‘Junk’ at the Firehall. Its a high energy 45 minute musical from repurposed refuse. Worth your time to check it out.

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