Janoah the Jester. Photo by Arthur Fink.
In the absolute sweet spot between circus, busking, and clown is Janoah Bailin’s super fun show meSSeS: Solo circuS at the Halifax Fringe Festival.
In the tiny Windsor Studio at Neptune Theatre Janoah performs tricks both daring and winsome, on a unicycle, while juggling, and with an entire stage full of props that are used in fun and unexpected ways.
Sometimes these kind of shows can be stressful for audiences; one is never quite sure when they will be pulled up onstage or what the tone of that kind of encounter might be. Janoah is so charming, and delightfully impish, ze puts the audience at ease immediately. What I found so incredible about this show is that it’s also a very low stakes juggling workshop (!), and I need to stress that it is low stakes. I have rarely felt so comfortable standing up during a show in a room full of mostly strangers and trying something for the very first time. My friends, I learned how to juggle! I cannot stress this enough, you too will probably learn how to juggle if you come see this show, and you will do so in a way that actually doesn’t feel self conscious and horrifying. Truly, this is one of Janoah’s best tricks.
Ze also invites us to consider how we characterize our time, especially the time we use for play, and there is definitely a connection between this idea of play and the concept of a mess and being messy, creating a mess, and having to clean up our mess, and the idea of juggling multiple things in the air. The mess happens often when we drop the things that we are juggling, but the play often comes out of the mess. Just be careful of the banana peel.
TWISI Fringe Rating: Two Thumbs Jump!
meSSeS: Solo circuS plays at Neptune Theatre’s Windsor Studio (1589 Argyle Street, Halifax) at the following times:
September 7: 7:15PM
September 8: 9:00PM
September 9: 6:30PM
September 10: 2:45PM
Follow Janoah the Jester on Instagram. Facebook. YouTube.
Spontaneity Super Slam is competitive improv between three teams of improvisers with a wrestling theme. This show comes to Halifax Fringe from Spontaneity Improv Company, which is an Improv school for adults located at 1800 Argyle Street.
The range of levels of experience within the three teams here is wide, but at the same time, the best way to practice improv is to do improv, especially in front of an audience, so the Super Slam is a great way for these improvisers to develop more confidence in their skills. The way the Slam is set up is that there are three rounds for the three different teams, but they play the same three improv games in all three rounds. It might be nice to have nine different games to really make each of the rounds unique and to keep showcasing the various different facets of improv and skillsets that folks can develop from different games.
The team members all wear their wrestling costumes during the improv scenes, and the costumes (which in two cases include full face masks) have absolutely no connection with the scenes they’re doing, which is a fun and chaotic dissonance.
You can find out more about Spontaneity’s Adult Improv Classes here and you can follow them on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Spontaneity Super Slam plays at the Neptune Theatre Scotiabank Studio Theatre (1589 Argyle Street, Halifax) one more time, September 7th at 7:15pm as part of Halifax Fringe.
Halifax Fringe runs from August 31st to September 10th, 2023 in a myriad of venues throughout the Downtown and the North End of Halifax. For more information and to purchase all your tickets please visit this website. Masks are mandatory again this year inside all Halifax Fringe spaces. For more information about accessibility at the various venues please check out the 2023 Program Guide here.
You can follow Halifax Fringe on Facebook. Instagram. TikTok.
A Note On TWISI Fringe Ratings:
I have never liked rating Fringe shows, or any shows, using the 5 Star system as I have done in the past, so this year I’m doing something new. From now on I will just be highlighting what I think are 4 or 5 Star Fringe Shows. A Two Thumbs Up Rating equals roughly to 4 Stars, while A Two Thumbs Jump Rating equals 5 Stars. I have stolen (with permission) “Two Thumbs Jump” from my friend Lenny Clayton, who is awesome, as she has used it in her film reviews in the past.
