This is an unconscionably late update…should have had these last two added days ago, but I’m finding that the whole act of suddenly working at being IN a bit of theatre is…distracting.  good distracting, but still  got me a little discombob as far as thee writing of reviews goes.  Anyhow, apologies to these cool shows for my tardiness (as well as to the shows I’ve missed thus far…work and life got a bit uncooperative on me for a few days), and I promise to have at least three more writeups up tomorrow.   Keep up the good work, gang!  Anyway, the two I caught a few days ago were…

PRIDE AND JOY
– from Writer Kyle Cunningham, and Director Christian Alphonse.  Cunningham gave us not one but two supahcool shows in last years YI, HYDRANGEA and LONG DIVISION.  He seems to be three for three with this twisted suburban story of a young couple (Charlotte McLaren and Andrew Maloney) hosting an uncomfortable dinner party for an esteemed co-worker (Shawn Allen, who knows how to make an entrance).  After some trouble with the meatloaf, and haggling over a painting, things take a turn for the weird as Cunningham’s script gets a lovely tweaked treatment from director Alphonse.  Solid performances from all three leads in this one, and some innovative staging…loved the bit with the picture frame/kitchen.  It’s not always clear just what the Hell this show is really about under the surface, but I’m perfectly all right with that…draw your own conclusions, I say, that’s what the audience is for.  But I’m glad to see writer Cunningham is still going strong…looking forward to more outta him!

FINAL SPARKLE ASCENSION
– from Writer Victor Armstrong, and Director Andrea Connell.  And now for something completely different…you know you’re in for something special as soon as you catch sight of the multicoloured anime wigs on the actors’ heads in this interesting coming-of-age tale, dressed up as live-action Sailor Moon fanfiction.  Not actually of course…our heroine Amy (Sarah Mercer) is a member of the ‘Sunshine Sparkle Legion’ or…was that it?  I didn’t write it down straightaway and now I forget.  But it was something luminous and cool like that.  Anyhow, she’s been tasked with occasionally transforming into a sparkly superhero and battling an army of monsters intent on destroying the world.  Which is all fine, until her somewhat self-obsessed Mum (Sarah Algozino) decides she can’t let her daughter fight the good fight alone (even if Dad just wants to stay home and eat cookies, in some terrific scene-stealing moments from Aaron Lajeunesse).  This is one of those wonderfully kooky shows that could ONLY go up at YI, and while the script starts to creak under its own weight after a while (one can only take Sailor Moon fanfic SO seriously, after all), I’m still pretty glad I caught it.  Like to see this one with some monster-puppets or something for the villains…talk to the Dead Unicorn Ink people!

Right, that’s all for this one…as I said, I should be seeing three more shows tonight (as long as nobody calls in sick to work this time…fingers crossed), and have the day off tomorrow for writin’.  So come on out tonight, and let’s see us some Infringiness!  Peace, love and soul,

Kevin Reid, the Visitor (and Winston)