Fringe 2024 - Sunday, August 18th - WROL, Silent Lambs and Perfect Pitch!

Caught three shows today! My feet are not thrilled with the walking, but they are adjusting! To be honest, it's more the standing in line that's tough on them... but that's where I have the best chats with folks, so I suffer (or my feet suffer) for my brain!

WROL (Without Rule of Law) - Caught this show at the Westbury first off! It's a new work form Michaela Jeffrey about grade 8 girls forming their own offshoot girl scout group in order to prepare (prep) for the end of everything. Emily Marisabel’s Light in the Dark production does a good job capturing the angst and anxiety of grade 8 girls (I teach junior high and it felt very 'right' to me). Think Greta Thunberg warning of the dangers of what is coming and feeling like no one's listening. Between them they create videos to educate, classroom presentations, school apologies (sorry not sorry) for misguided demonstrations. These flashbacks are peppered throughout their discovery of a hideout possibly a clue to explain a disappeared commune from years past. There's a lot of debate and argument between them tapping into their anxiety and the feeling that no one is listening to them. The flashbacks serve to add humour to the situation, so there's many moments of laughter in the show interspersed with their search for answers.

The Silence of the Lambs Jr. Edition - A complete change of pace for this hilarious piece presented at the Grindstone by Cousins-in-Law Productions. Playwrights Lauren Boyd & Jesse Harlton have re-envisioned The Silence of the Lambs as a show for the little ones (but this is NOT really a show for little ones). It is screamingly funny. We learn, we participate, and we definitely laugh inappropriately. There are puppets, and teachable moments, and did I mention it's a MUSICAL?!? It's best if you are familiar with the source material as most of the audience I saw it with definitely was. So funny and original!

Practically Pitch Perfect - Top Bunk Theatre takes on the Pitch Perfect movies with this parody production. Taking inspiration and direct plot points from the films and amping them up, the show pits an all-female a cappella group (who only does Taylor Swift songs) against a male a cappella group. The cast plays the ideas big and creates some great musical moments. Familiarity with the source material is handy and they do a good job channeling the energy of the film and taking things up a notch. The Taylor Swift reference is important and leads to a very funny and somewhat mystical ending. 

Tickets for all Fringe shows: https://tickets.fringetheatre.ca/events/

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