Fringe Festival Web Report #3
Friday, July 7th

By GLENN SUMI

PICKS

After Soulpepper's excellent production of Betrayal last fall, I was afraid that Winnipeg's English Suitcase Theatre Fringe version would pale by comparison. How wrong I was. Their excellent production of the chronologically backward classic about three Brits in a love triangle works well in a spare setting (just a table and a couple of chairs). The use of British accents -- something Soulpepper didn't attempt -- suits the play's clipped language, and the show moves at a healthy pace. Images and words ricochet throughout the 80 miutes, and the performers are superb. The show made me see and hear the play in a new way. Plus, the conclusion, which is often played as the most understated scene in show, has a genuinely climactic feel to it here. It's exhilarating.

PANS

After the success of The Vagina Monologues, the ripoffs were bound to come. Enter The Penis Chronicles, a dreadful look at the male member of the species. Penis facts and dick jokes are interspersed with co-author Daniel Cole's maudlin revelations about his own penis and how it's got him into pleasure or trouble. Only comic Steve Levine rises to the occasion as a witty standup.

Is there only one restaurant in all of New York City? That's the impression you'd get watching the tiresome and derivative show Rhetoric, about two single gals discussing sex and relationships in the Big Apple. A couple of nice moments can't make up for the cliched plot, amateurish staging and embarrassing over-acting. Or for the fact that the two women always end up, sitcom style, in the same restaurant.

There are, I think, 11 characters to follow in Flush. Two bad the creators of the play didn't, er, flush half of them away. Then maybe we'd be able to follow the story of a 40th anniversary party gone awry. The generally fine cast tries hard, and I think the writers -- who gave us the fine play bittergirl -- are experimenting. But it's too scattered -- a plot point about the environment is simply silly -- and we never get to focus on anything at any given time.

BUZZ

• Just found out why Mary Crosbie, of the high-energy show Welcome To My Nightmary, cancelled her July 12 show. Seems a little outfit called Saturday Night Live wants to interview her that day. And dammit, you don't say "Can we reschedule?" to SNL. They're flying her down to Manhattan that day, and she'll return for her final two shows July 13 and 14.

  The show itself is definitely worth seeing. Crosbie has a manic energy that must be experienced live to be believed. That mania is perfect for her role as a recovering alcoholic living in a crappy apartment and dealing with horrible neighbours and an AA sponsor who goes off the wagon. Via some very impressive video scenes, Crosbie also plays her evil twin Steven, who sends her psychic messages to kill people. Yes, it's funny. And Crosbie, with her mischievous eyes and huge voice, is a performer you can't take stop watching.

• The show didn't go on last night (Friday July 6) at two venues. A power outage resulted in lights out for What To Do With Jack Perdue at the Glen Morris, as well as the Bring Your Own Venue show The Lark. Street lights around the Glen Morris were out as well. And I?m told the problem was NOT caused by the addition of air conditioners at the venue.
• It's a fact of life that you leave a Fringe show heavier than when you entered. The reason? Handbills. Everyone feels compelled to stuff their handbill into your hands. But all handbills are not created equal. Try, for instance, to get your fingers on the high quality, limited edition set of eight collector cards for Iona Rose Mackay and Kimwun Perehinec's show Static Cling. It's a work of art, with the two actor/writers looking like groovy superheroes out at a rave. The cards come thanks to Perehinec's job at the graphics design firm Interbrand Tudhope.