Artistic side of murderers examined in fringe show Cabaret of Murder

One show at this year’s Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival has a perverse premise, even in the context of the event’s established baseline of “out there” offerings.

Take a sampling of some of the most vile murderers of the last 100 years, give or take.

Now: reveal their attempts to be creative.

That’s the crux of Cabaret of Murder, a dark, dark comedy/musical at Venue 4 (Centre culturel franco-manitobain) running through Sunday.

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ACK NOW

Theatre & PlayThéâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 3), to Sunday , July 28

Do you struggle with making your own decisions? Do you freeze up when the waiter arrives at your table? Do you ever wish a tech company could just make the choice for you? In Ack Now, Kim (Kim Kay) rolls the dice and signs up for a newfangled app that boasts anticipatory cerebral knowledge, a product sold by a pink-haired pitchperson (Alex Mutcheson) from Ignatius Industries. Once Kim clicks download, the app provides a friendly avatar (Zanifa Rasool), and soon, both versions of Kim are ghosts in the shell.

A comedy that zaps the common trappings of Fantastic Voyage to the brave new world of AI, this show would be vastly improved if it relied less on pop-culture references and allowed itself to lean more in the direction of techie children’s programming (Cyberchase). One kid in the audience clearly loved it, repeating the lines with glee.

The tide of Fringe Fest reviews is not going down

THE GET LAID SHOW

The Other V Name ProductionsDuke of Kent Legion (Venue 13), to Sunday

Going by “V,” fringe vet Veronica Ternopolski shoots for a wild, raucous fringe experience in the intimate – some might say cramped – confines of the Duke of Kent Legion. V invites consenting adults to play games designed to open you up to relationships with new people. She employs a whiteboard spelling out the tenets of responsible mating: Participation, Risk, Vulnerability, Honesty.

If you go in knowing she’ll be polling patrons on their sexual histories, the bold extrovert may be happy to oblige. (All others beware.) Indeed, she takes up much of the show sharing her own sexual history, told through the device of an egg collection with each ovum representing a past lover, the best part of the evening.

1NCE UPON A LIE: PAUL STRICKLAND

Paul Strickland Presents

Planetarium Auditorium (Venue 9), to Sunday, July 28

Be careful what you tell Paul Strickland before a show, when he, as he later confesses, wanders “shopping” for stories. You could end up in his act.

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AWOL

RibbitRePublic Theatre

King’s Head Pub (Venue 14), to Sunday

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CAUSING A COMMOTION

Momentum Aerial & Acrobatic TroupeMTYP Mainstage (Venue 21), to Saturday

Directed by Monica Goermann, this lively show combines aerial circus arts, theatre and acrobatics to keep you on the edge of your seat. The young Winnipeg performers are talented, executing incredible and professional stunts; the graceful aerial silk artists, in particular, are mesmerizing. The storyline, though a great idea, has some shaky moments, but the overall performance — which was billed at 60 minutes, but ran about 45 — is sweet and fun. The show also features cute dance numbers that add charm. Crowd participation is an absolute treat for the kids, making it family-friendly, and the message behind the story is meaningful. Despite some initial storyline issues, the skilled performers and the captivating stunts make it worth checking out, especially for the little ones. With a bit of fine-tuning, it could be even better.

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Fringe fest reviews keep swimming along

THE BIG BIG IMPROV SHOW

Leap Before You LookAsper Centre for Theatre & Film (Venue 10), to Sunday

Why sit through one three-hour movie, when you can experience four never-to-be-seen-again flicks in an hour flat?

A revamp of the long-running Big Stupid Improv Show, this production from Stephen Sim features a rotating cast of well-known Winnipeg improvisers working with and competing against one another to create a compelling made-up narrative.

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Agency

Broken Record Productions

Asper Centre for Theatre and Film at U of W (Venue 10), to Saturday, July 27

The problem with a lot of stories about social problems is many of them try to solve those problems. Sometimes just telling the story lights a fire under those in power who can do something about it. This is the strength of Agency: it isn’t trying to give an easy answer to a hard question.

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Between Gigs Tickle the Lemur Productions Rachel Browne Theatre (Venue 8), to Sunday, July 28 There are tens of dollars to be made in the world of musical accompaniment, Vince (Joseph Aragon) tells Moira (Heather Madill), a singer who never dreamed of becoming a soloist. For years, Vince has been slapping together multiple streams of income to keep his melodic dreams alive, writing private opuses and corporate hold music. “Compose eight bars and you loop that shit,” he says. Vince needs a voice and, in Moira, finds one who can sightread right as wedding season is upon him. A duet […]

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Bloodsuckers! The Musical Kiss the Giraffe Productions Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to July 27 You might be forgiven a little déjà vu when Kiss the Giraffe Productions remounts its hit Bloodsuckers! The Musical, which first premièred at the fringe in 2004. The briskly paced, 75-minute musical, with book, music and lyrics by Joseph Aragon, features many of those original cast members reprising their roles, augmented by KTG alumni. American theme-park developer Jack Astor, performed with brash swagger by Kenneth Jackson, travels to Transylvania with business partners, Mary Brown (Lisa Tjaden) and Bill Smith (Sheldon Atts) to establish “Dracula Land.” […]

Wood carver goes with the grain to craft his one-of-a-kind creations

Where others see waste, Sean Philips sees only possibilities.

Whether it’s a diseased tree destined for the chop or storm-battered trunks blown down by wind or logs laying discarded in ditches, as long as it’s wood, it’s rescued and taken to his workshop where it’s given a second lease of life.

Transformed into vessels and one-of-a-kind sculptures, Philips has a vision of what he wants to achieve when he starts carving, but more often than not, he finds himself being led by the colour, shape and texture.

“I have 100 pieces laid out in my garage in such a way I can see every piece of wood I have available. When I go in there I put a chair in the middle, look at the wood and see which one stands out. I put that one on the workbench, walk around it to see what shape it wants to be and then I carve into it,” he says.

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ABSOLUTE MAGIC WITH KEITH BROWN

Keith BrownPTE — Cherry Karpyshin Mainstage (Venue 16), to July 28

London, Ont., magician Keith Brown is personable and instantly puts people at ease — which is crucial if one relies on a lot of crowd work, which Brown does, in this hour-long magic show that entertains but sometimes feels a little light on the razzle-dazzle. Audience members are involved in nearly all the tricks and illusions, which range from amazing — such as the one involving a knife and a card — to underwhelming, such as the rubber band trick that is set up by a sweet but sort of who-cares story about the first lady of Iceland. But when Brown’s on, he’s on.

The final illusion, involving a piece of fruit and the power of suggestion, will leave you questioning your own reality. (Fellow performers could take a page from Brown; he delivered the most thoughtful and sincere land acknowledgement this reviewer has ever heard.)

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5-STEP GUIDE TO BEING GERMAN

Paco ErhardJohn Hirsch Mainstage (Venue 1), to July 27

Despite several references to Germans’ characteristic precision, attention to detail and numerical aptitude, fringe circuit veteran Paco Erhard never actually gets around to delineating the titular five steps during this 75-minute standup-comedy performance. Instead, he offers up a wide-ranging commentary on Germany’s checkered past and its emergence as a 21st-century global leader. “Germany is the greatest country in the world to be from,” he observes. “Anywhere in the world you go, you can only exceed expectations!” Currently a U.S. resident on tour across the Canadian fringe circuit, Erhard has a confident and world-wise perspective sure to resonate with audiences here as it has elsewhere around the globe.

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Visiting performers talk about what makes Winnipeg’s fringe special

Twenty-three years ago, after blowing into the city from Montreal, the star of a one-man show about Shakespeare was lingering outside the Planetarium when he heard the tale of a two-armed bandit.

“There was a dramatic incident,” writes Keir Cutler, who can’t forget his first Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, when a neo-noir parable about art and economy was being written within earshot of the Pantages Playhouse.

Filled with unrolled loonies and toonies and five-dollar bills, the cashbox rattled away, the outgoing jangle of someone else’s income ringing through the Exchange District. Word spread quickly about the filching, initiated right before showtime, but what spread even faster was the legend of why the robbery can now be prefixed by the word “attempted.”

“A brave volunteer didn’t hesitate,” recalls Cutler. “He chased down the thief, tackled him, and got back the cashbox. When asked by the police why he took such a risk, the volunteer said, ‘It would be awful for the artists to lose their hard-earned money.’

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AIRBORN(E)

Alien Dreams Production

Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4), to July 27

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