Tag Archives: Spoken Word

08.31.15
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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] Adapting Neil Gaiman’s Fortunately, the Milk to Stage, A Review

IMG_3352 GOOD smallLOCATION:
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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08.31.15
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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] Exploring the Meaning of Bear Dreams, A Review

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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08.31.15
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[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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08.29.15
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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’15] The Lexicon of the Brothers Grimm is Fully Explored in The Untold Tales, A Review

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

PERFORMANCE DATES:
August 27th | 7:45 pm
August 29th | 6:30 pm
August 30th | 3:45 pm
September 3rd | 6:30 pm
September 4th | 10:30 pm
September 5th | 2:00 pm

LENGTH: 75 minutes

Audiences going to see The Untold Tales of the Brothers Grimm will be treated to lesser known tales from the trio and to quick summarizes of their better known tales. But wait, not everyone will know that the family consisted of nine siblings. Jacob (Josh Sundmann) and Wilhelm (Nich Gulycz) are the duo who achieved wider recognition. Some members passed away before their prime and others were not as involved in these two’s endeavours. What makes this show fascinating is a look into how one of the members of the family really wanted to be part of Jacob and Wilhelm’s life. The mousey Ludwig Grimm (Brooke Baliam) adds an element to the show that helps provide a plot. On the historical front, and perhaps overlooked for this play, is his contribution to the Grimm legacy by providing an illustrative front-piece to a later edition of their book, Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

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