Fringe reviews #7: Quicksave before the next show

50% Nonverbal, Brilliantly Awkward, A Curated Exit, Four Hearts, A Kid Napping, A Life in 60 Minutes, Love is Blank, Lover Girl, Somewhere Up There, Tango After Midnight.

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Some attempts at classifying this “unclassifiable” production: trombone-supported miming, personal storytelling, gendered language study, silent social commentary, optical illusion dancing and neuroscience tutorial. Parsons, a talented physical actor and trombonist with a good sense of humour, has packed a lot into this hour-long experience. And a lot of it works very well.

Audiences will likely learn something new about how brains process information, and the sketches are inventive. The show’s thesis, however, gets a little lost in the scattershot approach and the pace lags in places, such as during an overly long sketch featuring some redacted Reddit-post poetry. — Eva Wasney BRILLIANTLY AWKWARD Adam Schwartz The Output (Venue 12), to July 24 👾👾 Alas, local comedian Adam Schwartz never achieved brilliance on his opening evening.

His bare-bones standup show was 32 minutes of mildly amusing one-liners and stinkers vaguely focusing on navigating life with austism spectrum disorder. It was an uncomfortable view. Jokes landed with a thud a quarter of the time.

The props — pop tarts in a box and info written messily on pieces of paper — neither illuminated nor amused. The lighting was harsh and thoughtless. Honestly, it was really a disappointment given this is hardly the first time at bat for a local comedy veteran.

— Lara Rae A CURATED EXIT Shot in the Dark Productions Asper Centre for Theatre & Film (Venue 10), to July 25 👾👾 1/2 There is a good story implanted deep in this 60-minute dramedy. Unfortunately, the script goes so broad in its scope that some of the more promising storylines never get the exploratory depth they deserve. Since the show’s blurb already spoils its main plot point (Steve dies), the audience might anticipate a more emotional spotlight on the grief of surviving partner, Zoe.

Or they might expect a character study into the couple’s relationship leading up to the fatal moment, to really feel the pain of the impending loss. They might even be primed for a dark comedy that skewers the capitalist-driven death industry and how it takes advantage of grieving loved ones. All these themes are given a brief passing glance, but not enough emphasis is given on any specific area to earn emotional resonance.

The show relies heavily on a high volume of audio and visual cues, which led to some missed beats during the opening performance. — Matt Schaubroeck FOUR HEARTS The Improv Company Théâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 3), to July 26 👾👾👾👾 This one-hour improvised dinner party serves up delicious drama and tantalizing tension as veteran local actors mine real-life gossip from the audience before the show and spin it into four characters built on real viewpoints.

The cast — local improv heartthrob Stephen Sim (who one character rightly assessed gives “Casanova energy”), Caity Curtis, Tony Beeman and Elizabeth Brammer — deftly navigate a volatile dinner party with skill, humour and charm. Opening night, the story followed two same-sex couples with romantic history between one man and one woman bubbling to the surface. Where improv can sometimes meander, this felt seamless, and it was easy to forget it was being created on the spot.

The storylines around complicated relationships were layered, and character motivations stayed clear throughout. There were a few dead ends and random tangents, and one character’s jealous outbursts felt a touch one-note. But once her audience-prescribed POV was revealed as “needy, jealous and undiagnosed,” it all clicked.

— Jeffrey Vallis A KID NAPPING Desert Rose Collective Théâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 3), to July 25 👾👾👾👾 Ricki (Marissa Sauvé) and Nicki (Birdie Burke) are disorganized criminals and romantic partners who have set their sights on taking a kindergarten class hostage for ransom. But prison life may not have prepared them for the students’ teasing and tenderness, ultimately forcing them to take stock of their feelings, decisions and dreams to learn important lessons about themselves.

The Vancouver-based duo flawlessly executes a good-cop, bad-cop routine (despite their criminal activity) during the brisk 45-minute comedy. Persevering through slight wardrobe mishaps, the pair refuses to skip a beat, and the well-timed backing track voices representing the students (and sounding very similar to characters from The Simpsons) create just the right amount of conflict and comedic relief. The smart set design transports audiences to the classroom while poking fun at educational resources such as the “feelings chart” and reimagining props such as cigarettes to playfully blow bubbles instead of smoke.

Sit close to stage to get the most out of this physical-theatre performance, as some scenes are difficult to see from farther back in this venue. — Nadya Pankiw A LIFE IN 60 MINUTES Dwayne Morgan Planetarium Auditorium (Venue 9), to July 26 👾👾👾👾 Spoken-word performances are not always the most popular performance style at the fringe, but this energetic lyrical monologue by Toronto-based Dwayne Morgan is well worth its 60-minute commitment.

Whether you’re a poetry newbie or a seasoned fan of the genre, you will find plenty to appreciate in his fluid wordplay and storytelling. With no scene breaks — and virtually no dialogue pauses — the sheer amount of thematic ground covered is almost overwhelming. Morgan shifts from musing about race and identity, sex, aging, parenting and much more with a natural, almost effortless, rhythm.

Some of the topics are sobering, others are more comedic; an analysis of menstruation-related gender roles earned the biggest laughs on opening night. Morgan’s lived experiences might not all personally resonate with each audience member, but the empathy he conveys through his art make it easy to become emotionally invested in his sense of self, and the world through his particular lens. — Matt Schaubroeck LOVE IS BLANK

Club Soda Improv The Gargoyle Theatre (Venue 25), to July 26 👾👾👾 Winnipeg’s Club Soda sends up the popular Netflix reality show Love Is Blind — in which singles go on dates without ever seeing each other face to face — in this hour-long improv show that, like its contestants, sometimes struggles to make a connection. We are introduced to six singles — three men, three women — whose personalities have been dictated by suggestions given beforehand by the audience (everyone is based on someone’s ex). As on the show, they have various meets in The Pods where they communicate behind a screen.

While fertile ground for comedy, it’s a tricky premise on which to hang an hour of improv without becoming repetitive. This one might benefit from a 45-minute run time to prevent the energy from dragging. That said, there were definitely sparks.

Special mention must be made of two singles and the performance we caught: Kristen Einarson’s note-perfect performance as a spoiled rich girl named Chanel and Kerri Woloszyn’s show-stealing turn as Lisa, a sad-sack, shoulder-slumped Eeyore-type whose unlikely charm wins the hearts of everyone — including the audience. — Jen Zoratti LOVER GIRL Sunday Night Love Show School of Contemporary Dancers (Venue 7), to July 26 👾👾👾👾 This one goes out to all the lovers, people pleasers and imperfect humans just trying their dang best. Tamara Lynn Robert’s new one-woman show is a feel-good (and bad) hour of funny, earnest storytelling about her various relationships with love — romantic and familial, professional and personal.

For the Toronto-based couples counsellor and crisis outreach worker, love is both a superpower that can improve the world and a messy, suffocating cage that causes deep inner turmoil. Sometimes the most effective self-care is a bathtub filled with French fries, cheese curds and gravy. Robert’s stage presence is warm and her anecdotes are punchy.

Like a good therapy session, this production will leave you mulling the nuances of your own relationships and, perhaps, feeling a little more connected with those around you. A bonus: proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to youth in care. —

Eva Wasney SOMEWHERE UP THERE IN THE SKY Singularity Productions Asper Centre for Theatre and Film (Venue 10), to July 26 👾👾👾👾 This comedy-drama strands two strangers on an island with little hope of escaping. The one-hour show’s existential themes are compelling, exploring what it means to live and what makes life worth fighting for. The beliefs of Jackson (Alistair Wright) and Amani (Susan Castellon) constantly clash, with one frantically trying to leave the island and the other calmly accepting their place.

The show relies heavily on their friendship but the disparity between the characters makes things awkward. Amani has layers, but the same can’t be said about Jackson, whose frantic personality throughout most of the show made him feel more one-note. This show’s ending leaves a lot up to interpretation and yet will stick with you long after you leave the theatre.

— Tiago Resko TANGO AFTER MIDNIGHT PointeTango John Hirsch Mainstage (Venue 1), to Saturday 👾👾👾👾 Montreal and Buenos Aires-based Alexander Richardson and Erin Scott-Kafadar are back with a 55-minute performance that blends ballet, Argentine tango and video projections. While many fringe shows proudly and intentionally leave seams unfinished, PointeTango presents a glossy, slick package.

And the audience loved it, cheering enthusiastically at every luscious video break. Those pauses not only allowed them to change into glittery or sleek new outfits, but also provided the story. As the lovers tour Buenos Aires, he gifts her a pair of pointe shoes.

But a transportation mishap necessitates a hybrid of even fancier footwork. The transitions also created screen-to-stage magic that provoked gasps in the nearly full house. The show is a finely tuned machine of dance, athleticism and storytelling.

And although they make it look easy, Richardson clarified, after the roaring ovation died down, that, “It took us two years to develop this,” and boasted that Scott-Kafadar is the only woman to perform tango on pointe. — Denise Duguay