Halifax Fringe Day 5

Yesterday was another day at the Bus Stop Theatre for Halifax Fringe and I started things off with Britt P. Curran’s new play Petal. 

Rosy is a lonely thirty-something who lives in an apartment with her cat, Felix. She works as a bookkeeper and we see that she has a friendship with her older neighbour, Marlene, and with her almost thirteen year old niece, Emilia, but we don’t see her connected with anyone who is the same age as her. While trying to find a second hand dresser she happens upon an ad in the classifieds for a program that matches folks who are incarcerated in a medium-security prison with folks on the outside who might like to be their penpal. This speaks to Rosy and she inquires about the program, and she is matched with “Charlie.” 

I found the premise of this play to be really interesting because I kept oscillating between worrying for Rosy and then defending Rosy, because you hear about weird or scary relationships that develop sometimes, especially between serial killers and their fans, but I’m sure most of the programs that exist like this one are actually really beneficial for folks and can theoretically provide a lifeline for real people who need one. 

Vague Spoiler Alert: Three quarters of the way through Curran throws the audience a curveball, and then she throws us another curveball, and suddenly the play isn’t what you thought it was at all, and that was a really fun surprise. If Curran is thinking of expanding this work, I would be really interested in seeing more about what happened between when the family secret is revealed to Emilia and the final scene. Even when Rosy is writing to Charlie, we learn Charlie is closer to Marlene’s age, so she still is missing having companionship with someone her own age. It might be nice to see how this experience opens this door for her- maybe with her sister, or in some other way?

Curran plays Rosy and is delightful and easy to care and worry about. Her real niece Rory Paige plays Emilia and you can tell their chemistry is genuine. Mike Taylor gives a really nuanced lovely performance as “Charlie,” and Katherine Dynes creates a very clear character for Marlene. There is room for Curran to keep working on streamlining the transitions between the scenes. 

I really enjoyed the twists and turns in this show, and I left challenging some of my own preconceived notions about these kinds of prison penpal programs. 

Petal plays at the Bus Stop Theatre at Halifax Fringe at the following times: September 2nd: 6:15pm and September 6th: 1:15pm.

Next, also at the Bus Stop Theatre, I caught Noella Murphy’s play Flower Bed directed by Lou Campbell. 

Flower Bed is an exploration of navigating the healthcare system as a chronically ill woman through the medium of clown. Our clown is snuggled into a hospital bed surrounded by artwork of flowers on the floor of the theatre. Murphy’s voice singing a song she wrote comes over the sound system, and the song, too, expresses her relationship with a body in constant pain. On stage, the clown wears a flower hat, which attracts a buzzing bee, who sometimes annoys the clown by buzzing all around her, but sometimes nestles into the flower. The clown also has a cat who at times nestles in with her, but the clown is constantly distracted by the intensity of pain that is coming from her abdomen. She reacts viscerally to it. 

Although the clown doesn’t move from her bed, we are transported also to some sort of medical setting, whether a doctor’s office or a hospital or both and we encounter a myriad of different doctors: puppets that look like a mixture of Beaker from the Muppets and a cucumber. Like Beaker they mostly speak in garbled gibberish and the only thing we are able to hear clearly is the word normal. Despite the fact that she is screaming out in pain, our clown is told that she is “fine.” As time goes on, however, they begin to diagnose her with a multitude of different things, and pages with these diagnoses written on them begin to literally pile up on top of the clown’s blanket. The audience never knows whether these diagnoses are actually accurate, or if our clown is also sometimes being misdiagnosed. Yet, at the end of the play there is a poignant shift that really beautifully captures the reality of living with a chronic illness. 

Murphy oscillates between exuding warmth and coziness toward the audience, sometimes shrugging her shoulders at us when the doctors do something especially absurd, and then, suddenly, she is besieged by pain and that, understandably, takes all of her focus. But she tries to come back to the audience with just as much warm energy as she had before, although the audience can imagine that she is becoming depleted. I saw the flowers as being representative of art, and then wondered about the symbolic aspect of the bee. I think there are many different ways to view this. Of course, bees are associated with being busy, and the chronic illness robs our clown of the luxury of that. The bee could be ambition or inspiration, circling around and around, but only able to nourish the art of the flower haphazardly. 

The puppets were designed and puppeteered by Laura Stinson, who really brings the personality of the cat and the frenzy of the circling bee to life. The way the doctors are created is so imaginative and evocative, both comedic but also so rooted in a frustration I think a lot of people can really relate to. Lou Campbell does an excellent job of infusing so much movement, tension and play into a piece where Murphy mostly remains in a bed. 

I really enjoyed this piece a lot. It is incredibly powerful for Noella Murphy to turn what I know has been a harrowing to the say the least and extremely personal experience into something so light and sweet, and charming.

TWISI Fringe Rating: Two Thumbs Jump!

The Villains Theatre’s production of Flower Bed plays at the Bus Stop Theatre as part of Halifax Fringe at the following times: September 2nd: 5:00pm, September 6th: 5:45pm, and September 7th: 3:30.

Lastly I stayed at the Bus Stop Theatre and saw Emma Lamont’s play Dead Man Walking starring the brilliant Daniel Nwobi.

All you really need to know about Dead Man Walking is that the script is ready to be published, and Nwobi is ready to be cast at the Stratford Festival.

These young people at Anomaly Theatre Co. are punching so far above their weight with this show, it is sure to leave audiences breathless with absolute wonder.

Dead Man Walking is based on true events, and the audience is transported to Jarrell, Texas during the evening of May 27, 1997 when a devastating series of tornadoes touched down in this town. We are introduced to Scott, played by Daniel Nwobi, who is a storm chaser, and he vividly and evocatively details first his adventure chasing this storm, and then the horror he experienced witnessing its full destructive power. 

Nwobi is one of the best young actors in the province, if not the country, and he is just absolutely pitch perfect at capturing Scott’s emotional journey, from the exhilaration, to the panic, but also the disaffected attitude that has brought him out into this storm in the first place, rather than sheltering in place with his loved ones. I was captivated on the edge of my seat for the entire play, marvelling over the beautiful literacy of Lamont’s words, but also how conversational they became as Scott developed this intense relationship with the audience. 

If you’re looking for Neptune-caliber Fringe show, or you’re looking for a new Canadian play to program for your upcoming season, make sure you catch Emma Lamont’s Dead Man Walking at the Bus Stop Theatre.  

TWISI Fringe Rating: Two Thumbs Jump!

There is just one performance left: September 4th: at 9:00pm, and I suggest you go get your tickets now before it sells out.

Halifax Fringe runs from August 27th to September 7th, 2025 in venues throughout the downtown and North End of Halifax. For more information and to make your Fringe schedule please visit this website. All official Fringe venues are wheelchair accessible and have all gender washrooms. For Fort Massey Church, if you are a wheelchair user, please contact the Box Office ahead of the show. Each show has at least one mask mandatory performance. Grab a Fringe Guide at any of the venues for a handy way to follow along with all the events at the festival. See ya there! 

A Note On TWISI Fringe Ratings:

I have never liked rating Fringe shows, or any shows, using the 5 Star system as I have done in the past, so I started doing something new. From now on I will just be highlighting what I think are 4 or 5 Star Fringe Shows. A Two Thumbs Up Rating equals roughly to 4 Stars, while A Two Thumbs Jump Rating equals 5 Stars. I have stolen (with permission) “Two Thumbs Jump” from my friend Lenny Clayton, who is awesome, who came up with this phrase when she was a young kid reviewing films on YouTube.