I wasn’t having nearly as much fun as many of the folks around me seemed to be having. The premise of this offering from the duo called Brunch is that they’re performing sketch comedy — in 1424 — so most of the jokes are anachronisms and some of them are pretty good. Allie Entwistle and Kerri Donaldson play a couple of workers who have barista attitudes even though they’re torturers. When their supervisor arrives, they remind them that the blood vat needs to be emptied regularly: “It’s a code thing. We could get shut down.” A PowerPoint presentation called “Keeping Your Kingdom Rebellion-Free” includes stats based on BC’s minimum wage. And there’s plenty of feminist material, especially when they’re playing witches. But, for me, the anachronism gambit didn’t hold, and the team’s performance style was problematic. Entwistle and Donaldson speak rapidly and off-handedly, often overlapping one another, so their delivery isn’t clear. Energetically, Entwistle dominates and, while Entwistle generally faces out to the audience, Donaldson always turns to face her. That often involves upstaging herself, which makes her even harder to hear. Throughout, I had the sense that I was missing things. This hasn’t happened in any other performance. When I spoke with a young woman after the show, she said she also had trouble hearing. She blamed it on the volume of the musical cues.
At the Vancouver Fringe Festival. Remaining performances at The Revue Stage: September 8, 6:35 pm; September 9, 8:55 pm; September 13, 8:30 pm; September 14, 2:25 pm; September 15, 8:30 pm. Tickets
(Photo of Kerri Donaldson, left, and Allie Entwistle by Nolan Sage)
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