Fringe Festival – Day 8
My viewing patterns change as the Fringe draws on. Early, I watch shows by friends because I want to make sure I don’t miss them. I watch shows by popular producers because I don’t want to risk a sell out.
Later, I start watching shows that have been recommended by others or I just give something a try because I have an open spot on my schedule and nothing to see.
There’s a lot of excitement when one walks into a show you know nothing about. It could be fantastic. It could be awful. It will probably be somewhere in between.
Fringe is a voyage of theatrical discovery. The artists are looking to discover or expand their voice. The audience is looking to discover new artists. Over the last few days, I’ve been doing a lot more discovery as an audience member.
Here are the two shows I saw on Thursday. One was a discovery and the other was by an old favorite.
God has stopped writing and that means people have stopped dying. So far, things don’t sound too bad.
The problem is, things have also gotten pretty boring. When God stops writing, nothing much happens any more. Except for a surfing competition.
So death, along with Adam and Eve (the names are just a coincidence), need to help god get past his writer’s block.
The show is absurd and includes what felt like a few superfluous elements but when the laughs come, they are well earned. The actors were young but had a lot of charisma and energy. As a discovery, they were a good choice.
Now, one point with which to quibble only because it annoyed me. Late in the show, a character admonishes God by telling him writing is easy.
I wanted God to take that moment to remind everyone that writing is hard. Because if writing was easy, everyone could do it. And every Fringe show would be brilliant. Writing is hard.
OK, I have served my own personal self interests and complained the show did not support my agenda. I will now move on.
Tim Uren has delved deeply into horror over the last several years. His talent for comedy is still frequently on display in his shows but there is a lot of darkness to be found in his unique voice.
What I found interesting in Melancholy London was the way the show was more of a relationship drama than I expected. He used a story of what may be a demonic creature lurking in an obscure corner of London as a catalyst to show us a broken relationship.
And, perhaps, it will also serve as the catalyst to fix that relationship.
If I had one wish for the play, it would be that it lasted about another fifteen minutes. When the nature of the supernatural element was revealed, I wanted more.
Given the nature of the Fringe, there weren’t another fifteen minutes to be had. All the same, I liked what I saw enough to see it expanded. Some Fringe shows feel too long. Some feel just right. This one felt just a little too short.
And hey – one more reminder: The Sound of Footloose is tonight at 7:00 PM. We aren’t getting the encore slot at our venue so this will be your last chance to see our show!
Grail Diary 