Blog Thursday July 27 - My Personal Top Ten List
Blog Thursday July 27 — My Personal Top Ten List
This has been a really good Fringe. For me, it’s been the best in recent memory. Of the 43 shows I’ve seen so far, there have been 3 terrific shows, 19 really good shows, 12 average shows and 9 poor shows.
Which makes picking a top ten list really difficult. But here goes…
1. The House of Yes (Venue 6 — Tom Hendry Warehouse) — The ultimate dysfunctional family comedy. You won’t believe what the characters say and do.
2. Catalpa (Venue 13 — School of Contemporary Dancers) — A visual feast with an energetic performance by Sharon Bajer, plus live sound effects and all props created using curtains.
3. A Soldier’s War (Venue 12 — Asper Centre for Theatre & Film — U of W) — A look at how soldiers are affected by war. I was hooked from the opening scene.
4. Leash Your Potential (Venue 7 — The Cinematheque) — A funny satire on how office workers should do as little work as possible, because completing work only needs to more work. If you don’t like your job, you’ll love this show.
5. How to Starve an Artist (Venue 22 — MTYP Richardson Hall) — Smart yet very funny spoken word poetry from former Winnipegger Rose Condo.
6. Macbeth (Venue 16 — PTE Mainstage) — An innovative take on a Shakespearean classic. This fast moving show is lit using flashlights held by the actors.
7. The Prehistory of Moses P (Venue 10 — Planetarium Auditorium) — Erik de Waal connects two seemingly unrelated stories that will make you angry about the injustice in apartheid era South Africa.
8. The Places We Go (Venue 3 — Pantages Studio) — Using a combination of moving images, projected shadows and sound effects, this group magically tells the story of a young girl trying to buy a birthday gift for her mother.
9. Olive Copperbottom: A New Musical by Charles Dickens and Penny Ashton (Venue 24 — West End Cultural Centre Ventura Hall) — Ashton captures the innocence and meanness of Dickens’ work in this surprisingly funny one-woman show.