Ottawa Fringe Day 10: Unexpected Gems
[This post is about Friday and is a wee bit late to press]
The storm broke finally, early evening, while Wayne was helping me with my audition pieces. It began with sharp, hard, near and dry lightening — the sound of good timbre cracking unexpectedly under a heavy load. Then, the rain fell like grey rails, and a slowly accelerating static swelled from the street below and its white noise serenade washed the humidity away.
It was an excellent background affect for my Scorched monologue which concerns death’s unexpectedness.
Fortunately, most of the downfall was over by the time I scooted over to my volunteer shift. I had picked this shift in particular, so I could take a peek at the Crush Improv crew and peek I did. Funny, funny guys and gals.
Once the rain was all finished, the air was dry and cool. After the volunteer shift, I headed to the tent for a beer and a quick and always tasty lamb wrap.
With time on my hands, I decided to go see a show I had heard nothing about and knew nothing about. For me, this is a crucial aspect of the Fringe experience: the crap-shoot. Unlike the Cat, I was rewarded for my curiosity.
Dante is very good. It has a strong character-driven script built around a simple but neat concept and has a really top-notch performance from Kristan Brown. Go see it. I suspect you haven’t heard much about it simply because these guys are new to the Fringe circuit, from the U.S., and probably don’t really know how to work the beer tent yet.
Then, it was off to Tribulations of a Failed Vigilante. This very simple but hilarious show is a treat and, because it is short, well-worth squeezing into an otherwise hectic schedule. It would have been truly great if this very funny duo had allowed the story to resolve itself genuinely. Instead, they non-sequitured themselves into an admittedly hillarious rap and dance number, but one which didn’t resolve the neat little character-driven story they had created. Even so, very entertaining.
Then! There was a not-so-secret secret improv show featuring peeps from Crush Improv, Cat Strung Violin, and Uncalled For. It was a lot of fun and top-quality improv. A genuine treat.
Eventually, the usual suspects found themselves around a table under one of the tents back near the porta-potties. Although much fun was had, a little people-watching lead to one of the funniest (unfortunately) you-had-to-be there moments. One hint: when using a porta potty with nosey theatre types near-by, be sure to wash your hands before coming over and offering to shake someone’s hand.
