Tag: Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival

When The Light The Peony Lantern is …

The Peony Lantern | 牡丹燈籠 — INTREPID THEATREVictoria Fringe Festival

Showtimes:
Sept 10 to 16th

Streaming Online
Tickets can be bought online.

Botan Dōrō (牡丹燈籠, The Peony Lantern) is a classic Japanese ghost story that can easily deliver chills when adapted to the silver screen. It’s been made and remade since coming into publication circa 17th Century. One of its earliest incarnations was a 1910 silent film production from which I feel The Yokohama Theatre Group took inspiration from. There’s a German Expressionist design—intentional or not—which I recognize. The angles the two huge projection screens intersect are very reminiscent of how two walls in The Cabinet of Caligari bend towards Francis (with one foot bound to a chain) as though it’s laying pressure, holding him down.

The visual motifs are very clear in the theatrical adaptation. Here, the team creates a fantastic illusion of movement. One example is how the rickshaw seems to come alive when in front of a moving video. It carries a new arrival. A lone traveller, Islay Vogel (Nora Beryll), arrives by boat to Japan and he doesn’t have a place to stay until his cab gets lost, introduces a wandering spirit, and finally makes its way to a hostel. There, he encounters an attractive female, O-Tsuyu (May Sera), even though his landlady seems unaware of, and the young adults fall in love. 

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The Shadow in the Water, a Different Kind of Shark Tale

David Elendune talent for making characters we can empathize with is why I’m always there for his shows.

shadowVictoria Fringe Festival

Showtimes:
Sep 8, 2021 – Sep 12, 2021

Metro Studio Theatre
111 Quadra St.
Victoria, BC

Tickets can be bought in advance here.

Anyone who knows Peter Schilling’s music video of his hit single, “Major Tom,” may well get the shivers when learning about Mary’s life in David Elendune’s The Shadow in the Water. She’s coming home alright, but not in a way I would immediately suspect.

This story billed as a tale of love, loss and sharks is a deceptive tease. I’m thinking it’s about sailing into the mystic, Van Morrison style. This octogenarian is recounting moments about her life to Sharon. I assume this younger character is a caretaker sent to check in on this senior–who is listening to the broadcast of the Apollo 11 landing at the start of the play. Bits of this landmark moment in human history plays out throughout the show, and it’s highly suggestive that eventually, Mary’s time will come to “go home.” 

Instead, Mary is lost in her own memories. She wants someone to know everything she’s done since before the night fades away.

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Victoria, BC’s Fringe Festival is Back! Journey with Alice as …

Anyone who knows that movie will realize that Alice is struggling in this Fringe Festival performance, but eventually she perseveres.

Victoria FringeAug 13 to Sept 24 — INTREPID THEATREAug 13th to 18th
Tickets can be purchased in advance here.

The Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival is back, and it’s adapted to allow enthusiasts of the dramatic arts to attend shows in person and online. That is, for the live stage shows, instead of rows of seats, we have tables. This change makes sense as we are still in a pandemic, and it allows for some distancing between social bubbles so that small groups of friends can stick together when going to a performance.

Kicking off the 2021 edition, the shows are spread throughout four weeks at The Metro theatre venue. All the in-person events will take place here, and for once, we’re not running around town to get to another show. One year, the Fringe will return to that format, but until the health officers say we’re past the health scare, I believe Intrepid Theatre will stick to this new format.

To read a list of my picks of the Fringe, I’ve published a guide on my food & theatre site, Twohungryblokes.com

In the show to kick off the Fringe, Alice explores Wonderland, not in the Lewis Carrol sense but ala Carl Jung. This young girl is losing her mom. In the opening act, she’s asked to see the doctor. Afraid, instead of wanting to face the inevitable, she steps into a void and hits a barrier. 

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Out of Victoria Fringe Festival Comes Theatre SKAM’s SciFi The Rage Trials

The Rage Trials

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Imagine, if you will, an alternative universe–a world just like our own, but different. Every 100 years, seven randomly selected teenagers get to decide the emotional foundation to which humanity has to adopt. The science is never explained in how one can edit the wide range of feelings a human has to express, but the option exists to wipe away the trait known as anger.

Theatre SKAM‘s The Rage Trials is not unlike The Hunger Games, The Purge or Logan’s Run of how a greater will can impose a ‘natural selection’ in the continuation of a species. Playwright Emma Leck is better known for her play Drops in a Broken Fountain which examines the human condition. It won the 2018 Winnipeg Fringe Award of Best New Play. She also wrote a similarly philosophical work How to Want (an Intrepid Theatre YOUshow with Vino Buono) which Joff Schmidt of CBC News wrote she’s a talent to watch.

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Where’s Pippin? Oh, at SMUS’ 20th Anniversary at Victoria Fringe Festival

Image result for victoria fringe pippinLocation:
St. Michaels University School
3400 Richmond Road

Remaining Shows:
Aug 30 07:00 pm
Aug 31 02:00 pm
Aug 31 07:00 pm

No year of attending the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival can be complete without a show from St Michaels University School as they put on a high school level production of an award winning Broadway play. This year is notable as the summer program which teaches theatre celebrate 20 years and returns to Pippin. This musical was their very first.

In all the years I’ve been covering this event, I feel it’s worth the trip away from the event core (downtown Victoria) to check out. Fans of Broadway shows will not be disappointed. To note: the cast rotates, so each student gets to play two different roles.

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[VFF2019] Beware of What 13 Dead Dreams may Come!

13 Dead Dreams of \"Eugene\"Location:
Metro Studio Theatre
(Fringe Venue 3)
1411 Quadra Street

Remaining Shows:
Aug 31 05:30 pm
Sep 01 02:00 pm

13 Dead Dreams of “Eugene” could not be any more timely. Hot on the heels of the cinematic adaptation of Scary Tales to Tell in the Dark, Fringe theatre goers can have the thrill of experiencing a shadow play and trying to solve a mystery in the grand tradition of Alfred Hitchcock‘s best whodunits (the poster design is heavily inspired from Vertigo) and Man Ray‘s surrealist works. Technical spoiler alert: most of the projections are common objects that show creators Erika Kate MacDonald and Paul Strickland found in the kitchen. This duo offers a song and dance in between separate narratives such as “Water Under the Bridge” and “Mummy of Sabina, Ohio.”

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