ROCKO AND NAKOTA: TALES FROM THE LAND

Rocko and Nakota:Tales from the Land is naïve, but it’s also so witty and openhearted that I’m very grateful for it.

In his solo show, Josh Longueduc introduces us to a little boy named Nakota who’s presenting a class project about a superhero. Very quickly, Nakota’s project threads in stories from his grandfather who comes to visit the little guy while he’s in the hospital: Nakota keeps passing out for some reason and he’s terrified that he’s going to die.

The story’s explicit and repeated message is that, if you speak your truth, people will listen. Yeah. Maybe. Depending on your truth.

But Longueduc slyly twists the trope of Indigenous wisdom: Rocko solemnly delivers bromides, but they’re not ancient lessons, they’re quotes from Metallica and the Beach Boys.

And, as a performer, Longueduc could hardly be more vulnerable or charismatic. 

At the Waterfront Theatre on September 7 (6:45 p.m.), 8 (3 p.m.), 9 (7:15 p.m.), 11 (5 p.m.), 14 (10:35 p.m.), and 16 (6:30 p.m.) Tickets > Colin Thomas(This review is based on a performance at the Victoria Fringe.)

 

 

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THE ADHD PROJECT

I like any show that makes me cry and, although it also made me laugh, The ADHD Project certainly succeeded on that front.

That’s because it tells the story of an outcast—and who can’t relate? Writer and solo performer Carlyn Rhamey, who has ADHD, was bullied and excluded for much of her school life.

Rhamey is buoyant, however: her charm is a large part of what makes The ADHD Project work. And she responds to the audience with the confidence of a comic pro. For me, the most touching material has to do with her success, as an adult, in easing the way for kids who are struggling with ADHD.

That said, Rhamey could strengthen her script considerably by concentrating less on general information and vague chronological progression and more on specific relationships—with her dad for instance. When Rhamey got frustrated with five-pin bowling as a little kid—the alley was over-stimulating—he suggested she bowl with her eyes closed. She got a strike. The guy’s a genius.

At the False Creek Gym on September 6 (6:30 p.m.), 8 (8:20 p.m.), 12 (5:15 p.m.), 13 (8:25 p.m.), 14 (6:35 p.m.), and 16 (1 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.)  

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UNSCRIPTURED

Unscriptured is very…alright.

In it, Travis Bernhardt leads us through an improvised church service. When I was there, we worshipped crying alone, which was a terrific audience suggestion—as was the runner-up, disappointing your mother.

Bernhardt structures the improv with a number of formats: in the show I saw, he led the audience/congregation in a hymn, which we sang in two parts, he read from scripture—a poem an audience member found on their phone by googling, “crying alone poetry”—and so on. This might make the evening sound like it was more fun than it actually was.

As an audience member, I found that Unscriptured offered little risk or reward. Playing his own invented game, Berhnardt, who is undeniably smart and alert, was having a better time than I was.

At Carousel Theatre on September 6 (8 p.m.), 7 (6:15 p.m.), 8 (7:30 p.m.), 9 (1:30 p.m.), 11 (6:15 p.m.), 14 (8 p.m.), 15 (3:15 p.m.), and 16 (1:30 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.)

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ANGELS & ALIENS

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.)

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RED BASTARD: LIE WITH ME

For a guy who wants to seduce his audience, Red Bastard (Eric Davis) spends an awful lot of time talking down to them.

Davis uses Lie with Me as a soapbox to promote polyamory. The opening and closing sequences are engaging, but there’s long, boring middle.

Off the top, Davis proves, handily, that everybody in the audience is a liar. He gets you to stand up, then he lists a bunch of lies and you sit down if you’ve told them. It’s provocative and it’s fun.

Then, for the body of the show, Davis makes the repetitive point that we all lie in love because the norm of monogamy forces us to—and because we like to exploit the loopholes. It’s a lecture disguised as a performance and the performance isn’t even thorough. Red Bastard is a grotesque clown but that grotesquerie is superficial and inconsistent.

In the closing moments, Red Bastard goes on a kind of date with an audience member. Davis gives up some of his control and a real story with real stakes starts to emerge—finally.

At Performance Works on September 8 (5:45 p.m.), 11 (8:35 p.m.), 12 (5 p.m.), 14 (8:25 p.m.), 15 (1 p.m.), and 16 (7:20 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.)

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5-STEP GUIDE TO BEING GERMAN 2.0

To be fair, all sorts of people in the audience found this show hilarious. The performance I was at sold out. There was even a guy outside trying to buy a ticket from people who had theirs already.

But I don’t get it.

Stand-up comic Paco Erhard traffics in cultural stereotypes: Germans are obsessive  and driven by guilt about the Holocaust; Spaniards are lazy; Italians are gangsters; and Canadians are polite.

Comedy is driven by recognition so, if you think these stereotypes are legitimate—and worth reinforcing—you might laugh. But comedy is also driven by surprise and in what universe are any of these generalizations fresh?

If you like stand-up that lets you see the punchlines coming from a long way off, book early.

 At the Waterfront Theatre on September 6 (6:15 p.m.), 8 (8:15 p.m.), 12 (5 p.m.), 13 (10:40 p.m.), 14 (6:55 p.m.), and 16 (1:15 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.)

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.  [Read more…]

Top nine sight-unseen picks for the Vancouver Fringe

Peter n' Chris and the Kinda OK Corral, Vancouver Fringe

Peter n’ Chris will tickle you stupid in Peter ‘n Chris and the Kinda OK Corral

The number of choices offered by the Fringe program guide can be overwhelming. To help you out, here are my top nine (sight-unseen) picks for the Vancouver Fringe. [Read more…]

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