I think, as one could have predicted, that I may have overestimated both my energy levels AND my time management skills, when I started doing this show-by-show bloggery for this year’s Winnipeg Fringe Festival. I am, after all, not so young a Fringer any more, and thanks to my trusty machete leg, I ain’t so mobile as I once was neither. So we’re going old school from here on in and just making a proper blogpost out of this, my second full day at the Fringe for 2023. And a beautiful looking day it was!
After a blissfully uneventful bus ride down to the Exchange I made it over to the MTC up the Alley to treat myself to a re-view, my 1st of the year. Now, I hadn’t seen this one for some time, it must be said, during it’s inaugural run back at Ottawa Fringe when it was still called WORKING TITLE: UNDECIDED. Since then, dynamo Tamlynn Bryson has renamed the show (IN)DECISION and it is actually even more fun than I’d remembered. The audience joins Tamlynn as an internal struggle is acted out, weighing the pros and cons of a singularly important decision she is suddenly being forced to make. It’s a wild and wacky look into a highly stressed inner monologue, but mostly its just a treat watching Tamlynn own a stage in the hilarious and engaging way she does so well. It was a rowdy and silly delight, and a perfect way to start off a day of Fringing.
From there I did a bit of a wander, getting my bearings. I’m still mostly a newbie to the way-out Winnipeg Fringe world, and don’t have all the venues by heart yet. But thankfully the Manitoba Museum is pretty close by and, once I figgered out the layout, got my ticket and queued up for show #2 inside the Planetarium Auditorium. From veteran performer Susan Jeremy, ROBERT WILL SHOW YOU THE DOOR is her true-life telling of a lifetime of hirings and firings, walking the often unsteady path of employment until she found her true calling (and herself). I’m always a sucker for Fringe storytelling shows about job histories (a surprisingly rich niche), and this one was a welcome addition to the genre. Jeremy has proper comedy chops and commands a stage with natural ease, and the story went in a lot of directions I did not expect. It was funny, it was harrowing and heart-wrenching, and best of all it was real. Another great show in the books!
Making my way outta that one, the leg was still not aching too bad, so no reason to slow down just yet. I nabbed a ticket for my third show just upstairs, and used some spare time to hobble down to the Red River bookstore (a delightful mess) and help myself to a couple of old Marvel Comic magazines. There be treasures in them piles! But I do digress. Back to the museum, just in time to get let in for JEM ROLLS: MAXIMUM CRUSOE. Now, Jem is practically a one-person Fringe institution, so seeing his performances is pretty much mandatory. And happily, the seasoned performance poet is only getting better with vintage. Detailing the saga of his pandemic stranding on the beaches of Gokarna, it is a merry and mystical voyage as only guru Rolls can tell it. I’m very happy that my partner the Otter is adamant that I see this one again with her, because I’m very happy for the excuse to return, and join Jem for a float on the ocean.
But by now the leg WAS starting to ache a bit, and my tummy was starting to grumble. A trip to the King’s Head patio ensued, and a pleasant nosh on some tasty donair as I listened to something called a ‘Mrs.Roper March’ across the street in the square. Ahh, Manitoba. It was a pleasant side mission, and finishing up on the patio I was in good time to line up right there for the 6pm show of AWOL with Rob Gee and Jon Paterson! And I was pretty early in the line, so shouldn’t be a…
Oh. Sold out in advance, you say? Well, good for the lads! And no worries, I had a back-up plan! A quick jaunt to the Output for Jim Loucks in BOOGER RED! This had been on my list for…
Oh. Sold out in advance, you say? Well, great for Jim! And…and I did not have a back-up back-up plan. And I was starting to feel a little defeated, and weary, and…lonely? Yeah, a bit. I almost threw in the towel then and there.
BUT…just down the road and a little later was ELEANOR’S STORY: LIFE AFTER WAR at the Royal Albert Arms. This one had NOT been on my list, mostly because I hadn’t read the fine print and didn’t realize it was, in fact, a sequel to the first ‘Eleanor’s Story’ which I had already seen. Reading comprehension matters, kids! This one was NOT sold out in advance (not that it didn’t deserve to be, and still a great house), and I got to have a lovely chat in the lineup with crooner Bremner Duthie, which cheered me greatly. Once inside I took a weird seat off to the side so I could stretch machete leg out in peace. This seat resulted in me seeing a pillar instead of Ingrid Garner, the performer, during much of the show, but that was my own silly fault. And it was still a brilliant, powerhouse performance, as Ingrid relayed the real story of her Grandma Eleanor’s return to America after being stuck in Germany for the duration of WWII. What should have been a happy ending became a lifelong struggle with trauma, beautifully brought to vivid life by the immensely talented Garner. A tears-to-the-eye show and no fooling.
That was an emotional capper on the Fringe day for me, and I dragged my leg out to the bus stop…where I got to have a happy chat with Martin Dockery and his Mum…before boarding and heading for home. Took it easy and iced the knee upon arrival (narrowly avoiding a downpour…good timing on my part?), and wondered what I was going to see the next day. And I’d better get that sorted soon, because as I struggle to write this it’s the next day and almost time to leave to start it all over again!
All the show info, advance tickets and schedules are available at the Winnipeg Fringe website HERE. Happy Fringing gang, and I’ll see you around the square! Peace, love and soul,
The Visitor (aka Kevin)
The Visitorium 