Digitally Disillusioned

Since 2001, with the exception of 2005, my wife and I have made an annual pilgrimage of sorts to the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. Those who don’t know what fringe festivals are should consult the wikipedia, but know that Edmonton hosts the largest fringe festival in North America and it is a constant source of alternative thought, challenging experiences, conspicuous alcohol consumption, and oodles of fun.

This year, unlike all the other years, we are taking in the opening weekend of the Fringe - we usually hit the close.  So the shows we saw yesterday were all the inaugural performances of this Fringe. I’ve tried to take that into consideration.

5 of a Kind
Written by Hugh Kemeny
Directed by Adrian Tanasichuk
Starring Sam LaCroix, Kevin Ouellet, Alex D. Mackie, Sean McQuillan, Sammy McKay with notable appearance by Eric Matheson-Jones

What a great play to open our Fringe experience! 5 of a Kind relates a meandering story about a gay Canadian youth who is traveling England, and has run into a close knit group of UK homosexuals just in time for Birmingham Pride. There is all sorts of intertwined romance, a character who is conflicted about his homosexuality (or bisexuality, unsure if thats a red herring), and a nefarious subplot of crime and intrigue. There is also a segment featuring ample full frontal male nudity. It is an interesting story, told in an interesting way that screams “FRINGE PLAY!”

I admired some of the more creative elements that reflect this - one of the fundamental set changes to indicate the two different apartments the show takes place in was a different coloured sheet thrown over some chairs (it was a stand-in for a sofa). The stage was also used creatively to indicate entrances and exists from the different imagined spaces. In one instance a character would shout from off stage indicating they were in the street below the apartment. The characters on stage would address them stage left, and then move stage right to admit them. This was all very well done.

The boldness of the script was also admirable. While the story was a bit convoluted for the 75 minute run time, the characters managed to eventually distinguish themselves which I was worried about given their number. The story featured many thought provoking elements, and themes that were challenging especially to the group of heterosexuals I took in the play with.

But while interesting, the script was a bit confusing and featured many plot elements that didn’t really seem to amount to much. The homophobic character created a lot of tension, but didn’t involve himself in the resolution of the plot to the degree his aggression seemed to demand. The subtext of travel was a bit lost in the ensuing drama, in the end seeming an awkward sort of bookend to the work. Evan, was at times framed as the main protagonist but we move around so much we start wishing the other characters we set up to take more time away from him. The acting ranged from quite competent to really not that great, but that created an atmosphere around the work that really melded well into the fringe atmosphere. These people just wanted to tell a story, and aren’t looking to be judged or evaluated or give a god damn what someone like me could possibly say. I like that a lot, but it could be really really challenging to someone unfamiliar with fringe theatre performances.

All in all, I recommend 5 of a Kind, but conditionally. I really enjoy listening to stories on gay themes and I really would like more people to tell them and more people to listen to them. This is a really well told story in that vein, but has its imperfections and they are substantial and pervasive. 2.5/5 if you like that kind of thing. Maybe a 3, especially if you like men wearing nothing but cockrings.

Phil the Void : Where The Truth Lies
Written and Performed by Phil van Hest, I think, I didn’t get or I lost my program, I was kind of drunk.

A one man, stand-up sort of comedy show, Where the Truth Lies is a continuation of Phil’s show from last year, Nature Abhors a Vacuum. It is Phil making funny observations in a manner unlike any you’ve ever experienced before. It is laugh out loud funny and witty and all sorts of awesome. I know right now I’m not going to be able to write nearly as much as I did above, but this is a show that is enjoyed viscerally, and really should be seen by anyone and everyone. To tell any more in specific would ruin the material.

But I will note that *I* got to go on stage during the performance. Announced at the top of the show, Phil runs a Straight Faced Chicana Lesbian Poetry Reading Contest. The first time someone goes to the washroom mid-performance, a volunteer (me, self named as “Attention Whore”) is dragged on stage to read from an anthology of Chicana lesbian poetry to see if they can do it with a straight face. No reading ahead, read it out loud, cold.

I made it a paragraph into the poem. “Sniff my steaming crotch” killed me.

Highly recommended, but incidentally not as streamlined or quite as refined as his show last year. Still really really funny. Bumper stickers of “Real Men Find Jesus Sexually Attractive” are available at the show for two bucks.

Absolutely a 4 out of 5. I wouldn’t miss it if you are one for sarcastic observational humour.