I only saw one show on Wednesday, so I’ve smooshed Wednesday and Thursday’s shows into the same blog post. I’m continually impressed with the caliber of the shows at Halifax Fringe this year. There is certainly something for everyone in this Festival.
Almost (Hali) Famous by Victor Rubilar. Old Company Theatre (2202 Gottingen Street).
victor rubilar
Haligonian audiences are very familiar with Buskers and their acts, since our International Busker Festival (held in Halifax every August since 1986), is the largest outdoor festival in Atlantic Canada and one of the largest busker festivals in the world. Have you ever watched a Busker show and thought to yourself, “This person must have all sorts of weird and fun stories about the adventures of travelling the world and being a street performer!”? In Almost (Hali) Famous Victor Rubilar, who has won 21 awards internationally and is a 5-time Guinness World Record holder, takes us beyond his daring feats with and without a soccer ball and gives us a taste of what it’s like to be a “normal dude with a very odd job.”
Rubilar is originally from Buenos Aires, and he takes us back to video footage from 1999 when he was just starting out juggling footballs (soccer balls), and then tells us about a number of his international misadventures, from an airport in New York City, to a water park in Spain and a hospital in China. The stories all have a common thread woven through them, which is a sight gag that I won’t ruin for you. Inter-spliced with Rubliar stories are bits of his busker act. He asks for volunteers from the audience to help him with a Harry Houdini Escape trick, he has a solo dance party (during which I made him dance to the “Mull River Shuffle” and he seemed genuinely confused), and he shows off his extreme precision with bouncing footballs (soccer balls) off specific parts of his head, and he successfully juggles five of them, inside a venue with a low ceiling and a ceiling fan! It’s one of those things that sounds easier to you in theory than you realize it is when you see it.
The show is very funny. Rubilar is extremely charming, and quick to improvise and he does a good job of melding the storytelling aspects of a play with the more traditional busker format. If you’re a fan of Buskers (and in this city, who isn’t!?) I think you’ll really enjoy this great melding of the worlds of our Busker and Fringe Festivals. Bring some extra change for the hat at the end!
Almost (Hali) Famous closes tomorrow at the Old Company Theatre (2202 Gottingen Street).
Sunday September 9th 9pm
Follow Victor on Social Media: Facebook. Twitter. Instagram (@VictorRubilar).
Wild Bill’s Facebook Livefeed Feeding-Time Youtube Yeeeehaw!! by Steve Day. The Old Pool Hall Theatre (6050-70 Almon Street).
steve day photo by stoo metz
As the title suggests Wild Bill’s Facebook Livefeed Feeding-Time YouTube Yeehaw! is a very creative rollicking cyber adventure. The show’s playwright, Steve Day, plays Edward Spooner, a well-intentioned and very innocent environmental enthusiast, who has created his own live-streamed children’s show to teach about environmental stewardship and sustainability. The show is centred around his pet fish, Wild Bill, and Ted is able to interact with those who leave comments on his Facebook Live-style broadcast. Initially, Ted is excited to have his nineteenth viewer, yet he is caught off guard when his broadcast suddenly goes viral, opening him up to the much darker world that the Internet can be so good at providing. His five minutes of fame creates a dangerous situation for the fish and examines what we are willing to sacrifice for money and for fame, and also delves deep into how the Internet turns us all into bystanders, complicit in all the horrors that happen there. It sounds dark, and it does get a little dark, but mostly it gets very silly.
The humour of this show hinges on the audience’s ability to enjoy the nuance of Day’s very strong performance as Ted Spooner, but also enjoy Ted’s terrible performance as all the characters in his children’s show. Similarly, Day’s writing is funny and interesting, and, as I said, very silly, while Ted’s writing is hilarious in the ways it spoofs how terrible shows for children often are. The set, especially the puppet theatre, is amazing, and it and the costume pieces really ground us vividly in the world of Ted’s basement. The technical aspects of the show, the creation of a live-feed social media type platform, with written comments and increasing numbers of viewers that are projected for us to see is wonderful and very much mirrors how these live streams work in real life.
This show is entirely unique. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I think it has an important message, and leaves audiences thinking about their own response (or lack thereof) to the subject matter. I found I had a visceral response to the ending that stayed with me. And yet, it is rooted in a real sense of fun and of silliness that reminds me of the way children play and use their imaginations with such abandon- which really is the very origins of the theatre.
Wild Bill’s Facebook Livefeed Feeding-Time YouTube Yeehaw! has closed.
Herbie Dragons by Kevin Hartford and Dan Bray. The Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street).
dan bray, kayla gunn & melissa mcgougan photo by stoo metz
Herbie Dragons, written by Kevin Hartford and Dan Bray, is (as the poster suggests) a loving pastiche of the Harry Potter universe, but more accurately, it is a pastiche within Hartford and Bray’s entirely original story. Even if you separate out the Harry Potter references, the characters that Hartford and Bray have created here are very compelling, and the arc of the story has unexpected twists, and lots of silliness entirely for silliness’ sake.
The story centres on a young girl named Herbie, the youngest of the Dragons sisters. She is dreaming of attending Covenmyth Academy, a prestigious school for spellcraft and general magic. Her oldest sister, Imogen, is the school’s prized pupil and Herbie wants to follow in her footsteps. Unfortunately, Herbie and middle sister Darby, are worried that they are not cut out for Covenmyth and when they arrive for Herbie’s admittance test they find themselves in the middle of a violent clash between factions in an ongoing war between good and evil.
The characters are brought to vivid life by the cast. Kevin Hartford gives a purposefully understated performance as the headmaster, Red. Dan Bray plays this universe’s version of Peeves the Poltergeist, full of jaunty mischief and Bray’s characteristic charm. Colleen MacIsaac is Imogen and shows off her wide emotional range, especially since she is only in the play for a few minutes. The comedic stars are Kayla Gunn as Darby and Melissa MacGougan as Herbie, who (with the help of director Kathryn McCormack) mine every moment and every line for the maximum amount of comedy. They play off of one another beautifully. Gunn’s Darby is a stoner with a lackadaisical worldview, while MacGougan’s Herbie is a tightly wound high achiever. Watching them continually come into conflict, while still rooting their relationship in a very believable sisterly bond, is very fun.
McCormack keeps the action moving well, and finds very funny ways to create a magical ambiance without any special effects at all. The score by Andrew Chandler and Martin Chandler is also a great homage to the music of Harry Potter, and also really helps to create the world we are in, a place that is fun, but also mysterious. The last line of the play is especially magical.
I eagerly await six sequels. Don’t make me wait two years, please.
Herbie Dragons plays at the Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street) at the following times:
Sunday September 9th 5:30pm & 8:30pm
Halifax Fringe runs from August 30 to September 9th, 2018. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit http://halifaxfringe.ca or stop by The Bus Stop Theatre in person at 2203 Gottingen Street. The Bus Stop is the Festival Hub and the Main Box Office. You can also pick up a Fringe Guide there.
You can follow Halifax Fringe on Social Media: Facebook. Twitter. Instagram (@HalifaxFringe)
Hope to see you at Halifax Fringe!
