Okay, I took a nap today..?  So I’m gonna stop whining now about the ‘I’m tired’ shit.  It was getting old anyways, am I right?  But, mmm-boy, that was some GOOD napping.

Awoke all refreshed-like, ready to go do that Fringe-things one more time.  And started off with HEART-STRINGS, by Tanya Elchuk and Amy Crnkovic.  And may I say unequivocally, god-dammit, that was adorable.

Tanya and Amy have made a pretty wonderful piece about a girl’s interaction with her wayward, well-intentioned heart, including some very fun, brief spurts of audience interaction and several musical pieces.  You could feel it coming oh-so close to being overly cutesy, but no.   It was always just the exact right amount of cutesy, and I loved it.  It was whip-smart to boot, and that always makes me happy.

Feeling merry, I left fellow playgoer Wayne C. and ran to Arts Court for what would be the first of a venue trifecta for me this night.  This one was EDGE, by Lauren Binhammer and Written on Water Theatre.  It tells the rather ambitious, occasionally allegorical story of  a pending flood in Windsor Ontario, and the lives of a select few individuals who may or may not be oracles and prophets, complete with chorus.  I loved the set of trash cans, the rapid transitions between characters and scenarios, and thought all the actors were pretty spot-on with rapid-fire delivery.  Edge is some good eating, and that’s no lie.

Ran into the Crystalline Entity after that show, and she was on her way in to see THE DUCK WIFE.  I’d already seen that one, and since it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my fucking LIFE, promptly agreed to see it again.  The show rocked me even harder the second time…Grub Animal is my kinda band, with just enough Surf in their guitar to turn the cool-knobs up a notch.  And that dude who plays the ‘randy’ duck later on..?  Funniest bit in the Fringe so far.  That dude slays with his lip-and-hip work, like some waddling Elvis.

Cooled down for an hour in the tent after, and downed a beer and a wrap before making the last show of the night, Cameryn Moore’s PHONE WHORE.  I’d heard this woman’s bold and brash voice all over the Fringe since she arrived, so I was right intrigued to see what her show was like.  And it was a thematically simple idea…a phone-sex operator working a late shift, explaining her story to the audience while occasionally being interrupted by her job.   And it’s really good.  I wasn’t as distubed as some, and I don’t know what it says about me that some of Moore’s stories WEREN’T shocking the shit out of me…I think I was most shocked to learn that there’s still phone sex.  Did these people not have the internet?  But whatevah…Moore’s ideas and insights into the nature of her work, and her clients (even, or especially, the ones whose fetishes are considerd too taboo even for most sex workers) were for me the most exciting part of the play.  It’s a wicked little slice of a reality most of us have never been exposed too.

And that was that!  A quick pint at the tent, momentary kibbitzing with FamousActressNancyKenny, and I bid the Crystalline Entity adieu, headed on home (error-free this time), and that brings us to this point here.  Where I say that there’s still 3 more days of Fringe left, and let’s all see some shows, eh?  Good plan!  See you there,

Your old pal,

The Visitor