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

hitodramaLOCATION:
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

CamelCamelVENUE:
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

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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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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] Waking to a New Dreamscape, A Review

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

PERFORMANCE DATES:
August 27th | 6:00 pm
August 28th | 8:15 pm
August 29th | 3:00 pm
August 30th | 9:00 pm
August 31st | 9:45 pm
Sept 1st | 6:30 pm

LENGTH: 55 minutes

Just what kind of dreams will emerge out of the human imagination? Some imagery is personal and others are symbolic. In what was presented by Viva Dance Company, it’s wholly about the experience and what feelings remain after the mind and body awakens from its trip through the Astral Plane. In this case, it’s in what people feel after leaving the show.

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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] The Wyrd is Nine! A Review

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

PERFORMANCE DATES:
Aug 28th | 6:45 pm
Aug 30th | 5:45 pm
Sept 1nd | 10:00 pm
Sept 4th | 7:15 pm
Sept 5th | 9:15 pm
Sept 6th | 5:15 pm

LENGTH: 45 minutes

Not to be confused with other variations (the Canadian band of the same name or Terry Pratchett’s sixth Discworld novel), The Wyrd Sisters by DamnSpot Theatre is an all new take on William Shakespeare’s seminal trio of witches or soothsayers who have appeared in various works. Whatever they are called, these ladies of the mystic arts do more than manipulate the men this playwright is casting as the ‘hero.’ From Caesar to Macbeth, just what tugs at the heart of these soldiers are not their ability to cajole their heart, but rather in how Fate can be cruel.

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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] The 11 o’clock Number Rocks, A Review

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

PERFORMANCE DATES:
August 27th | 9:45 pm
August 29th | 10:00 pm
August 31th | 8:00 pm
September 2nd | 9:45 pm
September 5th | 5:45 pm
September 6th | 8:30 pm

LENGTH: 60 minutes

To perform improv on stage must require the talents to think fast and furious. To see that person compose a song on the fly and be funny at the same time has to be commended. In what Grindstone Theatre has provided in their show 11 o’clock Number at the Victoria Fringe Festival 2015, which included input from me (who asked for zombies), I’m very impressed at blending the ideas of a neurosurgeon discovering a miracle in what some brain cells of her boss’ daughter can do and finding a cure to an emerging Zombie apocalypse in Victoria that would even impress Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti from CW’s iZombie. Every night promises to be different, and in what I enjoyed opening night is the comedy from Jordan Ward and Dan Moser when one of them played a gender-swapped role and the two were playing off each other with ease. They even kept the act clean. And to see them ham it up behind the singer made for a hilarious contrast.

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