Left to right: Rahul Gandhi, Adrian MacDonald, Conor Tomalty, Lisa Drupsteen Photographer: Cindy Lopez
Merry Fringemas!
Scott White posted a poem on Facebook yesterday in tribute and I'd like to share a part of it here:
Though I'm sure that your show
Is truly sublime
I'm just a mere mortal
With limited time.
So know in your heart
If I miss your show
That I'm cheering you on
With my heart all aglow
I love the fringe and unlike last year I have the stability to enjoy it. So I'm back to reviewing! (You can see my previous fringe writing here.) I especially encourage you to see shows from out of town artists. Last year I finally did a fringe tour. It was so demoralizing to have such small houses because no one knows who you are, so while I know a lot of you know a million people who are in shows, try to fit someone you don't know into it.
See you at the tent! (Yeah, I know it's not a tent but it's never been a tent. It was first a club, then a parking lot, and now it's a hockey rink. It's still tenting.)
Without further ado, the first show I have seen this year. Click on the title to get to the show's fringe page.
The Peers
As someone who has loved Shakespeare's plays most of her life, I was really jazzed for this show from Montreal. The setup is 5 aspiring actors of various types have been abandoned by the rest of the production and are contractually obligated to perform all of Shakespeare's plays in an hour. What ensures is a lot of mayhem and misunderstandings that is really clever and funny. The plays that are focused on are gender-swapped and deconstructed but you don't need to know that to enjoy the set pieces.
Now, if I had written this right after the show ended, I would have said that the last fourth of the show comes out of nowhere and is an absolute mess. In the cold light of day, I see that is the whole point, a commentary on how Shakespeare tends to wrap up his plays. It swings from tragedy to comedy to some serious wtf. Which leaves me pondering - am I just slow or is this a structural problem with the play? I wanted more focus, but is that because I'm a big fan of the well-made play and therefore I'm imposing expectations on it that are unfair?
Go and decide for yourself. Get there when the doors open to enjoy the kickass pre-show music. It's a play worth seeing.
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