Category: Theatre

Ed’s Picks of the 2017 Vancouver Fringe Festival

Vancouver Fringe Festival

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

When frequent Fringe theatre attendees can not get enough from one festival, thankfully those living in the Pacific Northwest can hop a ferry over to continue the fun. A few days is definitely needed to rest (thank god for Labour Day) to rest up before going from Victoria to Vancouver, British Columbia, performers included. This mainland side show starts September 7th and lasts for the same amount of days as the capital city.

Now if I can convince a relative to let me crash there for a week, the following are my picks of this show I feel are must see. I’m not repeating those I have seen already. You can click on this link to see my picks from the Victoria show — most of which are appearing in Vancouver.

Please click on the show titles for the show dates and to purchase tickets.

Vancouver Fringe FestivalSWORDPLAY: A PLAY OF SWORDS

Chandelier-swinging, dastardly schemes and swordfights, swordfights, swordfights await as Sex T-Rex bring their signature cinematic style to the stage, dancing from The Princess Bride, to Final Fantasy, to Game of Thrones and dipping their rapier wit into all things sordid and sworded.

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(Updating) Victoria Fringe Festival 2017 Review Recap!

Victoria Fringe Festival 2017 Banner

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

The 31st Annual Victoria Fringe Festival is upon us and reached the mid-way point. New shows are coming and they will be previewed tonight at the Metro Studio 10pm.

In what I saw over the past couple of days, I’m offering an index of the reviews to which I have published on Otaku’s sister blog, Two Hungry Blokes, instead of copying the content over. If any of them sound interesting, most of these shows are touring and will soon hit a local Fringe Theatre Festival near you. Please check your local arts bulletin for the nearest city and dates.

Continue reading “(Updating) Victoria Fringe Festival 2017 Review Recap!”

Building up to Paper Street Theatre’s War: Improv is Hell at Victoria Fringe Festival 2017

Throughout the years, Paper Street Theatre have always shown that they have a lot of fun on stage.

Vancouver Fringe FestivalLocation:
Victoria Event Center
1415 Broad St.

Upcoming Dates:
Aug 28 8:30 pm
Aug 30 7:15 pm
Aug 31 7:15 pm
Sep 02 3:45 pm

Throughout the years, Paper Street Theatre have always shown that they have a lot of fun on stage. Whether that is during the Victoria Fringe Festival, at Gottacon (now defunct) or at Intrepid Theatre‘s own studio, I discovered them through An Improvised Quentin Tarantino back in 2013. They made a sequel in 2016. The latter could have been sooner if not for the nature for how Fringe Festival shows are selected, by lottery. Afterwards, I saw their Improv Dungeons and Dragons show twice. When looking at their upcoming season, I’m excited to see how they will be playing with the Zombie genre come Christmas and pay tribute to Ray Bradbury. Not to be forgotten, Agatha Christie is also going to be improvised.

Continue reading “Building up to Paper Street Theatre’s War: Improv is Hell at Victoria Fringe Festival 2017”

[Victoria Fringe Festival 2017] A Peek into a World Premiere of “Leer”

LEER-Skull

Metro Studio Theatre
1411 Quadra Street
Victoria, BC

The 2017 Victoria Fringe Festival will soon take over this Garden City located on Vancouver Island, and Outpost 31 (Casino Royale, Winnie the Pooh) is back with the world premiere of Leer. David Elendune wrote and directed this tale which looks into the deepest layer of Hell, where Satan is female (played by Wendy Magahay, known for Jocasta Regina and The Old Lady’s Guide to Survival) and has three daughters — Lilith (Ellen Law), Beelzebub (Amber Landry) and Asmodeus (Wendy Cornock) — to tend to. The cast also includes Pan (Caroline Mackenzie) and Belphegor (Leanne Allen).

Magahay explained why she took on the role: “I’m a mother, so I’m used to making scary choices. Because it’s a terrific story and actors can’t resist good stories. Because it’s gender-bent and provides a new and important lens. And sadly, because mad dictators seem never to go out of style!”

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Making a B Line (can’t say P) to Potted Potter

potted-potter-posterBy Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

I’m no stranger to the ‘reduced’ format when stage performers decide to condense a very well-known work from its voluminous size down to a few minutes. The final result is often hilarious and you do not need to attempt to read the book afterwards! Take, for example, the many works of William Shakespeare (which the Reduced Shakespeare Company is famous for) or Star Wars (One Man Star Wars). There’re other works too, and when I heard about Potted Potter, I had to be there and drag James Shaw along.

Interestingly enough this show has a James Percy as the straight-laced half of the comedic duo (he plays Harry throughout the show) who knows the material and Joseph Maudsley making himself appear like he did not know the books. Maudsley was kinetic on stage and cross-dressed. Can you imagine him as Cho Chang? For the strong male personalities, he played Hagrid like a Scotsman. To hear him claim that he had not finished reading the saga made the sitcom all the more hilarious because what’s on stage mirrored the friendship I have with my buddy. Though I don’t slap James around, he does get well-deserved noogies. In order to know how to play out some scenes, Joseph was required to know the final book by the end of the show. I bet my buddy felt a little lost. Continue reading “Making a B Line (can’t say P) to Potted Potter”

Just How Many Times Can John Cleese & Eric Idle Be Together Again at Last, for the Very First time

CleeseAndIdleCartoonBy Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Eric Idle and John Cleese are “Together Again at Last, for the Very First Time” — that’s the name of their show, and these living legends certainly had me enjoying their quirky comedy live and singing along to the many memorable tunes Idle composed over the years. Cleese, as a producer, recounted how Monty Python formed (it was through fortunate circumstance) and while some of the content is familiar — from his previous tours — to see the two join forces showed just how loved they are by fans.

They talked about the origins of the group and two of their movies: Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Life of Brian near the end of the first act. With Spamalot by the Victoria Operatic Society still fresh in memory, to be reminded of this Arthurian tale not only had me wondering which parts of the films they enjoyed the most. When Cleese talked about what worked cinematically, I get the sense he wants to be more involved in the production of a film. It’s a medium he’s embraced and to hear him praise cinematographer Terry Bedford as to how to comedy should be captured on film, had the movie editor in me take mental notes. His little lecture reminded me in how live skits should really get recorded so nothing is missed. Instead of relying on consistent cuts for close-ups and focusing on one character, a better technique is to go wide, and let the actors do their routine. That is, the camera is better off left to catch the action as a single shot.

Continue reading “Just How Many Times Can John Cleese & Eric Idle Be Together Again at Last, for the Very First time”