danny_g

I do take forever sometimes, don't I. Oh well, let's get started.

DANNY G'S TALES OF ADVENTURE, PART 1: THE CAT AWARDS

So my vacation really began with the second annual Calgary ACTS theatre expo and awards show. The expo... I don't know if it was just poorly advertised or what, but it was not as well attended as we'd hoped. We did do some plugging for whomever was there, and Cilantro stopped by to say hi, so that was cool. Also, the Theatre Alberta booth was being manned by a woman I recognized from 2 years back, when she'd been handing out surveys at the Edmonton Fringe as part of her thesis. As such, we'll call her Thesis B.

As I expected, we got creamed at the awards. Up for nine, won exactly zero. However, as part of the ceremony we did a quick scene from Heracles: the Mythologically Accurate Adventures, and as usual it absolutely killed them. So we're in their heads now, and as such perhaps more member groups will catch our shows this season and we'll actually win a few next year. At worst, it was an excuse to get dressed up and hit some bars: the Vicious Circle before hand and the afterparty at the Auburn. Where, with some help from a friend, I spent a large portion of the night chatting with Thesis B. So that was nice. Then it was up bright and early for...

PART 2: FRINGE A-GO-GO
Which was the theme of this year's Edmonton Fringe, and certainly not my fault.
Objective One: Find Masquerade and her man. Objective Two: contact parents. Objective Three: hit that curry stand that so owned me last year. And last, but not least: figure out what the hell I'm seeing. Once these four things had been accomplished, I got my play-watching underway. Made my quota of five shows: first JDRook's show (or rather, the one he's stage managing), S.M.I.L.E. While You D.I.E., currently playing the west coast. It's decent enough, but there were two potentially better shows I passed up for it... so in short, Mr. Rook...



Now then.

After that came Wilfred Laurier Plays Edmonton, a charming little piece about the guy on the five dollar bill and his thoughts on the west; Excalibur Unplugged, an Arthurian sex farce/Da Vinci Code parody, whose flaws were overcome by the awfully fun cast; Radio Collar, a one-woman show from a performer I'm rather fond of that should've been better attended, dammit; and then wrapped up the night by finally catching up with Masquerade for Confessions of a Class Clown by Ryan Gladstone.

This show was a) fun, b) different from most one-man shows because Ryan likes playing with his audience too much to do one of your precise T.J. Dawe style monologues, and c) an example of the dwindling cast syndrome I see amongst some of my favourite Fringe stand-bys. Ryan's part of Monster Theatre, which I first encountered through their three-man shows, The Canada Show and the Big Rock show. (I posted a link, go see what they're about on your own. I'm in the middle of something here) Then last year, they did a two-hander calleds Fringe Show: a Love Story. Um... okay... guess they didn't need Jeff that year... And now it's just Ryan. Likewise Screwed and Clued: every year there's one less of them, until this year it was a solo performance. Gordon's Big Bald Head shrunk to two, as did (way back, in this case) Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie... it's weird, and a little sad, especially since most of these groups don't have much farther to shrink.

Oh, well. That's enough for today. Next time we'll see if we can't wrap up this whole Fringe business, yeah? Until then...

-Danny G
"Women I'm not seeing break up with me all the time. I have a very dumpable face."
-Davan MacIntyre