Go Fest Yourself

Dispatches from the festival frontlines.

FRINGE ROUNDUP: Best, Worst, Sexiest, and Controversial

Posted by Alistair Henning in Go Fest Yourself

We've covered a ton of plays in this year's FRINGE.

Now that our reviewers have spoken, it's time to single out the notable productions from this year.

Let's start by naming the best, according to our admittedly fickle tastes:

  • Happy Whackin', Jim McCrackin: we called it early, and it turns out to be one of the most entertaining shows this year.
  • Witness To A Conga: Kinks duly worked out, this play about a man finding a more extroverted partner is not only more interesting than its summary sounds, it has become a crowd favorite.
  • Songs For Caligeri takes a film classic and makes it more interesting – rare accomplishment, indeed.
  • 7 (x1) Samurai, a parody of Kurosawa's classic film, will be appreciated by Fringe goers of almost all ages.
  • Die Roten Punkte might just give punk a good name, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Of course, any good festival (or roundup, for that matter) is incomplete without a few turkeys:

  • Liz Nicholls - The Musical has the distinction of being awarded the lowest rating of any play this year.
  • Our Man Tommy Douglas didn't even get a half bad rating, but seems to have struck an unsympathetic chord with our review. Maybe he doesn't appreciate history lessons, but you do?
  • Classically Trained, Practically Broke got stuck with a reviewer who didn't like show tunes. But if you're into that kind of thing, this show is a treat.
  • The Big Oops plays like a kids' show, yet has adult themes. Want to see what Mr. Dressup gets up to after dark? This might be the play for you.
Speaking of adult themes – what if you just want sex? Fear not, for Fringe can be a veritable den of iniquity. Here are a few of the sexiest plays this year:

  • BASH'd - A Gay Rap Opera is not only sexy, it's just plain really good.
  • Dragula is good, campy fun.
  • Raunch takes on sexual politics in an entertaining as well as thoughtful way.
  • Phone Whore is a very explicit play. A very, very explicit play.
  • Sex Sells is terrific, if you get off on history (and sex).
  • My there's a lot of sex in this year's Fringe. Cocktales is our final pick of the bunch, and a darn good play by any standard.
And what if you just want controversy? If much ado about nothing is really your thing, you really must check out Metamorphosis. (The play's actually quite good, I hear. Turn up, tune in, and bug out! ...).

Happy Fringeing!


more in Fringe Reviews     |     posted Aug 17th, 2010 at 2:05am     


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