Why so serious? Reviews of 4 dramas at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival

There are lots of comedies at the 2018 Winnipeg Fringe Festival but a real Fringer cannot live on comedy alone.

If you're looking for meatier drama at the Winnipeg Fringe, here's our review crew's take on four more from the fest.

BillPritchard's Address to the Jury

STARS

BillPritchardwas put on trial and imprisoned for his role in the1919 Winnipeg General Strike, but that isn't really what Dale Lakevold's new play is about.

Instead, Lakevold charts the ideological self-examination of a left-leaning academic via the writers, thinkers and activists he has admired.

This may sound pedantic, but it isn't. Performer James Forsythe bringsa warm, even sprightly humanism to the proceedings that doesn't undercut any of the script's intellectual rigour. The symbolically redset is small but well-engineered to evoke the feeling of being alone under a lamp, experiencing new ideas via text and feeling a freedom that only unhindered thought and discovery can truly provide.

Lakevold and his professor conclude that people are more important than rhetoric; ideas more important than parties. At least that's what I think. I also think Lakevold's point is that we each have to figure that out for ourselves.

Reviewed by Kelly Stifora

Confessional

STARS

Playwright Tennessee Williams is known for introducing us to people caught in traps, usually at least partly of their own devising. We spend an hour or so watching them variously explain or display how they got there and listen in varying degrees of disbelief to their plans for escape.

This production of Confessional is earnest and heartfelt. It has fallen into one trap of its own. Playing characters who are supposed to appear significantly drunk throughout the show presents some difficulty. Some of the precision of the barbs written so sharply by Williams occasionally get lost or defused by the meandering posture and motion of the main character.

Comedian Foster Hewitt nailed this effect by playing drunk trying to appear sober rather than sober trying to look drunk. Other than this difficulty, the performances in this productionare solid and committed and Williams's writing is as fine as ever.

Reviewed by John Sadoway

Drops In a Broken Fountain

STARS

This play from Emma Leck the winner of the Winnipeg Fringe's inaugural new play contest proves the Victoria, B.C. writer is a talent to watch.

Leck's thoughtfully plotted drama tells the story of Sergey (Chase Hiebert), a deeply dour Russian man who we soon learn has good reason to be gloomy. As his relationship with Layla (Taryn Roo Yoneda) unfolds, Leck explores cycles of hate and the haunting effects of the past.

There are strong performances from the leads, and the hour-long drama is sharply directed.

It's unrelentingly grim, however, and teeters on occasion into melodrama and clich.

While not perfect, it is a thoughtful exploration of the lingering effects of violence, and a promising work from a young writer.

Reviewed by JoffSchmidt

See Bob Run

STARS

Daniel MacIvor's See Bob Run script is a gift for any performer: it's textured, it's nuanced, and it's a rollercoaster. A young woman is hitchhiking across the country and through a series of dashboard confessionals and asides to the audience we experience her story.

Jane Walker captures the youthful naivete of Bob, there are some truly charming moments. But there's more to Bob than that and we never get to experience the tortured side. The powerhouse moments in the script are never utilized, the pathos of Bob is never fleshed out.

This is a competent production, but the audience is left wanting more.

Reviewed by Bradley Sawatzky