Piaf and Brel is a one-woman show performed by internationally acclaimed vocalist Melanie Gall. While being seated behind individual cabaret-like tables, prepare to be taken away by the power and clarity of Melanie Gall’s incredible vocals.
She tells the interesting story of the life of the French singer Edit Piaf and the Belgian singer and songwriter Jacques Brel. Both are iconic musical figures and exceptional singers. Gall mixes the story of the two musicians with facts from her own biography, bringing the audience closer to her and her performance.
You are guaranteed to be taken away by the extreme professionalism and quality...
Ryan Gunther’s mock seminar on how to keep a job and do as little as possible, while getting good pay was certainly thorough with a pile of silly statistics, funny strategies, and satiric corporate anecdotes. He makes it clear that business in Fortune 500 companies is like a group of ferrets, which, incidentally, is exactly what a group of ferrets is called, a ‘business of ferrets’ (no kidding) like bosses, oops, ‘crows’ who are called a ‘murder of crows’.
Yes, I did laugh here and there at his advice about how to do effective emails that record your real message...
From the moment Jem Rolls steps onstage, the audience is bombarded by information. Facts. Anecdotes. Creative interpretations and rephrasings. I was stunned into inaction for a few minutes before finally remembering that I was writing a review and that this would be worth writing down.
He tells the story of Leo Szilard, a physicist of the early twentieth century whom he asserts was the first to conceive of nuclear fission. Brilliant, abrasive, and inexhaustible, he built a circle of key friends in physics simply by introducing himself to anyone he thought important enough to talk to. Instrumental at the...
Andrew Wade is an award winning playwright and graduate of the University of Victoria who claims to be The Most Honest Man in the World. His obsession with honesty has led him to create this unscripted show.
He has creatively crafted his own version of a lie detector which he explains to us in great detail and has his stage set with evidence from his life: notes, poetry, other assorted items from his past to enhance his storytelling. Wade utilizes cue cards to spark real memories and tells us stories...
Mike Delamont is one of Canada’s fastest rising comics due not in small part to his creation of the God is a Scottish Drag Queen trilogy. This year Mike brings God is a Scottish Drag Queen II to the Vancouver Fringe Festival & God is a Scottish Drag Queen III to the Fringe’s Pick Plus on Sept. 26.
God (Delamont) appears to his audience with a short black bob, wearing sensible shoes and a mauve power suit. God brings it to the stage with all...
I encouraged three friends to join me for Nashville Hurricane on its opening show on Sunday night. I'd seen Six Guitars with Chase Padgett and felt I'd hit the jackpot when it showed up on my list of shows to review for Plank Magazine.
We applauded loudly and enthusiastically after the first guitar song, and he had us in the palm of his...
Sam S Mullins’ solo performance Grandma’s Dead is fairly typical Fringe fare: a dramedy solo play where a single actor plays a variety of characters. Unfortunately, this particular example falls a bit short of the form’s potential. The concept is an interesting one. Sam gets a call from his brother Chad informing him that their Grandmother has died, and that they have to drive from Vancouver to middle-of-nowhere Saskatchewan so that someone from the family can see her burial. Presumably, as the two brothers make their way across the country, they will rediscover their lost relationship and get caught up...
Folk singer and storyteller Corin Raymond brings warmth and wit to his autobiographical one-man show The Great Canadian Tire Money Caper, whichtells the true story of how he paid for the making of his 2013 album Paper Nickels with Canadian Tire Money. Right off the bat, Raymond sets up the casual, folksy charm that largely defines the show. From his blue jeans and slightly-ruffled-rolled-up-to the-elbows-dress-shirt to his off the cuff...
Rhonda Badonda: Pain in Her Brain is a credit to the solo show format. Rhonda Musak, the writer and performer of this creative autobiographical piece, fills the stage with motion and personality. She slips into her many characters with ease, and while some of the accents don't quite ‘stick’, the characters themselves are lovingly crafted and portrayed. Musak acts, narrates, and sometimes dances her way through the experience of growing up with a learning disorder she doesn't know she has, a story she tells with glowing wit and humor.
One woman. One trombone. The apocalypse. Such is the premise of Sarah Liane Foster’s show. As with most Fringe shows the luck is in the draw and I had no idea what to expect when walking into the theatre. Foster is an endearing performer and her energy is appraisable. The character however I began to lose patience with quite quickly.
The characterization, voice and physicality never changed. There was so much information crammed into the script that the character was never allowed to breathe. Therefore we aren’t either. Which can sometimes be good but in...
