The Alberta Hospital For The Insane

The dialogue here was a real standout for me. Great flow, some lovely turns of phrase that were almost poetic. I worried a play about transness in 30's rural Alberta would be didactic, but the story was told beautifully.

Wonderful voice acting from the two performers brought these puppets to life, and the set was charming and intricate. A puppet show that breaks the boundaries of the puppet stage can be really risky but I felt it was done to good effect here more than once. I think the only element that I didn't love was the almost vaudevillian fight scenes; I wasn't totally on board with that depiction of domestic violence.

I'm a bit familiar with Calla Wright's work from when they did the Wright Brothers play a couple years ago. Interestingly, I thought that play was just alright, kind of a typical family-oriented educational play, except for the scene where Calla discussed their relationship to gender changing while they were developing the play. There was a kernel of something interesting in there that I wanted to see more of. I'm really happy to see the "more" of that come to fruition here.

The Alberta Hospital for the Insane has an element of Punch and Judy: I fully enjoyed the puppet set up. The lighting was simple and stayed the same the whole show. I appreciate that the actors were microphoned so I could hear when using the little puppets. I am not sure why, but when they used the large puppet heads -- the microphone was not on. Luckily, it was only one large head that talked, otherwise it was usually movement.

I did find that the wind noise could be a bit distracting, but otherwise had no sensory issues. I would recommend reading the shown contents and description, since it is dealing with some very heavy topics. I enjoyed the creativity of the puppets and the story set in time of the opening of the hospital. It is a beautiful story of finding the truth you even if no one else can see it.

An incredibly heartfelt story about gender identity in a different era that still resonates today. I think there were a few clumsy elements, mostly in the depiction of certain characters. I can imagine a world where the words spoken by that blue-eyed pink-cheeked puppet were fine, but the characterization just felt... I don't know, insensitive given the subject matter? Definitely worth a shot if you're looking for something with a clear and important message!

Over the top spousal violence presented by poor puppetry skills.

This puppet show was an unexpected delight. The show explored themes of gender identity and the main character’s journey in discovering their true self. The puppets and set were beautifully crafted. A very interesting and thought-provoking performance. (This was also the show that GORDON’S “stole” when I saw them… They got a few things sorta right!)

Amazing, touching, deep, engaging, thought provoking... beyond my expectations of a puppet show. Great story to start with. The voices, the rhythm of the story telling are great too. The only thing is the design of the puppet is a big original...

The Alberta Hospital for the Insane unsettles you in the way only Fringe can—with sparse puppets, jagged grief, and courage that pulses through the dustbowl cold. The archaic cartoon punch of spousal violence shocks—but so does the slow, tender reveal of Gin’s identity in a system built to erase it. And when radically stripped away—one layer of mask after another—Calla Wright stands bare as the truth of feeling itself. It’s uncomfortable, yes—but you walk away more humane for it.

The performance grips from the beginning. Much like the entertaining cavorting of the jester at a medieval court, unspeakable truths and despair are made bearable, for both the performers and the audience I feel, by the medium of puppet theater transcended by the emergence of the masked puppeteers themselves. This is Fringe at its best. Go see it!

The Alberta Hospital for the Insane - Who’s to say what’s real? By: Krissy Berkholtz

A passion project of puppets, mask, and absurdist care. The Alberta Hospital for the Insane was an adventure of the psyche that takes you down the twisted roads of Ponoka County to finding the truth that may lay underneath your subconscious. With a grim sense of humour and clever storytelling, Alberta Hospital had the audience cackling in the first minute, while still performing a thoughtful and introspective show that gave much food for thought. Written and performed by Calla Wright, along with her co-star, Ekeajia Vieira, Alberta Hospital was given a strong voice of vulnerability, resistance, and eventual acceptance that is both unique to the character, but familiar to many people you may share an audience with. Bringing new life to puppetry combined with mask work, Alberta Hospital strives beyond the confines of material to show all that is possible to express yourself in infinite ways, while the characters break down that same wall themselves in the show. The detailed puppet booth had a fun design that left the audience in suspense of “what will happen next” while the sound design was filling the room with eerie intricacies that made everyone fall into the puppeteers hands. The gothic undertones of the entire show heavily contributed to how much character interaction we saw in multiple forms up till the very end. As we look into the eyes of whoever we think the real puppeteer may be, this show will have you repeating “We are whatever we are. It’s better to let ourselves go mad than stay," as you allow yourself to be swept away into this puppeteer polished performance that is The Alberta Hospital for the Insane. The Alberta Hospital for the Insane runs from August 16th-24th.

The show is intense, deep, and emotional. It has moments where you want to jump off your seat to just give Gin, the main character, a big hug, feeling the deep pain and confusion the puppet is going through. These puppets come alive immediately when you meet them, and their struggles are as real as the history of the hospital and the rural Alberta town where this story is set. I loved the set design, the costumes, the masks and puppets, especially the way how the characters dove from one scene into the next and switching between being humans and humans in puppet form. The standing ovation this deeply moving show got tonight was more than deserved!