Category: Theatre

[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] Why Don’t You Stay Awhile at the Casino Royale? A Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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LOCATION:
St Andrew’s Gymnasium
1002 Pandora
Victoria , BC

SHOWTIMES:
Sept 2 | 5:45 pm
Sept 5 | 10:30 pm
Sept 6 | 3:00 pm

DURATION:
54 minutes

No fan of Ian Fleming’s work will want to escape from Casino Royale lest James Bond strips him or her cash bare. This story by Ian Fleming is what launched a franchise and this play directed by Ian Case (a very respected theatre veteran in Victoria, BC) and written by David Elendune (who is equally getting renown) did a great job in pacing out a story that works very well on stage. Usually cold war dramas are tough to manage in a medium outside of film, and for Bond … James Bond, the early works certainly looks very adaptable. His adventures were told in comic strips before. On stage, at the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival, experimentation is highly encouraged!

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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] Adapting Neil Gaiman’s Fortunately, the Milk to Stage, A Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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LOCATION:
The Roxy Theatre
2657 Quadra Street
Victoria, BC

SHOWTIMES:
September 1 | 6:00 pm
September 4 | 9:30 pm
September 5 | 8:30 pm
September 6 | 7:15 pm

DURATION: 60 minutes

Anyone familiar with Neil Gaiman‘s Fortunately, the Milk will find Windwhistle Theatre’s adaptation for the Fringe festival circuit captivating. Marion Jeffery is excellent giving life to the spoken word, and she commands the stage. When considering her background includes working at Birmingham Children’s Theatre in Birmingham, Alabama, and performing at The Kennedy Center, no one should be surprised. Both adults and children will be enthralled in how vividly well she can recall the text.

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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] Exploring the Meaning of Bear Dreams, A Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

BearDreamsVENUE:
Metro Studio Theatre
1411 Quadra St.
Victoria, BC

Aug 28 | 10:00 pm
Aug 30 | 7:15 pm
Sept 3 | 8:30 pm
Sept 4 |5:30 pm
Sept 5 | 7:30 pm
Sept 6 | 6:45 pm

The geek in me really has to ask: do androids dream of electric sheep? Can bears even recall what they ate last winter? When they hibernate, just what motor functions truly shut down? If I’m beginning to sound like Jerry Seinfeld, I apologize, but I just have to get this indulgence out of my system. The reason why I ask these questions is because the world created by Ian Ferrier is not about the future but is in regards to Canada’s past. The themes found in Bear Dreams are very closely related to Philip K. Dick‘s tale in how animal species are disappearing. Here, the question of what European colonization of this new world has done to the wilderness for these creatures, First Nations tribes included, is explored. In what I’ve noticed, the creatures are symbolic of a heritage being destroyed and must be recovered.

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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] Haunting the Stage with Hitodama, A Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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LOCATION:
The Roxy Theatre
2657 Quadra Street
Victoria, BC

SHOWTIMES:
Aug 31 | 7:45 pm
Sept 2 | 7:45 pm
Sept 5 | 3:45 pm
Sept 6 | 8:45 pm

DURATION: 60 minutes

If you love scary campfire ghost stories told in the vein of Tales of the Crypt, then Hitodama is one fun play to see. This title is also the Japanese name of what Westerners know as Will-o’-the-wisps and they are far more sentient. This production from Mochinosha (also known as The Wishes Mystical Puppet Company) will certainly show how well versed the producers are in the lore from the land of the rising sun. They also performed the raunchy show Oni at last year’s Fringe using the same techniques as before. They use paper cut-outs to create shadows on a silver screen and this style is very àpropos when considering how the supernatural is often perceived. As an avid paranormal enthusiast, I wanted to see this show as fast as humanly possible. But even on premiere night, which was last Friday, the only way I could have made it is if I had a doppelgänger. As long as it was psychically connected to me, my third eye would know all.

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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] Camel Camel, I Got Your Back, A Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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VENUE:
Metro Studio Theatre
1411 Quadra St.
Victoria, BC

PERFORMANCE DATES:
Sept 1 | 8:15 pm
Sept 2 | 6:30 pm
Sept 4 | 8:45 pm
Sept 5 | 4:00 pm

LENGTH: 60 minutes

I’m surprised that reference to Ukrainian poet Oleg Navolska and his works are not accessible online. When the Fringe Theatre play Camel Camel is loosely based on his writings, something of his work should be available somewhere to look at. While I have yet to hit the University of Victoria campus library to see if any librarian (or a Professor of Ukrainian studies) knows of him, I have hope the source material is somewhere. I’m fascinated with the Surrealist movement and when this style has influenced various mediums (art, film and literature), I certainly want to know more.

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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] God is a Scottish Drag Queen 2, A Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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VENUE:
Downtown Activity Centre
755 Pandora Ave.
Victoria, BC

PERFORMANCE DATES:
Aug 28 | 8:00 pm
Aug 29 | 6:15 pm
Sept 1 | 9:45 pm
Sept 2 | 6:15 pm
Sept 4 | 10:15 pm
Sept 5 | 2:00 pm

LENGTH: 60 minutes

Honestly, what can I say about Mike Delamont that I haven’t said before? This master of comedy has a quick wit and love for pop culture to make his show, God is a Scottish Drag Queen II, a joy to see. I reviewed the first version many years ago when it premiered at the 2011 Fringe. It’s reprinted below and what I said then still applies now to his wonderful stand up comedy act. Over the years, this institute of the Victoria theatrical entertainment scene has taken his act on the road and slips into the role (or should I say dress robes?) easily. He also answers why the show hasn’t emerged earlier; when Fringe selection happens by lottery, he had to wait until his submission was finally pulled out of the hat.

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