I had planned to cover more than one show on my last day at Fringe, but my plans got unexpectedly cut short after my first performance of the day. Although I’m disappointed not to have seen more, The Grimmer Side: Classic Stories for a Modern Time served as an excellent capstone to the festival, as it embodies…
I’ve often wondered what the modern equivalent for gory Renaissance tragedy is, but I never thought to compare it with hardboiled detective film. The Final Act at the Woman’s Club of Minneapolis (407 West 15th St.) blends these two styles into a gripping murder mystery about the death of Christopher Marlowe. There are few authors…
As far as solo shows go, I discovered yesterday how much they can inspire self-reflection. Tonight’s experience was less about introspection and more about compassion: not only towards others, but towards oneself. In Died in a Trailer Park, Woke Up a Mermaid, actress Ariel Leaf tells the story of her own circuitous journey, from an abusive relationship…
Some Fringe shows really don’t need reviewing, because they are pretty well guaranteed to sell out the entire run no matter what. The unusual thing about this show, however, is that it isn’t a big, flashy musical or a comedy by one of the known Twin Cities names. No, The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children is a…
Like Liz, I felt the need to try something a bit different today. There were some highs and some lows of tonight’s selections, but it was an interesting smorgasbord! I first went to the Southern Theater to see Gray Matter, a dance performance choreographed by Zoé Emilie Henrot. I usually shy away from dance – not because I…
This afternoon, my spouse pointed out to me that all of the shows we have seen together thus far have been categorized as “comedy” on the Fringe website. And so, determined to get out of our three-show-old rut, we went to see Standing on the Hollow, by Present State Movement, which is in the wonderfully ambiguous “something…
Chicago-based 1UP Productions’ contribution to this year’s Fringe Festival is called No Stopping, No Warping, No Dying – a title which references one of the main characters’ philosophy in both life and video gaming. “No Stopping” takes place atop a giant Nintendo (that’s the original NES, mind you) and is played out by two actors playing “Player 1” (Charles Askenaizer)…
To continue my weirdly thematic Fringe experience, today I saw three plays about the things you can learn when on a journey. From the underworld to ancient Greece to contemporary immigrants, the who and the where seems less important than the what: a lot of truths get revealed when you put yourself in a different…
Like Sophie wrote about her Fringe experiences yesterday, I did not intend to have a “theme day”, but I did: I wound up seeing two one-woman shows. However, I can’t really compare them, because the similarities kind of end there. Lord of the Files, written and performed at the Theatre Garage by Lesley Tsina, is a…
With Fringe in full swing, I’ve been hit with a barrage of information about new and exciting shows! In Downtown Minneapolis, costumed performers have been hurriedly spreading the word about their upcoming performances in the minutes between events. If you come across Dan Bernitt advertising his Yelling at Bananas in Whole Foods , now playing…
