It’s been an especially strong Halifax Fringe so far, and today was particularly exceptional. I saw six shows, and I recommend all of them.
The Negroes Are Congregating by Natasha Adiyana Morris. The Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street)
David Delisca, Dennis W. Langley & Angaer Arop.
PIECE of MINE Arts’ The Negroes Are Congregating is a strong, dynamic, utterly riveting, and beautiful piece of contemporary theatre. Natasha Adiyana Morris has written a poetic and fiercely unapologetic examination of (to quote from the Fringe guide) “the psychological burden of internal racism within the North American Black experience.” Morris weaves spoken word and “soulful dialect” throughout the play with ease and every line is a truth that needs to be heard. This play is also about being Black and being proud.
There are a lot of conversations happening across Canada about “diversity and multiculturalism”, and even more conversations about the need to have conversations about “diversity and multiculturalism,” but does anything actually change? More to the point: do the white people in positions of power who are suggesting having these conversations have any genuine desire to dismantle the racist and capitalist societal structures that have given them their power and wealth at the expense of others? What about the people who are complacent within these social systems because it benefits them? The answer to both seems to be no. This play is not interested in the lip service, it is a rallying call for a paradigm shift that doesn’t just modify the existing models, but destroys them and replaces them with new systems that aren’t built around oppression and disenfranchisement.
Morris’ direction is crisp and clear and keeps the stage in constant motion. The actors, Angaer Arop, David Delisca and Dennis W. Langley bring their multitude of characters to vivid life with nuance and polish. Morris shines the light on so many different aspects of the North American Black experience, from how Blackness intersects with Feminism, to a myriad of micro-aggressions, to the loss of communities like Africville, and systemic racism within law enforcement. The Negroes Are Congregating is insightful, confident, and powerful. Go see it.
The Negroes Are Congregating plays at The Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street) at the following times:
Wednesday September 5th 6:30pm
Friday September 7th 9pm
Saturday September 8th 4pm
Sunday September 9th 2:30pm.
Tickets. Follow PIECE of MINE Arts on Facebook.
A Man Walks Into A Bar by Rachel Blair. The Old Company Theatre (2202 Gottingen Street).
michelle langille & jake willett
Rachel Blair’s 2015 play A Man Walks Into a Bar was ahead of its time when it premiered at the Toronto Fringe Festival three years ago. It begins with a woman attempting to tell a joke. Her friend, a man, is exuberant in his excitement about this joke, but also eager to help her, to make sure she tells it just right. He provides her with unsolicited dramaturgy, and at times helpfully mansplains proper storytelling technique to her, to ensure the audience will respond to her joke appropriately. The woman, initially, accepts his help with gratitude (as we have been conditioned from birth to do) and she gets him to help her act out the joke for the audience.
The joke is a story about a waitress and a guest, a man, in a bar. The man meets the waitress while she is working, under a specific set of circumstances, and they have a very friendly chat, which could be characterized as flirtatious. The man returns to the bar two more times, under a different set of circumstances each time, and his interactions with the waitress change depending on those circumstances. The man providing dramaturgy for the joke doesn’t get it. The man in the bar doesn’t either. That’s the joke.
Michelle Langille gives a gorgeous performance as the woman, her depiction of the rhythms of the friendly banter as the server are so natural; it’s clear that she has fifteen years experience as a server. Together with Jake Willett, as the man, they create the foundations for a lovely friendship between two seemingly well intentioned people. Yet, as the play progresses the man becomes increasingly possessive, entitled, and insecure and he begins to wield his privilege as a suit of armour and a weapon against that great threat to humanity: being laughed at. Willett captures nicely the subtle ways these things escalate and Langille is equally nuanced in the ways in which her woman responds.
Ryanne Chisholm directs the piece, continually finding ways for Willett’s character to physically overstep, invade, and take up the woman’s space under the guise of helpfulness. She also creates a very disconcerting moment where the man encourages the woman to change her clothes, and today members of our audience felt welcome to egg the woman on- which led to Langille the actor undressing (as her character) on stage- a moment where suddenly the world of the joke and the world of the play collided with the real world, reminding us that all three exist within the constraints of the Patriarchy.
Blair has created a work of genius with this play. I saw the premiere of the show in Toronto in 2015 and was blown away by Blair’s sharp insights into the nuance of gender politics and how she was able to capture so effectively the (often infuriating, sometimes hilarious) blindspots that men have when talking about privilege, rape culture, Feminism, and the Patriarchy. Langille, Willett and Chisholm do great service to the play. Laughter can be both powerful and cathartic, and it was extremely heartening to be in an audience with both men and women laughing heartily at this play today. Go and see it.
A Man Walks Into a Bar plays at the Old Company Theatre (2202 Gottingen Street) at the following times:
Monday September 3rd 9pm
Friday September 7th 10:10pm
Saturday September 8th 11am & 2pm
25 by Elliot Delage. The Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street).
1919’s Elliot Delage creates a riveting play centred on twelve different characters exploring the different ways one experiences being twenty-five. The story unfolds in brisk vignettes, all performed by Delage and Anastasia Wells, rotating their narratives, as the characters appear and disappear within minimal changes of costume.
Delage brings us an assortment of truly unique characters and relationships. There is the female manager and male employee who find out they are going to have a baby, which leads to an intense fracturing in their lives. There is the young woman who caused an incident at the art gallery involving a piece of crumbled paper worth thousands of dollars. There is a young girl trying to piece together the story of how her parents first met. There are a pair of siblings who cannot get past their own resentment of one another in order to properly grieve for their recently deceased father.
The writing is eloquent and sharp. The performances by Delage and Wells are excellent. Wells especially does this improvised bit with an audience member as her earnest young girl searching for her past, and it is connection at its most pure. Her portrayal of the young pregnant woman is devastating. There is something fascinating in each of her characters. The direction is sleek and stylish, with a great use of props and music.
Delage leaves the play open enough for us to piece it together in our own way. We are also left to choose whether we find meaning or whether we arrive at new insights about what it means to be twenty-five. The narratives become less clear at the end, which can lend itself to some confusion, but one can also draw meaning from that- when you’re twenty-five it can feel like such a defining milestone, but as we grow older our memories from various years, various storylines and frames of reference begin to blur together. Sometimes this blurring creates something completely new.
25 is smart, inquisitive and polished. If you enjoy nonlinear storytelling and captivating actors, I definitely recommend it.
25 plays at The Bus Stop Theatre at the following times:
Monday September 3rd 5:30pm & 9:10pm
Wednesday September 5th 5pm
What Remains by Tina Fushell, Molly Johnson and Meredith Thompson. The Waiting Room. (6040 Almon Street).
What Remains is an interactive theatrical experience held joyfully and respectfully within a safe space. The questions surround who shares the performance space, how we keep record of who shares the performance space, and what gets created there between the performers and the audience. It’s a playful space, and it’s one best to enter leaving one’s ideas of perfectionism and anxiety at the door (she writes, speaking for herself). It’s a room of open hearts, interesting questions and of choreographed movement (the best of which comes from Fushell, Johnson and Thompson, but they are a bit magic in their ability to help the audience move in sync in ways that might surprise you).
The power of shared experience is palpable. This applies to all forms of theatre, music and dance, of course, but there is something solidifying when a group of strangers come together to accomplish something tangible- even if what is being asked of you is simple. At the end of the performance I felt like I had a connection with everyone else who was in the room.
This is a unique offering at Fringe. If you’re not scared of a little bit of gentle participation, I encourage you to head over to the Waiting Room and have some fun. There’s sparklers!
What Remains plays at the The Waiting Room at the following times:
Monday September 3rd 1pm & 10:30pm
Tuesday September 4th 6:30pm
Wednesday September 5th 10pm
Thursday September 6th 9:15pm
Wicked Fountain of Youth by Veronica Steele. The Waiting Room (6040 Almon Street)
In Veronica Steele’s play Wicked Fountain of Youth we are introduced to a young girl who oscillates between immense joy and fiery rage in a split second. She is seventeen, but she has the exuberant innocence of a seven year old. She is safe at her father’s house, but she often feels terrified and suspicious. It’s revealed that she is developmentally disabled due to lasting and irreversible symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome. She was also abused for over a decade by her mother, and at least one of her stepfathers. She has the same dreams and desires as others her age, she wants to have friends, to have fun, to fall in love, and to have the freedom to choose her own future. Yet, she is trapped within limitations beyond her control, and all of these things seem elusive, frustrating and impossible.
Steele’s writing reminded me a lot of Judith Thompson’s characterization of Theresa in The Crackwalker. Obviously, this play is dark, but Charlotte Weeks creates a beautifully multifaceted and endearing protagonist who finds moments of levity and even joy in the telling of her story. The story is grounded in a truth that Steele is very familiar with; the play is inspired by her experience with her step daughter who is also a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome, and the writing and Weeks’ performance are both rooted in research and consultation to ensure that the portrayal of this character is done in an authentic and deeply respectful and empathetic way. Weeks gives a powerhouse performance, the audience cares deeply and roots for her character from the very beginning, and in the end we hope that the chaos and trauma she has endured throughout her childhood is now a thing of the past, and that she will be happier, safer and feel more fulfilled with the support of her father and stepmother.
Steele clearly connects her protagonist’s developmental disabilities to a cycle of abuse that was inflicted upon this child since before she was born. The play is inherently a cautionary tale, I don’t think it needs the last few lines that directly warn people against drinking while pregnant, Steele’s writing in the rest of the play and Weeks’ performance are more than strong enough to make sure the message hits home.
Charlotte Weeks gives a magnetic performance rife with incredible specificity and a huge emotional range, and this play tells an important story in a way that doesn’t shy away from the bitter truth of injustice inflicted upon our protagonist, and also with a shining heart of humanity that makes us love her and want her to succeed.
Wicked Fountain of Youth plays at the Waiting Room at the following times:
Tuesday September 4th 8:10pm
Thursday September 6th 7pm
Friday September 7th 6pm
Saturday September 8th 11am & 10pm
Sunday September 9th 12:30pm
Brunch: The Musical by Vitta Morales and William Karras. The Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street).
Vitta Morales and William Karras bring their musical Brunch to Halifax Fringe from Montréal. Set at a once popular brunch joint in the midst of decline, the musical explores the relationship between the staff members, Jonas, the new dishwasher, Sandra, a spunky server, Robin, the sou chef afraid she’s all washed up at twenty-seven, Mike, a misogynistic bro, and Ralph, the alcoholic owner who stomps around, blowing up at people at random. As the musical unfolds we learn more about why Ralph is such an asshole, and each of the characters move a step closer toward their goals.
There is a lot that is fun about this musical. It’s still a work in development, and the first half of the show is stronger than the ending, but the strongest assets of the show are definitely its jazzy music, amazing five part band, and its uniformly terrific cast. The songs are well constructed, the lyrics are simple, but effective, with good use of rhyme. Unfortunately, the Bus Stop Theatre can be a challenging place to get the sound balance between singers and a band just right, and often the lyrics are drowned out by the music, which is frustrating. The actors all have gorgeous voices, especially Michelle LaLiberté, as Robin, Julia Kennific as Sandra and Lucas Amato as Hector Rector. Amato has a cameo performance, but it is hysterical. The choreography by Nick Saanto is joyful and masterfully executed.
The story works the best in the comedic moments, and when Morales allows the exposition to come out naturally in the way that people ordinarily talk to one another. The more dramatic aspects of the plot are not as fully realized as they need to be, but I really liked that the ending doesn’t go in the direction one expects, especially for a musical.
In all, Brunch is extremely ambitious, very well executed, and certainly has the potential to tell an interesting and funny story through a combination of silliness and pathos.
Brunch the Musical plays at the Bus Stop Theatre at the following times:
Monday September 3rd 7:30pm
Tuesday September 4th 10pm
Halifax Fringe runs from August 30 to September 9th, 2018. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit http://halifaxfringe.ca or stop by The Bus Stop Theatre in person at 2203 Gottingen Street. The Bus Stop is the Festival Hub and the Main Box Office. You can also pick up a Fringe Guide there.
You can follow Halifax Fringe on Social Media: Facebook. Twitter. Instagram (@HalifaxFringe)
Hope to see you at Halifax Fringe!
