bill wood & rhys bevan-john
From the first entrance of Mary Fay Coady being upstaged almost immediately by Rhys Bevan-John in Fringe Invocation Experiment: The Perfection of Man at the Atlantic Fringe Festival it is clear that the audience is in for a unique and hilarious treat.
This is the sort of show that one hopes to get as the result of a collective creation, a beautifully polished, proficiently performed, intelligently woven together tapestry of humanity, playfulness and heart. And literally, there is a heart.
The collective is comprised of Coady, Bevan-John, Bill Wood and Matthew Lumley, a group of actors that I have never seen work all together before and they have a marvelous dynamic. Directed by Kathryn McCormack and designed by Nathan Bassett, Fringe Invocation: The Perfection of Man feels like a sketch comedy show, but one that delves deeper into emotional territory, allowing its audiences to feel pathos as well as delight and continually surprising them with the unexpected.
The images intrinsic to each sketch are simple yet vividly powerful. Props such as a watering can, a tin can telephone and a red balloon, relics from childhood, are so poetically rendered. There was a moment Bill Wood improvised with one of the cans that was pure magic. And one scene just uses the soundscape of the rain and gives us something wonderfully haunting.
The show is also, as you might expect, extremely funny and the comedy and the absurd permeates everything. Bevan-John and Wood have a sketch where they play satyrs that is certain to have you howling with a great mixture of uncomfortable and glee. Yet, there are also beautiful moments of tragedy that are beautifully performed by the actors. Coady’s face when nobody wants to buy her heart and Bevan-John’s as a sensitive child who has just been brutally chastised by his mother elicit true pangs of empathy and sadness before quickly being undercut by the next slice of fun.
This collective of performers have invoked a real gem from the Theatre Gods, I highly recommend that you check this one out.
TWISI RATING:
Fringe Invocation Experiment: The Perfection of Man plays at the Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street) at the following times:
Saturday September 8th at 1:20pm
It is $8.00; 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!
