ian mullan
Thom Fitzgerald takes audiences on a train ride to Hell in 7 Deadly Sins: Frommer’s Guide To Hell as part of the Atlantic Fringe Festival.
The experience of this intense, interactive, multimedia, environmental theatre concept is the most exciting and unique aspect of the show. The audience is led one by one into seven train cars where they confront one of the deadly sins in each car.
The strongest of the sins are the ones where actors give audiences an extremely intimate performance (in a very small space) embodying one of the sins. Glen Matthews is intensely creepy and a little gross, and you never know when something unpleasant is going to come hurtling at you, mostly from his mouth. Lisa Rose Snow is the Bitchiness Queen as Vanity in one of my favourite performances I have ever seen her give. Ian Mullan makes you feel wildly uncomfortable as Lust. His eyes are the epitome of carnal. And Heather Rankin is biting and sardonic as anger in a really cool dialogue with God, where God’s voice is projected as a voice over. Her timing is meticulous but never feels forced.
I found the two audio cars to be challenging, but I have difficulty with all forms of theatre where I am told to “just listen.” I find it fascinating, however, how hard it is for me and how much I have to force myself to concentrate so ardently on the words and to not let my attentions wander that I really enjoy being forced to do it every once and awhile. I thought it would have been neat if one of the cars had some audio/visual technological components or if one of them required the audience to physically do something. Although the last car, Gluttony, which I won’t ruin, does present an opportunity for the audience to jump on the Hell bandwagon.
Fitzgerald’s writing captures the spirit of the sins nicely. His characters are quirky, their situations weird, there is some humour and a lot of intensity and at times what they say is quite poetic. I also really liked the moments where the characters speak directly to you and you are forced to respond, such as when Snow kicks you out of her car. Fantastic.
TWISI RATING:
7 Deadly Sins: Frommer’s Guide To Hell plays at Pier 21 (Bratty Hall, Upstairs) at the following times:
Wednesday September 5: 6:30pm to 10:30pm
Thursday September 6th: 6:30pm to 10:30pm
Sunday September 9th: 6:30pm to 9:00pm
Each sin is 2 minutes in length, if you see them all it’s approximately 15 minutes. The price is 7.00 for all the sins or $1.00 a piece.
It is $7.00 to book tickets please visit this website or call (902) 999-7469 or visit the Box Office at the Seaport Farmers’ Market at Pavilion 20 on Marginal Road. Tickets are also available at the venue A HALF HOUR before the show. Happy Fringe!
