reviews by Stuart Nulman
This year marks the 15th time I have been covering the Montreal Fringe Festival. Fifteen years ago, I was a Fringe rookie, yet I had seen only one festival show prior to 2012 (a one-man show called “Father’s Day”). Although I felt somewhat intimidated, it was thanks to Amy Blackmore and her team that I learned one thing about being a successful fringer: be fearless. Don’t be afraid to see shows that are beyond your comfort zone and experience the wide variety of shows that could open a whole new world to you.
This quartet of show reviews is a fine example of fearless fringing. Scions is a Game of Thrones-inspired drama that’s filled with intense rivalry, betrayal and impressive swashbuckling swordfights; Solovela is a one-person improv-style spoof of the pop culture phenomenon that is Latin American telenovelas; Tic, tic…boom! is a French-language musical about a songwriter who specializes in stage musicals (which sparked my interest when I saw their two-minute preview performance at the Fringe-For-All); and Daumas: Devil’s Advocate, a legal drama where the audience is the jury. Enjoy, and don’t be afraid to be fearless.
Scions at the Montreal Fringe Festival
The world of Game of Thrones comes to life with Scions, which focusses on what greed, betrayal and rivalry can tear apart the familial fabric of four siblings. There is one brother and sister duo who sides with their elderly king father, and hope to inherit his throne in the near future; the other brother and sister duo are from the same family, but side with the rebels who fight relentlessly to hopefully depose the king for the survival of his poor subjects in the kingdom.
When the two sets of brothers and sisters encounter each other within the confines of one of the castle’s subterranean dungeons, the tensions between them run high due to the incredible amount of anger, mistrust and misunderstanding. The set and costumes authentically captures the medieval world that Game of Thrones lent itself to. And the sword fighting scenes are very well choreographed and carried out. In fact, it’s some the finest swashbuckling sword play this critic has seen since Errol Flynn mastered it in such classic films as Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk back in the 30s and 40s.
Solovela at the Fringe
Whether you live in Mexico, Spain, Brazil or Puerto Rico, the telenovela — the Hispanic/Latino version of the TV soap opera—is a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. Those who are not — or only vaguely — familiar with this TV genre will get a hilarious crash course with Solovela.
A hit at fringe festivals across the U.S., Solovela is making its Canadian debut here in Montreal. Performer Diane Jorge, with her overflowing trunk of props, leads this entertaining exercise in improv comedy. First of all, she selects two people from the audience and conducts an intake-style interview with them to gather several facts about them to formulate a telenovela-style show from scratch. And Ms. Jorge performs all of the roles!
During the show I attended, she interviewed a married couple — one from Montreal, the other from Brazil — and found out they met at a pre-Carnivale party in Rio. Ms. Jorge then takes all of the information she gathered from the couple and whips up an instant telenovela called “Carnival of Love”. It was a fast-paced, breathless and hilarious show that also included the passion, love, dark secrets and vengeance that are associated with a typical telenovela series. You have to admire Ms. Jorge’s boundless energy as she rapidly changes props to get into each character, especially when the dialogue constantly goes back and forth. Solovela deserves a big, loud “Ole!”
Tic, tic…boom! at the Fringe
For the first time in seven years, I decided to attend a French-language fringe show. And it was quite a good one.
Tic, tic…boom! is a bona fide stage musical based on the life of Jonathan Larson, best known as the creator of the award-winning Broadway musical Rent. It focuses on his early life as a struggling playwright/songwriter living in New York City, who sets a goal to create a Broadway musical—inspired by his idol, Stephen Sondheim—before his 30th birthday.
With his girlfriend Susan and his best friend Mike by his side as moral support, Jonathan goes through the pressures, trials and tribulations of turning his dream into a reality, whether it be dealing with his eccentric agent, formulating a premise with a group of Broadway yes-men, not to mention the tensions between Jonathan and Susan that arise during this creative process.
This 90-minute show was a treat to witness, as the story of Jonathan Larson’s Broadway quest certainly did not get lost in translation. The trio that makes up the cast certainly complements each other in their respective performances, and the musical numbers are terrific, especially the showstopping numbers sung by the actor who portrayed Susan (with extra kudos for effortlessly handling nonstop costume changes throughout the show).
Daumas: Devil’s Advocate Debuts at Montreal Fringe Festival
MBC Productions brings the scales of justice to the Fringe Festival with their latest production Daumas: Devil’s Advocate. It takes place in a courtroom somewhere in France, in which controversial lawyer Georges Daumas is put on trial for the crime of defending rather questionable characters who were tried for terrorist activities against French colonial rule in Syria and Algeria. Although these characters are witnesses for the prosecution, they attack Daumas not as a lawyer but as a rather lackadaisical husband and human being.
This tense courtroom drama, which is based on true events, has the entire audience play the role of the jury and decides Daumas’ fate based on the testimonies they have heard from the subpoenaed witnesses (which includes an elderly Nazi war criminal who testifies as a defence character witness). The audience/jury even gets a few minutes to deliberate the facts before rendering a verdict.
Reminiscent of such classic courtroom films as Inherit the Wind and Judgment at Nuremberg, Daumas: Devil’s Advocate is a compelling drama of how justice can and should be duly served in the face of numerous shameful episodes in the history of a first-world country that doubles as a colonial power.
To purchase tickets for the above-mentioned shows — or any other Fringe shows — go to montrealfringe.ca.
Other articles from totimes.ca – otttimes.ca – mtltimes.ca
