It’s September and, for Vancouver theatre fans, that means it’s time again for the Vancouver Fringe Festival (Sep. 6-16) located at Granville Island and a few other locations around town. For the past few years (2017, 2016 and 2015), we’ve asked Kuan Foo and Marlene Dong of sketch comedy troupe Assaulted Fish to preview what looks to be interesting and exciting in each year’s line-up. This year is slightly different as Kuan actually has a play in the Fringe called Self-ish, so we’ve also asked him to give a quick preview of his play.
“Self-ish is a one-woman play I wrote for my friend and Assaulted Fish colleague, Diana Bang (you may know her from The Interview and Bates Motel). It’s the story of Esther, a 30-something, Korean-Canadian woman, navigating her life in the wake of a recent family tragedy. Despite that description, it’s a comedy! I am interested in finding intersections of humour and sadness, how the worst moments in your life can also sometimes be the most absurd. Part of the impetus for writing the play was trying to give Diana an opportunity to play a more rounded character than she was getting through her film and TV work (I think she may have cornered the market in “quirky best friend” roles). What she and director Dawn Milman have done in developing and staging the script has been amazing to see. Self-ish debuted at the 2017 Toronto Fringe Festival and has also played at the 2018 Victoria Uno Festival, so we’re really excited to bring it back to our hometown!”
Now onto Kuan and Marlene’s picks and previews for this year’s Vancouver Fringe:
5-Step Guide to Being German 2.0 (Paco Erhard, 18+)
German stand-up comedian Paco Erhard played to sold-out houses at last year’s Fringe, with his unique brand of energetic, topical humour. He is merciless in lampooning German culture as well as poking fun at Europeans and North Americans, but there is an intelligence and humanism beneath the laughs that is sorely needed in these days of political and social divisions. Here’s what I wrote about him last year: “ultimately his goal is to point out how silly and dangerous national chauvinism can be and how it is better to laugh at our differences than fight over them.” – KF
Blackbird (Kestral Solutions Collective, 14+)
Twenty-seven-year-old Una confronts 55-year-old Ray about a relationship they had 15 years ago (you do the icky math on that one). David Harrower’s multilayered and intensely disturbing play about the lasting impacts of grooming and paedophilia won the Olivier Award for best new play in 2007. – KF
The Bridge (Green Eggs and Ham, 18+)
One of my favourite plays is Waiting for Godot, and The Bridge sounds like it will cover similar themes: a dystopian world inhabited by two souls who do everything they can to try and distract themselves from the overwhelming bleakness, hopelessness and silence that surrounds them. Christopher Walken, by way of shadow puppetry, promises to make an appearance. The Bridge is a home-grown, original play written and performed by Caitlin Docking and Nick Rinke. It began its life as 15-minute play before a 50-minute version debuted to solid reviews at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia earlier this year. – MD
The Camping Guy (Darkhorse West, 14+)
I’ve never gone camping, but I know I’d hate it. Maybe this award-winning, one-act comedy by Shaunavon, Saskatchewan author Dianne Greenley will change my mind? Set in the Rockies, The Camping Guy follows two mismatched campers on what is supposed to be a de-stressing weekend retreat; Earl is the experienced outdoorsman, Johnson is the “city slicker”. The play is said to be reminiscent of The Odd Couple, but I’m also reminded of Bill Bryson’s hilarious and heart-warming book, A Walk in the Woods. – MD
Forget Me Not – The Alzheimer’s Whodunit (Rob Gee, 14+)
Comedian, slam poet, psychiatric nurse: Rob Gee manages to utilize all three of his skill sets in this one-man, verse play about a murder mystery in a dementia ward. Based on Gee’s own experiences working in psychiatric units in the UK and Australia in the early 90s, the play uses poetry and dark humour to explore serious themes of elder abuse and institutional bullying. – KF
The Lady Show (The Lady Show, 18+)
This cabaret-style collective of comedic personalities has been putting the joy in feminist killjoy since 2015. Expect everything from sketches and stand-up to satirical news and monologues. Diana Bang, Morgan Brayton, Fatima Dhowre and Katie-Ellen Humphries are incredible performers who showcase comedy as it should be: diverse, progressive and original. Go laugh your preconceptions off. – MD
Magical Mystery Detour (Gemma Wilcox, 14+)
I first saw British actor Gemma Wilcox in 2009, when she won Pick of the Fringe for the Vancouver Fringe and Best Female Performer at the Victoria Fringe for The Honeymoon Period is Officially Over, an exploration of a struggling relationship in which she played every single character, including pets and, in one surreal moment, an open flame. She brings her humour and dazzling virtuosity (25 characters including an owl and a fly!) back to Vancouver with the semi-autobiographical Magical Mystery Detour. – KF
Martin Dockery: Delirium (Martin Dockery, 14+)
Martin Dockery is one of my favourite Fringe performers and I always make time to catch his shows. This year, he brings his solo show Delirium, “a ridiculous, true story of love, loss and butterflies at the Top of World.” Expect engaging and multilayered storytelling, nose-snortingly funny observations and open-hearted emotion. – KF
My Imagination Ran Away Without Me (Josh Green, 14+)
I’m still a little upset about missing one of my favourite circus acts (Australia’s Circa) earlier this year, so I’m hoping this 30-minute “acrobatic adventure” will be the perfect salve. Billed as a mini circus show, Josh Owen Green’s My Imagination promises to be a physical exploration of an existential crisis – or a desperate procrastinator. I can’t wait to be at the edge of my seat. My Imagination is a D/deaf and hard-of-hearing-friendly show. – MD
Poly Queer Love Ballad (Anais West and Sara Vickruck, 18+)
I’ve seen Anais West and Sara Vickruck separately in other shows and they are both engaging, versatile performers. So having them together in this new self-penned “slam poetry musical” feels like one of those superhero team-ups (the good kind, not the Zack Snyder kind). Expect poetry, pop songs and intersectional explorations of love and sexuality. Winner of the PTC New Fringe Play Prize. – KF
A few other shows put on by talented friends of ours:
- Big Queer Filipino Karaoke Night! (18+)
- Bang! presents Surveil (14+)
- Hysteria (18+)
- Inside Voices: A Musical in the Key of P (14+)
- Spinning You Home (14+)
Once again, Kuan and Marlene will be doing capsule reviews of the Vancouver Fringe shows they watch. Visit the Assaulted Fish website or follow them on Facebook and Twitter during this year’s run.
Contest Alert: Find our Instagram Fringe post and share what’s on your must-watch list for a chance to win a pair of tickets to Self-ish. Happy Fringing, everyone!
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