Elizabeth LoPresti
Adam is one talented performer! He impressed with his puppet designs and puppeteer skills, being able to transform one puppet body into 12 distinct characters. The puppet was an extension of his body and he transformed his voice and physicality so much for each character, it was great but also a touch distracting as I found myself watching him and his face acting each character more than the puppet. The story has a great message and is very well done!
This show was a tight set of topical sketches. Most landed for me and brought out some deep belly laughs but a few of the repetitive bits or jokes weren’t my cup of tea. Our performance had a special guest cameo from Rachel Notley which had a standing O longer than the show’s.
Tamara is a good storyteller. This show features stories of the creation and use of her Lover Girl superpowers of trying to make everyone feel loved. Some were funny, some were sweet, but others I found tried too hard to be forced together.
I thoroughly enjoyed this work of art, a kind of piece that makes you wonder how their creative brains work to come up with this. It was much more than just an aliens landing on earth to probe humans kind of show. There was smart humour, slightly shocking humour, fun audience participation, great costumes and props, and some of the most well done physicality I’ve seen in all my years of fringing. Lauren and Eddie have magic twinkles in their eyes, having as much fun performing for us as we are having watching it.
This show was peak fringe. I went in not really knowing what to expect other than the show’s description piqued my interest and it was billed as a clown show. I left barely understanding or being able to describe most of what I saw, but do know I left entertained. Today’s show started with audience participation by a strange gent - his dad just died and his aunt sent him a WILD text calling out his behaviour. Hard to tell if it was a plant or just another strange fringe moment but Tim rolled with it leaning into his Softie persona. There’s physical comedy, stand up, video elements, balloon art, crowd work, lots of consent. Definitely not a show for everyone as evidenced by the grandmother and grandson who walked out after the first 20 minutes. But if you’re in for a slightly raunchy, yet endearing, funny show get your ticket for this ride.
Shirley Gnome is a rare talent. Her shows always stand out as delightfully unhinged. The way she sees life is so interesting and how she can turn her perspectives into songs so creative, smart, and HILARIOUS is a superpower. Don’t let the poster scare you, unless you really hate it and her tactic to weed out the wrong kind of audience is working like a charm. The last two songs didn’t hit as hard as the rest of the show for me or else would have been 5 stars.
Feels like a classic fringe show. Quirky, some audience participation, bits that landed tons of laughs and others not so much. The venue didn’t have ac and on a hot Sunday afternoon the stuffy interior air made me wishing it was a tighter 45 mins rather than an hour show.
An endearing magic show. I enjoyed that the shows had a story and through line that made the tricks feel more intentional. Just Felice plays socially awkward but our audience was full of adorable kids who happily showed her how easy it can be to make friends (and helped make the show by saying the darndest things).
I had goosebumps and not just because the Westbury had the AC cranked. Chase vulnerably shared part of his life post divorce amid some mental health struggles, captivating us with his expert storytelling and outstanding songwriting, guitar, and vocals. It was an emotional ride balanced with humour and some good life advice. The lighting design took an already great show up another notch. Highly recommend!
A wonderfully wacky work of performance art! If you’ve seen anything from Ingrid Hansen or Stephanie Morin-Robert before you know you’re in for a creative and unhinged, meticulous yet wild ride. You will laugh, you will laugh wonder, you make be shocked, and (unless you’re the patron who sat in front of me playing chess on his phone) you will likely enjoy. If you’re new to their work you might want to look up what a Merkin is and be prepared for nudity and a few shocks. Also, some of the bits from previous Merkin Sisters show return in this iteration so if your fringe journey is mostly a search for new works this might not be your cup of tea.