Angels & Aliens: pros and cons.
In Angels & Aliens, co-writers and performers Sydney Hayduk and Jeff Leard take on the personae of friends and roommates Syd and Jeff who have just had sex for the first time. It was awkward. To distract themselves, they play with a new app in which, unbeknownst to them, they are determining in the fate of humanity. He (Jeff) plays for the angels and she (Syd) plays for the aliens.
The alternative realities, in which they become balletic angels and three-fingered aliens are trippy and the transitions between the three worlds are razor-sharp. I loved the surrealism of the pre- and post-show voiceovers: “Every person in this room is a person…Every person in this room is a fireman except they have hopes instead of hoses.”
But, in the historical unfurling—which is the majority of the show—Angels and Aliens runs through the checklist of major events without finding enough comedy (surprise) or content (insight). And I didn’t care about the roommate couple: he’s obtuse and she’s inarticulate.
At Studio 1398 on September 6 (8:30 p.m.), 8 (1 p.m.), 9 (9:30 p.m.), 11 (5:15 p.m.), 15 (6:30 p.m.), and 16 (3 p.m.) Tickets> Colin Thomas(This review is based on a performance at the Victoria Fringe.)
Sign up—free!—for Colin Thomas’s FRESH SHEET and get daily reviews from the Vancouver Fringe. (During the regular season, FRESH SHEET is stuffed with the world’s most fascinating theatre news. Here’s a taste.)
And, because theatre needs informed, independent criticism if it’s going to thrive, check out Colin’s Patreon campaign. (It takes a village to feed a critic.)
0 Comments