by AMY BARRATT | More Fringe reviews...

For the first few days of the Fringe, I decided that, rather than go to shows I had marked with “must see” stars in the programme, I’d check out some of the ones I’d marked with question marks—ones capable of going either way. Predictably, some of them were revelations and others… not so much.

Torched

At last year’s Fringe, I avoided a play called The Hope Slide because, based on the publicity material, I thought it would be too earnest and/or pretentious. I heard from several sources after the fact that it was wonderful. That was the only reason I decided to go see the same company’s production this year, Torched. Otherwise, it sounded like a different kind of nightmare: a play, based on a true story, about a 12-year-old burned beyond recognition in an accident. This company needs to get better publicity because Torched is indeed a tightly written, even—if you can believe it—enjoyable show.

I was completely won over by the remarkable performer, Terri-Lyn Storey. Writer Kate Twa manages to depict how a happy, middle-class family falls apart following the horrific event without ever exploiting that event. Storey even manages to earn a few hard-won laughs. What are you waiting for? Go. (Venue 4, Mirror Stage, 4247 St-Dominique)

Tippi Seagram’s Happy Hour

This was definitely a show that could have gone either way. I was drawn to the promise of a monologue by a fictional “hard-boiled screen heroine, self-proclaimed sex goddess, sophisticated screwball.” On the other hand, the quotes from the show in the press release weren’t all that funny, and if this was the best material... I needn’t have worried. Tippi’s material may not be dazzlingly original, but she is a force to be reckoned with. Imagine Katharine Hepburn crossed with Carrie Fisher, with a little Mae West thrown in. I laughed myself silly over her comparison of children to terrorists, and her tales of her domineering, movie star mother. Ideally, this frank-talking bottle blonde needs a house full of gay men and over-40 straight women to feed off of, but she did her best with the two straight guys and one lesbian who attended last Saturday’s performance in the dripping-hot Venue 11 (The Nest, 3673 St-Dominique).

The Bionic Yahoos Are Famous for a Week

This Montreal sketch comedy troupe’s material probably seems a lot funnier after several beers. Seen in the middle of the day stone-cold sober, a lot of it comes across as lame. Way too much potty humour for my taste, but I’ll give them this: the pace never drags. And at least the venue (#4, Mirror Stage, 4247 St-Dominique) is air-conditioned.

Doppelganger

Presented by New Brunswick’s Theatre Free Radical, this is one of the longer shows at the Fringe, listed as running 85 minutes. I left before it was over, so I can’t tell you for sure how long it runs, only that it’s too long. The production—about a Canadian oilman taken hostage “somewhere in the Middle East”—starts out pretty well, with reasonably creative staging involving projections and multi-purpose oil barrels. But it degenerates into long static dialogues in which the actors represent ideas more than characters. The performances are bloodless. (Venue 2, Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, 3900 St-Denis)

Felix Listens to the World

Clocking in at less than the 40 minutes listed in the programme, this Aussie offering struck me as unfinished. I enjoyed the use of “found” props, and the low-tech lighting, but the story, about love lost, didn’t seem to go anywhere. (Venue 2, Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, 3900 St-Denis)

Drinking in America

Addiction in America would be a more accurate title for this 20-year-old play by Eric Bogosian. The series of monologues, presented here by Calgary’s Sage Theatre, has aged well, despite references to Ricky Schroeder and Richard Chamberlain. Alone on stage but for a few props is the intense and energetic David Trimble. Characters from a teenage delinquent to a coke-snorting Hollywood producer-type take centre stage one by one, creating a depressing collage of modern American life. Not to be missed. (Off A, Théâtre Ste-Catherine, 264 Ste-Catherine E.)

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