Who’s never had the urge to find out how an alzheimer afflicted patient solves a murder-mystery? That’s the foundation that Forget Me Not builds its narrative upon, and it’s a stupendously hilarious one-man performance that might leave you looking forward to the latest stages in your life – so much fun is it to watch a retired detective weave his way through the facts in front of him, and his own shoddy memory.
Tag Archives: Theatre
Fringe 2013: Brains The Zombie Musical review
If you’re looking to check out a zombie shindig at the fringe festival, think long and hard about that inclination. I’m sure there must be another show that also intrigues you, and whatever that show is, it can’t be as painful to watch as Brains The Zombie Musical.
Fringe 2013: Grim and Fischer review
Photo by James Douglas
The Wonderheads are back at the Edmonton fringe with Grim and Fischer, and while their most recent effort didn’t tickle my heart-strings as strongly as their previous works, they’re unique combo of full face-masks and physical theatre are still a family-friendly joy to take in.
Fringe 2013: Can’t Contain My Dance review
Can’t Contain My Dance is a great contemporary-dance show themed around “the many hats that women wear in life.” I just wish the dancers’ statement of intent wasn’t carelessly thrown at the audience in the form of a video that served as more of a sleazy dance-studio ad than a necessary aid to my enjoyment of their art.
Fringe 2013: CIRCLE review
From the moment that a BDSM discount coupon slipped out of my program as I walked into the venue, I knew I was probably in for one of the most sexy shows at this years’ Fringe. I just wasn’t aware that I was about to see one of the best sexy shows I’ve seen at the festival in all my years.
Fringe 2013: The Rambler review
Country music and the culture that goes with it is something that doesn’t jive with everyone, but despite being staged in a sweltering bar with shitty sight-lines, The Rambler is a show worth seeing that explores where homosexuality fits into the motto “true country.”
Fringe 2013: Freud’s Last Session review
A philosopher and an author walk into a study…
It sounds like the beginning of a nerdy graduate student’s joke, but rather than the first part of a cheesy one-liner, it’s the simple premise behind the great two-man-onslaught that is Freud’s Last Session.
Freud invites C. S. Lewis over to his home outside London to start the show. It’s the beginning of the German bombings during the second World War – the warning sirens are literally sounding outside during points of the show – but these two men have much more pressing matters to address.
Fringe 2013: Innocent When You Dream review
Innocent When You Dream is a great example of a show trying to follow the fringe formula, but failing badly.
Zeb West, attempts to mash the tales of Moby Dick and Don Quixote into a single story that sees himself, and the novels’ protagonist trapped in the belly of a whale. West uses puppets, curses, and – admittedly interesting – props fashioned from the wreckage of ships to try and show audiences a good time, but his anachronistic jokes fall flat, and his puppetry and awkward audience participation lack substance. Innocent When You Dream is listed at 60 minutes, but I clocked it at 36.
A long 36 minutes that should be spent elsewhere.
Fringe 2013: What Gives? review
If you ask any trained musician about the rests written on their score, they’ll tell you that the moments of silence are equality important to the notes meant to be heard.
This production What Gives? doesn’t feature any live musicians at all (the actors sing along with a quiet, prerecorded accompaniment) and while the basic foundations for an ok show are present, the cast’s performances – or more accurately, the lack there of during the quiet, and off-focus moments really drag the show down. Kind of like a musician who forgot to “play” their rests.
Fringe 2013: Limbo review
There’s a healthy bit of confusion going on in Limbo, but If you’ve got an obsessive penchant for one-man monologues, it shouldn’t disappoint you too badly.
Andrew Bailey tells a story of his own coming of age while coping with various social anxiety issues often stemming from his religion, and at the same time he tries to deliver a humorous, yet serious explanation of the meaning of life. He purports to solve the philosophical question in the first minute of his monologue and then “unsolve” it for the next 59.
This premise is a fairly successful one, but depending on how you interpret his solution, you might feel that he either undersells the rest of the play, or too drastically diverges from his initial point.
Kevin Pennyfeather 