MARTIN DOCKERY: DELIRIUM
The less acrobatic it is, the better it gets. Fringe storyteller Martin Dockery’s trademark style can be fun. He’s got a raspy, enthusiastic voice and he flaps around so much that sometimes it looks like he’s trying to take off. When he's building a narrative, Dockery...
FORGET ME NOT – THE ALZHEIMER’S WHODUNNIT
"Getting old," retired detective Jim (Rob Gee) muses, "is a bit like getting mugged." Jim is losing his mind and it's coming at a bad time, since he has one final case to investigate: his wife's suspicious death in a dementia ward. Gee is an elastic performer who...
BIG SISTER
Big Sister is intelligent, relevant, charmingly performed—and a lot less satisfying than you’d expect. Playwright Deborah Vogt explores her relationship with her sister Naomi, who lost 75 pounds as an adult. Naomi performs the solo show, which is written in her voice,...
JASPER IN DEADLAND
This glorious musical retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice explodes out of the starting gate—and almost self-destructs on its high-octane ambitions. Jasper loves Agnes. Agnes dives off a cliff. Jasper follows her into the underworld. Divine shenanigans ensue. The...
BLACKBIRD
In Blackbird, playwright David Harrower invites us to witness a deeply unsettling conversation. The lasttime they met, Una was a 12-year-old child and Ray was a 40-year-old child abuser. After 15 years, Una has shown up at Ray’s office to try to understand how he has...
TRAVELTHEATRICS
Writer and solo performer Keara Barnes has a warmly engaging stage presence—which counts—but her travel stories barely reach the level of being mildly interesting and there’s almost no sense in the script of growing insight or any other kind of accumulation....
THE LADY SHOW
THE LADY SHOW What a fabulous 25-minute sketch show! Unfortunately, the runtime is 55 minutes. The end result settles somewhat south of fabulous, but it's still a net positive. Four uproarious actresses present a variety of approaches—stand-up! sketches! stand-up...
FIELD ZOOLOGY 101
Shawn O’Hara is my new Fringe hero. He created or helped to create two of my favourite Fringe shows: Field Zoology 101 and Fake Ghost Tours. (See that review below.) In Field Zoology 101, O’Hara becomes lecturer Dr. Brad Gooseberry. And you never know what’s going to...
AWKWARD HUG
The medium, as they say, is the message and the medium in the moving and masterful Awkward Hug is writer and solo performer Cory Thibert. Thibert looks like a wary Prince Charming. Athletic and a fan of screamo bands, he seems to be a guy’s guy. And, at times, he is...
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