Before the pandemic, every year at least one of my friends and followers in Winnipeg asked for recommendations for the upcoming Winnipeg Fringe, based on what I’ve seen at the Ottawa Fringe. Now that the Ottawa and Winnipeg Fringes have live performances again, I’ve decided to resume my recommendations. My list is based on shows I’ve seen at Ottawa Fringes, and previous Winnipeg Fringes.
There are 113 shows coming to the Winnipeg Fringe this year. I’m going to stick to shows that I’ve seen already; there will be lots of good shows outside this list. More about that later.
So here are shows that I’ve seen, that are coming to the Winnipeg Fringe this year, and that I’m recommending. I’m going to attempt some sort of rough rank order, but, like reviewing, that order is subjective. Frankly, many of these ranks are WAY too close to call. Your mileage may vary.
Also, some comparisons don’t strictly make sense. What does it mean to rank a family-friendly show versus a mature show? Dance versus drama versus comedy? Which type do you want to see? I happen to like all of them, but not everybody does.
Some shows are not for everybody, no matter what my recommendation. Some shows may push you beyond your boundaries. Read the quoted reviews carefully.
Tango to the Pointe
This was my personal highlight of this year’s Ottawa Fringe. PointeTango combines tango, ballet and other dance forms to produce a unique show that received a standing ovation the night we saw them. Erin Scott-Kafadar performed almost the entire show in ballet pointe shoes. Her chemistry with Alexander Richardson was electric. Their performances were sensual, romantic, athletic, beautiful and even dangerous.
The company had to self-isolate for most of their run, so they performed only twice in Ottawa. There’s no review from Apt613, but there is a preview article to give you a taste of what to expect. The editors wrote this headline:
“Let’s get (Tango) to the point(e)—you won’t want to miss this dance show”
Pick seats in the John Hirsch Mainstage where you can see their feet.
If you see only one dance show at this year’s Winnipeg Fringe, make it this one.
Generic Male: Just What We Need, Another Show About Men
There was a LOT of buzz about this show in Ottawa. And that buzz was well justified. Generic Male won the Outstanding Overall Production award, the Volunteer’s Choice Award and a Best of Fest award at the Ottawa Fringe. Apt613 Reviewers Samara Caplan and Laura Gauthier wrote in their review:
“This show is probably like nothing else you’ve seen—a combination of acrobatics, dance and comedy, all while challenging the audience with probing questions making you think about what you know and what you think this show is about.”
They added:
“Some of the most striking moments of the show aren’t even spoken. Macho competition, absurd immaturity, touching emotion, all displayed through incredible movements. This show stays with you—you’ll find yourself turning over moments in your mind hours or even days later.”
Civilized
Fringe veterans Keir Cutler and John D. Huston combine resources for this tour-de-force bravura performance. Cutler wrote the script and Huston performs solo as a fictional Ottawa civil servant in the Department of Indian Affairs of Sir Wilfred Laurier’s government. He has traveled to the future to explain the policy and implementation in his time of Indian residential schools.
This is NOT an easy show to watch. As Apt613 reviewers Samara Caplan and Laura Gauthier wrote in their review:
“Civilized is a powerful and impactful show, but sitting through this production is not easy; it feels tense, uncomfortable, and oftentimes horrifying. This is the ways art changes us, by challenging us to sit in our discomfort and listen to the stories and the history that needs to be told”
They conclude with:
“Civilized may be one of the most important things you ever see on stage—take your parents, your friends, your children. Every Canadian (and beyond) should be sitting in those theatre seats.”
Eleanor’s Story: an American Girl in Hitler’s Germany
Best coming-of-age story ever.
Eleanor’s Story won the Jury’s Choice Award at this year’s Ottawa Fringe.
From the Apt613 review:
“Garner gives an extraordinary view of wartime, seen through the eyes of a girl of nine who grows to become a young woman of 15. The story covers a huge span: from Hitler Youth to the Gestapo, from a public hanging to mass bombings, from rationing to starvation and much more.”
This hit of the 2015 and 2016 Winnipeg Fringes returns to Winnipeg. Winnipeg Free Press reviewer Pat St. Germain described it in her review as:
“Harrowing, occasionally humorous and brutally honest”.
Take a teenager. Take a young adult. Take a parent, Take yourself.
But see this show.
Three
Bossy Flyer’s hit of the 2019 Winnipeg Fringe is back. Yet another wonderful dance performance for this year’s Winnipeg Fringe. Rave reviews in 2019:
Winnipeg Free Press’s Frances Koncan wrote in her review:
“Performed with strength, grace, and flawless technique by acrobats Taylor Casas, Cynthia Price and Ezra Lebank, hell may be other people, as Sartre famously said, but this show soars pretty close to heaven.”
CBC Manitoba’s Joff Schmidt wrote in his review:
“What’s especially impressive is how effortless they make it all look — when these feats clearly involve incredible effort, and remarkable strength and agility.
It’s an engaging story about relationships told through top-notch physical theatre.”
How I Met My Mother
Full disclosure: I met Jonathon Paterson’s mom on the Fringe circuit. She flyered me for one of Jonny P’s shows at the Winnipeg Fringe. Who could refuse this 70-something lady with the warm smile and brimming enthusiasm?
Then she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
In this show, Paterson explains how he had to transform himself from badass to caregiver. It’s a moving performance that brought many to tears.
As Apt613 reviewer Jennifer Cavanagh wrote in her review:
“The conclusion may have left me in floods of happy-sad tears but I’ll take that. This is a best-of-fest contender and not to be missed.”
Dirk Darrow: Magic of Future Past
I’ve seen a number of Tim Motley’s Dirk Darrow shows over the years. This is his most polished show yet. It won a Best of Fest award here in Ottawa. In her Apt613 review, Julia Bueneman wrote:
“Combining skilled magic, 1930s grit, time travel, standup and audience participation, Dirk Darrow: Future Past Magic is a compelling and energized play that had me giggling, stunned and picking my jaw up off the floor.”
While there were technical difficulties on review night, by the time I saw it, the show was running smooth as silk. You don’t have to be a Dirk Darrow fan to be gob-smacked at Motley’s mentalism and magic tricks this year.
Juliet: A Revenge Comedy
This hit of the 2019 Winnipeg Fringe returns to its perfect venue: the King’s Head Pub. Frankly, co-writer Pippa Mackie (Juliet) and Carly Pokoradi (other Shakespearean female characters) shamelessly upstage co-writer Ryan Gladstone (Shakespeare) to the delight of the King’s Head audience.
Winnipeg Free Press reviewer Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson wrote in his review:
“The interactions between Pokoradi and Mackie veer between classic Shakespeare and saucy modern-day dialogue, keeping audiences in stitches from beginning to end of the 60-minute production.”
Bedwetter
New Fringe performer Tamlynn Bryson surprised a lot of people with her engaging performance about a subject no one wants to talk about. Apt613 reviewer Barbara Popel captured that popular reaction in her review:
“Bedwetter was an unalloyed surprise for me. I was expecting a less-than-polished coming of age monologue whose only unusual aspect was that the young woman had suffered into her teenage years as a bedwetter. Coming of age monologues are a dime a dozen at the Fringe. Instead, I got a polished, funny, touching story from a talented charming performer. Within a few minutes, she had the audience (yours truly included) in the palm of her hand.”
I Am The Most Unfeeling Doctor In The World (And Other True Tales From The Emergency Room)
Writer and performer Melissa Yuan-Innes is not a professional actor. She’s an emergency room doctor who has a lot of engaging stories to tell. She quickly pulls the audience into her world with stories that range from joyful to heartbreaking.
In spite of being an amateur, Yuan-Innes pulled off a Best of Fest award at the 2019 Ottawa Fringe. There are a number of reasons for this coup. First the show has good bones. Literally: a full-size medical skeleton. Furthermore Yuan-Innes uses the skeleton as a straight man for her humour. Talk about a dead-pan expression! Although she’s an amateur, Yuan-Innes recruited then Great Canadian Theatre Company artistic director Eric Coates to give her pointers while she was developing her show. Finally, as a first time Fringe performer, she picked the brains of some veteran Fringe performers about how to sell her show while flyering. Result: she beat out a professional Pinter production in her venue.
But don’t just take my word for it. Apt613 reviewer Barbara Popel wrote in her review:
‘She got the audience on her side early on. She was open about her uncertainties, even when she was the primary attending ER physician. And she certainly can laugh at herself. At one point, she broke into an exuberant dance to the theme from Ghostbusters, with the lyrics changed so the audience called out “Your doctor!” in response to her “Who ya gonna call?”’
I saw 19 shows at the Ottawa Fringe this year and about 55 at the 2019 Winnipeg Fringe. Consequently I haven’t seen all the shows touring to this year’s Winnipeg Fringe, like THEATrePUBLIC’s The Paladin for example. Nor have I seen any of the local productions like Indifferently Reformed’s Romeo and Juliet. Or any of the latest improv. In fact there are already 30 shows on my wanna-see list. So go see some shows that I haven’t recommended.
Happy Fringing!
brianmcarroll 