Last night Sad Mag attended the opening of Fair Enough: A Little Mountain Art Show. Showcasing the work of Little Mountain’s artists who live and work in the Mount Pleasant Community. The show is open this weekend for the Drift-Art on Main Street festival.

Fair Enough: A Little Mountain Art Show
Part of The Drift – Art on Main Street

September 28 – October 3, 2010

Drift Hours Saturday and Sunday 12-5pm

Artists:

Kathryn Best
Helen Eady
Dan Elstone
Kristina Fiedrich
Robert Fougere
Tanya Goerhing
Tina Krueger Kulic
Scott Lewis
Justin Longoz
Korey Moran
Marina Nazarova
Eric Thompson
Xiaoyu Zhang
Nicholas E. Zirk
Daniel Zomparelli

Made Possible by the Vancouver Foundation and
Mount Pleasant Community Centre Neighbourhood Grants Initiative

Sad Mag was joined by friends from Poetry is Dead, Megaphone, and Lester’s Army at the Magazine Life Tent at this year’s Word on the Street festival. Thank you to everyone who came out to hear us talk about “How NOT to Publish a Magazine.” We had a great time hearing from the editors how—and why—they started their magazines.

Please support these visionary and hard-working publishers by subscribing or donating:

• Poetry is Dead website
• Megaphone website
• Lester’s Army website

If life gives you lemons, put on a play that features a supposed encyclopedia saleswoman, a lonely bachelor and, of course, lemonade. Oh, and make sure the audience is hydrated (free-of-charge!) with cute little glasses of the refreshing citrus beverage before the show begins. Such is the prerogative of Relephant Theatre’s presentation of Stewart Lemoine’s short play, “The Exquisite Hour.”

Set in the early 1960s, wit, whimsy and a minor dose of nostalgia are stuffed into this hour-long two-hander, which provides the audience with a good many laughs and even a few rather tender moments.

Josue Laboucane is fantastically uptight and nerdy as the bachelor Zachary Teale, whose backyard the whole play takes place in. And Nevada Yates Robart plays the enthusiastic encyclopedia saleswoman, Mrs. Darimont, with such a balance poise and neuroses that we’re not surprised to discover more than we bargained for in her. A nod must be given to director Julie McIsaac as she provides a strong cohesiveness and momentum to the piece as a whole.

Lemoine’s words are so hilariously chalk full of pop-cultural and historical references, that we not only get swept up in the blur of plot and characterization, but we might also learn a thing or two about a Catholic Saint with a hallucinatory dedication to animals and nature or a European royal family who names all of their men Frederick and all their women Agnes.

Played out in real time, “The Exquisite Hour” is an hour of theatre that does great things with a certain proverbial sour citrus.

The Exquisite Hour
Part of the Vancouver International Fringe Festival
Carousel Theatre
Remaining Performances:
Saturday Sept 18, 7:45 pm
Sunday Sept 19, 4:00 pm

Update [September 20, 2010]:
“Dr. Horrible…” wins the National Pick of the Fringe and will be shown twice more!
Waterfront Theatre
Thursday Sept 23, 7:15 pm
Sunday Sept 26, 10:00 pm

Not being a theatre connoisseur, the first thing I judged about “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” created by Joss Whedon of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” was the rowdy audience. I could imagine each theatre-goer brushing up on their Whedon, perhaps watching the Buffy musical, before excitedly making their way to the Firehall Arts Centre.

Relephant Theatre poured the satire on before the play even began, first performing a number about a cell phone game (the moral: please turn off your phones, audience). Another pre-play skit poked fun at racial stereotypes in verses about the lone Asian cast member going backstage to do math and play the violin.

And then, the play began. The tragicomedy was as absurd as a valley girl fighting vampires. Whedon’s voice, rife with irony and self-awareness (epitomized by Dr. Horrible’s classic line, “Wow, sarcasm – that’s original”) is undeniable throughout.

Dr. Horrible is a nerdy misfit who also happens to be a maniacal genius that cannot seem to reach his ultimate goal of induction into the “Evil League of Evil.” But as the action unfolds, he falls in love with Penny, an innocent philanthropist. Both roles are emphatically portrayed by Jon Lachlan Stewart and Christina Hardie, respectively. Their fervour is balanced by a third character – the cool, calm and self-involved Captain Hammer (played by Shane Snow) who wants Penny, and the glory, for himself.

All three actors knew how to deliver lines with perfect comedic timing, making the original dialogue sparkle. I walked away from “Dr. Horrible…” with the same feeling I had after watching “Buffy: The Musical” – let’s see it again. Right now.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Part of the Vancouver International Fringe Festival
Firehall Arts Centre
Remaining Performances:
Friday Sept 17, 7:00 pm
Friday Sept 17, 9:00 pm
Saturday Sept 18, 2:00 pm
Saturday Sept 18, 9:00 pm
Sunday Sept 19, 9:00 pm

The claustrophobia is palpable in the tiny Little Mountain Studios space off Main Street. One gets the sense that at the inevitably sold-out performances later in the run, the audience itself will experience panic attacks. But this is all part of the show with “Heptademic Redux,” a remount/reworking of one of last year’s Risky Nights showcases from a talented bunch of Studio 58 graduates.

In another “end-of-the-world-epidemic-lock-down” kind of piece, seven people from different walks of life find themselves locked in a nondescript room containing enough sustenance for twelve days, and a tiny bathroom. There is a sense of urgency in all of them, and their layered, interwoven text is beautifully frantic. To help indicate the passage of time, director Anthony E. Ingram (and previous director Rachel Peake) offer some of the most amazingly executed movement sequences you’ll find on a Vancouver stage.

The production is full of surprise gifts. In ensemble work of this nature, the structure can get predictable as we slowly get a glimpse into each character’s fantasy life. And though not all of their internal lives are as curious and intriguing as some, the ensemble itself is expertly used to fully inhabit these alternate worlds: Sean Oliver delivers an endearingly innocent dog, Andrea Yu is a knockout as a bird. Aaron Adams and Gui Fontanezzi also deliver strong work.

As the intensity of their surroundings increases, allegiances start to form among characters, and for this audience member, the stakes were palpable. The performers themselves are so committed (Raes Calvert in particular) and the action is occurring in such proximity to the audience, that there is no choice but to believe wholeheartedly in the danger of the piece. What a gift to an audience.

The writing is not without its expository scenes – mostly surrounding Lisa Goebel’s dog, and the distribution of material could be better balanced – we know that the character Mary has a grandfather somewhere, and that she works as a nurse, but Emily Rowed’s radiant performance makes us crave more story.

But these new writers are still finding their legs. So don’t let the premise fool you, this play sweats out originality and risk, and for anyone considering three years at Studio 58, there is no better showcase for the kind of talent you’ll find there.

Heptademic Redux
Part of the Vancouver International Fringe Festival
Little Mountain Studios
Remaining performances:
Friday Sept 17, 6:00 pm
Friday Sept 17, 8:00 pm
Saturday Sept 18, 6:00 pm
Saturday Sept 18, 8:00 pm
Sunday Sept 19, 6:00 pm
Sunday Sept 19, 8:00 pm

Sarah Ruhl gets off on quirk. The acclaimed American playwright behind “The Clean House” and “Melancholy Play” offers a bizarre and playful look at death and our dependency on cell phones with “Dead Man’s Cell Phone.”

This Equity Coop production is a rare treat at the Fringe -an expert group of professionals having some fun together. Sitting in a charming café, Jean (a note-perfect Eileen Barrett) discovers the man across from her (Stephen Aberle) has died. Furthermore, his cell phone will not stop ringing.

So what does she do? She answers it, thereby cementing a relationship between them. Jean then spends her time visiting various family members and acquaintances of the dead Gordon, creating alternate realities and happy endings for them, and going to tremendous lengths to do so.

The play goes from quirky, to silly, to downright ludicrous and back again, but through it all the production remains level – level and wonderful. The performances are exquisite: Suzanne Ristic soars as the scorned widow with a penchant for divulging sexual secrets, whereas Zena Daruwalla commands the stage with lipstick. Marion Eisman channels Christine Baranski as Gordon’s mother who invites Jean into their lives, for better or for worse. Aberle offers expert delivery of an exceptional monologue about the mundane nature of life. It’s so delicious, that its abrupt end is heartbreaking. If I could, I’d hand him a Jessie during curtain call.

In all its cutting and manic hilarity, the play explores the perceptions and assumptions people make of each other, and how technology can destroy and confuse those things. As the playful underdog Dwight, Ari Solomon asks “People say I love you on cell phones and where does it go?”

Director Kevin McNulty makes great use of what could be a cavernous space at Firehall, and together with set designer Pam Johnson, they’ve made the excessive scene changes and multitude of locations a real treat to watch unfold. In seeing so many professionals in a Fringe production, one can’t help but think of the devastating cuts our arts communities are coping with.

But that’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with producing in the Fringe. More than anything “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” feels like a love letter: to Vancouver theatre, to what the Fringe can be, and to a downright wonderful production.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone
Part of the Vancouver International Fringe Festival
Firehall Arts Centre
Remaining Performances:
Thursday Sep 16, 6:00 pm
Sunday Sep 19, 7:00 pm

Alice Nelson and Jacqueline Russell give themselves the daunting task of summarizing and lampooning the history of feminism in sixty minutes, all while holding an audience’s interest. Inspired by Ariel Levy’s book “Female Chauvinist Pigs: The Rise of Female Raunch Culture,” “Raunch” is a series of sketches interspersed with quotes from Levy and other formidable feminists.

“Raunch” delves into the current state of feminism and whether such phenomena as reality television, breast implants, and fitness stripping are empowering or if we have simply reverted back to a 19th century mindset. Is it choice or is it pressure, they ask.

Nelson and Russell are truly amazing performers and deftly handle their chosen subjects but it would have been interesting had there been less focus on mainstream targets such as Hooters and more on blurry topics such as burlesque. “Raunch” is at its strongest with its slapstick commentaries rather than its more obvious parodies.

The quotes, while informative and relevant, were somewhat overwhelming in length and quantity. Be warned if sitting at stage level – the screen can be difficult to see.

With “Raunch,” Nelson and Russell create an informative and engaging performance full of laughs – it just leaves you wanting more.

Raunch
Part of the Vancouver International Fringe Festival
False Creek Gym
Remaining performances:
Friday Sept 17, 8:15 pm
Saturday Sept 18, 11:50 am

Never read show descriptions, especially at the Fringe. Because then you’re denying yourself half the fun – the discovery, smugly unearthing “the next great show” before your Fringe-going friends.

With Morgan Brayton’s “Raccoonery!”, I don’t know what I was expecting. Rodents? Raccoon Costumes? Nonsensical monologuing? What Brayton in fact delivers is intelligent, cutting comic character work with a political undercurrent.

Brayton starts us off by offering the definition of “raccoonery” itself (somewhere past shenanigans and tomfoolery),  a term her own departed grandmother once used that has obviously helped inform Brayton’s own comic sensibility.

In this latest show she offers up a feast of characters – a weight-loss program infomercial host, a Class of ‘84 high school valedictorian, and an irresistible girl with a penchant for ice cream, among others.

Almost more enchanting than the characters themselves are the musical interludes that serve as transitions. Mundane, everyday lyrics set to whimsical tunes offer gems like “I want chips. Give me some chips” or my favourite, a hosting-a-party song asking guests to “put that guitar away, I know you think you sound good… you don’t.”

For those who have never experienced her, “Raccoonery!” is a fine example of why Brayton is celebrated as one of the city’s, if not the country’s, top comediennes. Not every character can be as infectious as the last but each has its own strength, be it a cutting commentary or even a single guffaw-inducing line.

But don’t read this review! Just go discover it. Sink into your seat and allow Brayton to release that belly-laugh you’ve been suppressing at your day job. It’s the best way to welcome the Fringe to town.

Raccoonery! by Morgan Brayton
Part of the Vancouver International Fringe Festival
Performance Works on Granville Island
Remaining performances:
Saturday Sept 11, 8:35 pm
Thursday Sept 16, 10:25 pm
Friday Sept 17, 7:00 pm
Sunday Sept 19, 12:25 pm