Wednesday 7 August 2013

Fringe 2013 - Day 3

Hot Thespian Action (Hot Thespian Action, MB)

I admit it, I was intrigued by the title, and their scandalously tasteful posters.

     Hot Thespian Action is a sketch comedy troupe out of Winnipeg, where people desperately need something to laugh about (just kidding ;)). Sketch comedy is a delicate art, plagued by a culture of "hit or miss". But when preparing a Fringe show and not a weekly TV program, we can afford our auteurs the time to really focus their energy and craft the best show possible. As such, HTA delivers a raucous 55 minutes of non-stop comedy mayhem.

     There is a touch of classic SNL in here, but it is definitely born of a modern age. One standout sketch, "W.H.A.A.T.T.H.E." tackles the problem of people over 50 who can't use any of their technology. Maybe it's a bit of a cheap shot, but it's hilarious, and more than slightly relateable. The sketches they have are diverse.  Some are high concept, like a woman who gets transported into her own purse and faces the miscellaneae she left abandoned there. Others revolve around one gag which they absolutely nail, like three robot girls talking like Jersey Shore bitches in Stephen Hawking voices - a shallow concept, maybe, but also one of the funniest things I've ever experienced.

     Sometimes, though, it's not clear what kind of show they want to do. With some sketches they push the envelope a little bit, but with others they shy away from being too edgy when they could have benefited from it. HTA is at its best when not falling back on stereotypes. A game show titled "Is He Gay?" is funny, but feels a bit 90s. Not that there is anything mean-spirited about it, it felt slightly off-putting.

     The five cast members have great chemistry with one another (they have to, judging by their posters), and they nail their scenes with excellent timing and a combination of whacky personalities and charismatic straight characters. There is nothing particularly deep I can read into this one, but it delivers what it promises: a one hour comedy extravaganza. Definitely worth seeing unless you hate happiness.

Tales from the Twilight (Erik de Waal, South Africa)

In four years at the Saskatoon Fringe I had never seen an Erik de Waal show, even though he'd been a major icon of the festival throughout that time. When I saw that this year he was performing a collection of horror stories along with his usual folktales, I saw it as time to correct my mistake.

     He begins the show by launching straight into a retelling of Poe's "The Telltale Heart". The first minute or so I was confused until I realised what the story was. When that concluded he properly introduced himself. He continued with a traditional South African (but really Irish) ghost story, then into a North American traditional by way of Mark Twain, and finally into a retelling of "The Monkey's Paw". Interspersed between these were snippets of his own childhood growing up in a haunted house. These small anecdotes capture the real essence of the horror story. I have no idea if they were completely made up, embellished, or stone cold truth. And it doesn't matter. It is what it is and it makes a good story.

     What I had to remind myself is that de Waal is a storyteller and not a storymaker. He has a tremendous gift for storytelling, working the timbre of his voice like an orchestra to excite the audience and build suspense. He alters his physicality to embody the character; this is particularly noticeable during "The Telltale Heart" when his creeping, slippery movements build a nightmarish aura around him, in contrast with protestations about how sane he is. At times de Waal steps down from the stage and walks through the audience, drifting in and out, applying subtle pressure to those audience members he moves past while the drama builds. One complaint I had was his frequent repetition of certain phrases, with the same accompanying gestural movement. It's a technique that probably works better with the African Folktales audience than it does here. But that issue aside, the man has a great talent for building atmosphere using only his voice and movements.

     It was disappointing for me that half the show was dedicated to telling stories I already knew, but de Waal is about the telling, not the making. And in that respect, he does exceedingly well.

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