Fringe 2017 – Hicksbiz.com – The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds – Review by GRAHAM HICKS 4 of 5 stars
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds
Plain JaneTheatre
Venue 3, Walterdale Theatre, 10322 83 Ave.
Fri. Aug. 18 – 8:45 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 19 – 2:30 p.m.
Mon. Aug. 21 – 7:15 p.m.
Wed. Aug. 23 – 12 noon
Sat. Aug. 26 – 4:30 p.m.
Duration: 90 minutes
4 of 5 stars
Every Fringe needs its classic American dysfunctional family psycho-drama play – of which there are many. Because the roles are wonderfully meaty for the actors and the plays have stood up for decade upon decade. Plus there’s a need on the audience’s part to balance out the silliness and zaniness of most Fringe Festival shows with some sobriety, serious acting and serious reflection.
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds is a classic, detailing the breakdown of an American family throug ...
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Fringe 2017 – Hicksbiz.com – The 11 O’Clock Number! The Improvised Musical – Review by GRAHAM HICKS 4.5 of 5 stars
The 11 O'Clock Number! The Improvised Musical
Grindstone Theatre
Venue 16, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Sanctuary Stage
10037 84 Ave.
Thurs. Aug. 17 – 10:15 p.m
Fri. Aug. 18 – 6:30 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 19 – 9:45 p.m.
Mon. Aug. 21 – 5:15 p.m.
Tues. Aug. 22 – 9:45 p.m.
Wed. Aug. 23 – 5 p.m.
Thurs. Aug. 24 – 6 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 26 – 9:45 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 27 – 3:30 p.m.
Duration: 60 minutes
4.5 of 5 stars
Move over, Rapid Fire, Die-Nasty, Gordon’s Big Bald Head, Atomic Improv …. There’s a new kid in town!
Actually not so new: Grindstone Theatre has been around for some five years, but with this Fringe is emerging from the underground into much wider recognition.
Here’s the rub.
Not only is this Edmonton ensemble really good at stage improvisation &hel ...
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Fringe 2017 – Hicksbiz.com – The Apple Tree – Review by GRAHAM HICKS 3 of 5 stars
The Apple Tree
Plain Jane Theatre
Venue 12, Varscona Theatre
10329 83 Ave.
Thurs. Aug. 17 – 9 p.m
Fri. Aug. 18 – 5 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 19 – 7 p.m.
Mon. Aug. 21 – 3 p.m.
Tues. Aug. 22 – 1 p.m.
Wed. Aug. 23 – 5 p.m.
Thurs. Aug. 24 – 1 p.m.
Fri. Aug. 25 – 9 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 26 – 9 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 27 – 3:30 p.m.
Duration: 65 minutes
3 of 5 stars
The Apple Tree is a light, sweet two-hander, a not-so-well-known musical from the same team that wrote Fiddler on the Roof.
It’s a gentle, humourous, show, using Adam and Eve to illustrate the vicissitudes, contradictions and need for life-long male-female partnerships, going back to the original couple on Earth.
Most pleasing is the polished singing of Madelaine Knight (Eve) and Graham Mothersill (Adam), both of whom have played leading roles in multiple musical pro ...
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Fringe 2017 – Hicksbiz.com – The Inventor of All Things – Review by GRAHAM HICKS 4 of 5 stars
The Inventor of All Things
Big Word Performance
Venue 13, Old Strathcona Public Library
8331 104 St.
Fri. Aug. 18 – 2 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 19 – 6 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 20 – 7 p.m.
Mon. Aug. 21 – 3 p.m.
Tues. Aug. 22 – 8 p.m.
Wed. Aug. 23 – 7:45 p.m.
Fri. Aug. 25 – 10:15 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 26 – 5 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 27 – 3:30 p.m.
Duration: 75 minutes
4 of 5 stars
English performance poet/storyteller extraordinaire/standup comedian Jem Rolls is a Fringe institution, and, having become an acquired taste, is a performer that his legions of fans would never think of missing.
At this year’s Fringe, Rolls is reprising his show from 2015, The Inventor of All Things.
It’s a little disappointing to see a show Rolls has already performed, but his mad-cap meditation on the invention of the atomic bomb by brilliant peace-lovin ...
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Fringe 2017 – Hicksbiz.com – Puck Bunnies – Review by GRAHAM HICKS 4. 5 of 5 stars
Puck Bunnies
Guys in Disguise
Venue 12, Varscona Theatre
10329 83 Avenue
Fri. Aug. 18 – 3 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 19 – 5 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 20 – 5 p.m.
Mon. Aug. 21 – 9 p.m.
Wed. Aug. 23 – 7 p.m.
Thurs. Aug. 24 – 7 p.m.
Fri. Aug. 25 – 5 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 26 – 5 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 27 – 3 p.m.
Duration: 60 minutes
4.5 of 5 stars
Within the best of comedy is always slight tragedy.
Puck Bunnies is one of the best conceptions and hilarious executions of human superficiality that the Guys in Disguise comedy troupe has ever done.
And yet it’s based on pathos – the stunning banality of young women in small towns where the end-all and be-all is to snare and hopefully marry a local hockey player.
But what fertile ground for high and hilarious comedy – especially the triumvirate of hockey player girlfriends Tina, Tammy and Tanya as p ...
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Fringe 2017 – Hicksbiz.com –The Exquisite Hour: Review by GRAHAM HICKS 5 of 5 stars
The Exquisite Hour
Teatro La Quindicina
Venue 12, Varscona Theatre
10329 83 Avenue
Fri. Aug. 18 – 7 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 19 – 3 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 20 – 3 p.m.
Tues. Aug. 22 – 7 p.m.
Wed. Aug. 23 – 3 p.m.
Fri. Aug. 25 – 7 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 26 – 3 p.m.
Duration: 60 minutes
5 of 5 stars
Edmonton-based playwright and director Stewart Lemoine is a most prolific playwright. Within his own precise perimeters, the man has a genius for writing some three to four plays a year.
The Exquisite Hour, I would suggest, will be one of his most enduring works.
The plot is simplicity itself – the kindling of a love story, a soul-mate discovery, between two very unlikely candidates for romantic love. Not that this is anything unusual, especially within the Lemoine canon.
It’s the pacing, the rhythm, the dance, the seriousness, the mad-cap humour, the contrast betwee ...
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Fringe 2017 – Hicksbiz.com –The Charm Offensive: Review by GRAHAM HICKS 4 of 5 stars
The Charm Offensive
Novus Actors
Venue 12, Varscona Theatre
10329 83 Avenue
Fri. Aug. 18 – 1 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 20 – 1 p.m.
Mon. Aug. 21 – 7 p.m.
Tues. Aug. 22 – 9 p.m.
Wed. Aug. 23 – 1 p.m.
Thurs. Aug. 24 – 3 p.m.
Fri. Aug. 25 – 1 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 27 – 7 p.m.
Duration: 60 minutes
4 of 5 stars
Beneath their legal armour, it's been said that many lawyers secretly yearn to be poets and actors and writers. But as practical under-graduate arts students in university, they opted for law school rather than the uncertainties of a bohemian life.
Which is partially why the Stewart Lemoine-penned Charm Offensive is so much fun. By day, the cast are all engaged in the legal profession, but weeknights, weekends and during the Fringe, they are actors.
And by George, they are very good actors, certainly a much better ensemble of hob ...
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Fringe 2017 – Hicksbiz.com - 6 Quick Dick Tricks: A Dirk Darrow Investigation
Review by GRAHAM HICKS
Venue 5, King Edward Elementary School,
8530 101 St.
Fri. Aug. 18 – 2:15 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 19 – 9 p.m.
Tues. Aug. 22 – 4 p.m.
Wed. Aug. 23 – 12:15 p.m.
Thurs. Aug. 24 – 7:15 p.m.
Fri. Aug. 25 – 11:15 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 27 – 4 p.m.
Duration: 60 minutes
3.5 of 5 stars
A pleasant hour is to be spent at the Fringe, enjoying Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer – or at least Mike’s private-eye cousin Dirk Darrow – do conjuring tricks.
Dirk Darrow is actually Tim Motley – an Australia-based American actor who has found an enduring character in Dirk Darrow, a classic cigarette-smoking, trench-coat and fedora, ‘30s or ‘40s private investigator with a plethora of one-liners.
Dirk’s shtick is the fact that he’s just as much a card-trick magician as he is a comedic private eye.
Motley stays st ...
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Fringe 2017 – Hickbiz.com – Die-Nasty in A Midsummer Night's Fringe – review by GRAHAM HICKS
Venue #12, Varscona Theatre
10329 83 Ave.
August 18 to 26, 10:30 p.m.
80 minutes with no intermission.
4 of 5 stars
They are so funny.
They have been doing this for soooo long, yet the show just keeps getting better and better and better, and now it's in a beautiful new (renovated) theatre, and for the A Midsummer Night's Fringe the Die Nasty collective has decided to offer a week-long running improv riffing off of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
If you are still able to grab tix for any of the remaining 10:30 p.m. shows, do so at once!
The guarantee is you will laugh harder and louder at Die Nasty than at just about any other Fringe comedy.
Fringe 2017 – Hickbiz.com – Cut! – review by GRAHAM HICKS
Venue 4, Academy at King Edward
8525 101 St. (east side of school)
Thurs. Aug. 17, 9:45 p.m.
Fri. Aug. 18, 7:30 p.m.
Mon. Aug. 21, 12 noon
Tues. Aug. 22, 5:30p.m.
Sat. Aug. 26, 11:15 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 27, 1:45 p.m.
Duration 60 minutes
2.5 of 5 stars
Not worth your time.
Cut! Is an amusing script, written many years ago by Alberta playwright Lyle Victor Albert and originally produced at the fourth Fringe festival in 1985.
The plot is truly original. The setting is some kind of purgatory where characters that have been deleted/cut/left out of the final version of famous plays are sent to commensurate and lament with one another on how they should have been stars.
The script is fun, and as the plot progresses there’s some playfulness around the theme of if-I-am-thought-of, do-I-exist?
But this version – at least at the second show – just didn’t gell. There w ...
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