dreamshark (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dreamshark) wrote2015-08-08 01:19 pm
dreamshark) wrote2015-08-08 01:19 pm
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A Fringe Friday
I've been Fringing very lightly this year, just a show here and there. Last night I bought another 10-pass and did a whole evening of Fringe with my friend Trisha. All the shows we saw were excellent. And she introduced me to The Lowry Restaurant, conveniently close to the Theater Garage, which serves up a mean eggplant parmesan. $16 bucks, including a nice salad and bottomless iced tea.
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Saint Guillotine * * * * *
by Red Hats (written by Jaap Kemp)
Rarig Arena
I saw this on recommendation from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thorintatge. He's right, it was excellent. I was expecting a one-man show centering on Dr. Beaurieux, but it was something entirely different: a classic one-act play impeccably written, produced, and acted. The focus is more on the three criminals awaiting execution than on the good doctor. It certainly makes you think about the ethics and implementation of capital punishment, but it's more of a Crime and Punishment theme.
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Terra Incognita * * * * *
Soma Acrobatic Theatre / Uplift Physical Theatre (Fringe credits are SO confusing)
This is exactly the kind of dance performance I most enjoy - basically an acrobatic troupe doing modern dance. Lots of cart-wheeling, hand-stands (often on top of other performers) and tumbling over each other. I very much enjoyed it, but as always at this type of performance I had trouble maintaining my attention for longer than 20 minutes at a time, and actually dozed off briefly a couple of times. It's not them, it's me. The visual centers of my brain just can't take that much stimulation. Also, I always have the feeling I am missing something - there seems to be a complex set of stories being acted out but I can never figure out what the stories are. In this case, it had something to do with the ocean. Maybe the 8 performers were all castaways from a shipwreck trying to form a new society?
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Breakneck Hamlet * * * *
by Timothy Mooney
Exactly as advertised, a technically excellent abridged version of Hamlet performed and narrated by one man. I will never understand why so many people consider Hamlet to be Shakespeare's masterpiece, but after seeing it one more time in concentrated form I know why I don't much like it. Hamlet is a dickhead. Also, the plot is ridiculously convoluted and doesn't make much sense (why exactly is Hamlet pretending to be mad?) But mostly, the problem is Hamlet, who has not one redeeming characteristic. His problem isn't that he is "indecisive." It's that he is narcissistic, stupid, and mean. Maybe even sociopathic. Sure he's under a lot of stress, but that doesn't begin to excuse the way he treats Ophelia, and later Laertes. Not to mention the off-hand way he kills more or less everybody else in the cast. Heck, CLAUDIUS shows more remorse than Hamlet. Really, a thoroughly icky family. I'm glad they're all dead.
ETA: I originally gave this 5 stars, but reduced it to 4 after seeing other solo shows I liked better. Mooney is, as I said originally, technically excellent. But his performance was remote and dispassionate. He was reciting Shakespeare more than acting it. His emotionally flat performance probably contributed to my antipathy towards Hamlet.
_______________________________________________________________
Saint Guillotine * * * * *
by Red Hats (written by Jaap Kemp)
Rarig Arena
I saw this on recommendation from
thorintatge. He's right, it was excellent. I was expecting a one-man show centering on Dr. Beaurieux, but it was something entirely different: a classic one-act play impeccably written, produced, and acted. The focus is more on the three criminals awaiting execution than on the good doctor. It certainly makes you think about the ethics and implementation of capital punishment, but it's more of a Crime and Punishment theme._______________________________________________________________
Terra Incognita * * * * *
Soma Acrobatic Theatre / Uplift Physical Theatre (Fringe credits are SO confusing)
This is exactly the kind of dance performance I most enjoy - basically an acrobatic troupe doing modern dance. Lots of cart-wheeling, hand-stands (often on top of other performers) and tumbling over each other. I very much enjoyed it, but as always at this type of performance I had trouble maintaining my attention for longer than 20 minutes at a time, and actually dozed off briefly a couple of times. It's not them, it's me. The visual centers of my brain just can't take that much stimulation. Also, I always have the feeling I am missing something - there seems to be a complex set of stories being acted out but I can never figure out what the stories are. In this case, it had something to do with the ocean. Maybe the 8 performers were all castaways from a shipwreck trying to form a new society?
_______________________________________________________________
Breakneck Hamlet * * * *
by Timothy Mooney
Exactly as advertised, a technically excellent abridged version of Hamlet performed and narrated by one man. I will never understand why so many people consider Hamlet to be Shakespeare's masterpiece, but after seeing it one more time in concentrated form I know why I don't much like it. Hamlet is a dickhead. Also, the plot is ridiculously convoluted and doesn't make much sense (why exactly is Hamlet pretending to be mad?) But mostly, the problem is Hamlet, who has not one redeeming characteristic. His problem isn't that he is "indecisive." It's that he is narcissistic, stupid, and mean. Maybe even sociopathic. Sure he's under a lot of stress, but that doesn't begin to excuse the way he treats Ophelia, and later Laertes. Not to mention the off-hand way he kills more or less everybody else in the cast. Heck, CLAUDIUS shows more remorse than Hamlet. Really, a thoroughly icky family. I'm glad they're all dead.
ETA: I originally gave this 5 stars, but reduced it to 4 after seeing other solo shows I liked better. Mooney is, as I said originally, technically excellent. But his performance was remote and dispassionate. He was reciting Shakespeare more than acting it. His emotionally flat performance probably contributed to my antipathy towards Hamlet.