Rachel Franco’s existential play The Eternal Ballroom plays at The Bus Stop Theatre as part of the Halifax Fringe Festival, offering audiences a journey into a darkly magical realm where two lost clowns are provoked and menaced by two mysterious women, and the clowns may finally meet the consequences of their past actions.
Franco has written the narrative to be deliberately open to interpretation. The action doesn’t progress in a linear way, and the dialogue often progresses in an off-kilter or unexpected way. It’s definitely a play that folks could see multiple times, and continue to make connections or notice things that they hadn’t perceived the first time. I really liked the idea of the two clowns happening upon this strange place and being at the mercy of Daphne, played by Heather MacPherson, and her evasive Mistress, played by Franco herself. My curiosity was piqued as soon as MacPherson entered the space, and I became more and more curious what the fate of these clowns would be as the play progressed.
I was curious about the hierarchy of status and how it was shifting throughout the play. Zak Zimmer and Rafael Ziah Franco’s characters are referred to as clowns, and clowns typically have lower status, and this is part of what creates their conflict and comedy, Franco’s character certainly has low status, to great effect, but Zimmer’s character is often supremely confident in challenging the authority of both Daphne and Madame, but then later he confesses that he lacks self esteem and is his own worst critic. It might be fun to play with bringing a bit more of that self doubt into his character from the beginning. Conversely, Franco’s clown character is very cautious and afraid, but confesses to almost pathological lying and cheating, and it also might be interesting to see more clear shades of this in his personality earlier on too.
Heather MacPherson and Rachel Franco’s characters also play with this idea of power and status: Daphne overtly exerts her dominance over the clowns, while the Mistress manipulates everything more covertly. This is all very clear, and well performed, creating an ambiance where we are never quite sure who to trust, what their motivations are, or who we are rooting for, if anyone.
There is a lot of creativity and interesting ideas at play in The Eternal Ballroom; it’s definitely unlike anything else you will see this Fringe!
The Eternal Ballroom closes September 10, 2023 at the Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street, Halifax) at 5:45pm.
Darling, written by Britt P. Curran, is a play about what choices we might change if we had the opportunity to visit with our future self. Gwendolyn is on the cusp of a major life change, but the night before her big move to Chicago she is visited by three spirits: her past self, her future self, and her ex boyfriend, and in a rogue move she is given some information that will change the trajectory of her future.
I really like the idea of this play, that Gwendolyn is given the gift of hindsight early, and this saves her from some sort of devastation in her future. I wanted to know some more about how the magic in this scenario was working. If Little Wennie and Grown Gwen originally weren’t sent to Gwendolyn to change the course of her future, what prompts their visit to her on this specific night? I wanted to know more about Scott and his relationship with Gwendolyn as well. Why is he so invested in her that he has to be the one to break the rules and stop her from making a choice she will regret, presumably for the rest of her life? I also wanted to know more specifics about this future that Gwendolyn was being saved from. What exactly is at stake here? I also wanted more from Broc Obama, perhaps in conjunction with the visit from Little Wennie, played by Rory Wall. That pun is too good to not play with further!
I really loved the sweet dynamics between Gwendolyn, played by Britt P. Curran, and Little Wennie and Grown Gwen, played by Lorraine Cantwell. There was a beautiful familiarity of self, but also a sense of both love and a bit of self-judgement that really rang true. There is so much opportunity to expand on these scenes to make the play longer, if that’s something Curran is interested in. Curran, Wall, and Cantwell have a really great dynamic together that I really enjoyed watching.
Darling at Halifax Fringe has closed.
Issued in Colour is written and performed by Riley Reid and Neo Alexander Ragsac at the Neptune Theatre Imperial Studio as part of the Halifax Fringe. It centres on two friends, Joseph and Carlo, who are working together to create a comic book to submit for publication, but as they attempt to find narratives for their superheroes, their own personal issues with one another attempt to derail the entire project.
I really like the overall idea for this play, and I loved the way that Joseph and Carlo write their comic by playing and improvising the scenes like two children on a playground. It is in these playful scenes where this play really shines, and their superhero alter egos Pandion and the Falconet come to vivid life.
I think Reid and Ragsac might find it helpful to really root Joseph and Carlo deeply in eight years of friendship and to think about how throughly we know each other after eight years: the shorthands that we develop, the depth and the nuance that exists in the conversations that we have with one another, and also the fights that we get into. I found it hard to believe that Joseph would still be writing with Carlo for weeks, let alone years, since Carlo dismisses everything Joseph says, and always says no to his ideas. I like that Reid and Ragsac are building these two up toward a massive blow out fight, and I like the idea that it includes what had been suppressed racial tensions, but the audience will care more about Joseph and Carlo and their friendship if we see that Joseph and Carlo are actually friends, and that they have a deep, complicated, nuanced friendship that is worth saving. It’s worth thinking, too, about how people who have been friends for so long get into arguments that veer into racist or prejudiced territory with one another. It is usually accidental, and usually much more subtle than suddenly cascading in a torrent of prejudiced cliches. The stakes are also so much higher when it’s someone that you care about very deeply, and the fallout can be much worse, even if the words aren’t as malicious or provocative as those sent by a stranger on the internet.
Using the superheroes to act out Joseph and Carlo’s frustrations with one another is a really fun and creative idea. I think grounding the friendship in more reality will make the fantastical moments even more powerful and fun to experience, and that the more that Carlo and Joseph’s differences mirror a more likely scenario the more the play will lead to the types of complex conversations Reid and Ragsac are hoping to inspire in their audiences.
Issued in Colour closes September 10th, 2023 at Neptune Theatre’s Imperial Studio (1589 Argyle Street) at 6:30pm.
The Burlesque Dating Game plays at the Neptune Theatre Scotiabank Studio as part of the Halifax Fringe Festival. This show is written by Elle Lixir and Cyd Chartreuse, as an episode of The Dating Game, which goes off the rails in weird, funny, and sexually suggestive ways. The overall conceit of the show is secondary to the eight burlesque performances that graced the stage throughout the evening.
I was immediately intrigued by the giant furby on the stage, and I was completely captivated when its eyes started moving and then it got up and began to dance. This was such a beautifully weird, completely original and iconically Fringey moment that really encapsulates what this show was all about, and also the spirit of the whole festival. If I haven’t convinced you to check out this show with the visual of a dancing burlesque furby, there is also a Barbie doll come to life, a burlesque lobster (because it is the HALIFAX Fringe after all), terrific choreography, costumes, and song choices, and the playful removing of clothing.
I became interested in learning about historic Burlesque after Neptune did a production of Gypsy in 2001, which is based very loosely on the life of Burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee. I haven’t seen a lot of Neo Burlesque shows, but the revival of this art form dates back to New York City in the mid 1990s, and is rooted in nostalgia for the perceived glamour and spectacle of the Golden Age of Burlesque of which Gypsy Rose Lee was a mainstay. Modern Burlesque often combines elements of dance, sometimes gymnastics or circus, lip synching (which creates a natural crossover with drag), striptease, and showpersonship, with some sort of unifying concept, which sometimes can be political or satirical, or insightful, and can perform ideas of gender construction and sexuality in fun and provocative ways.
It feels a little bit creepy to be writing a review about how well people took their clothes off on stage, but, honestly, there is so much artistry in the way these performances are carefully crafted, the ornate costumes, and of course the massive amounts of confidence required to hold a captive audience in one’s hand and to really own the power of the audience’s gaze on one’s body. Halifax obviously has a flourishing Burlesque scene, and if you’re at all curious about the art form, I recommend you following Elle Lixir on Instagram for more information about future shows.
TWISI Fringe Rating: Two Thumbs Up!
The Burlesque Dating Game at Halifax Fringe has closed.
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.
