Author Archive
‘Power House’
Power House: The Disco Energy Dance Along Show
The Source
Remaining Performances:
Saturday, July 19 @ Noon
Sunday, July 20 @ 7:30 PM
Friday, July 25 @ 10:00 PM
They say: “Power House: The Techno Dance Along Show by Shawn Northrip is a futuristic musical fable rave which casts the audience as dancers whose energy is converted to clean Discotech power. When someone stops dancing, the entire Power House is threatened, and the managers act quickly to keep the lights on.”
Dan’s take: In a word, in a couple of words, this show was utter bollocks. I tried to muster patience, but my muster flustered as the – not entirely sure how to describe it – certainly not a performance, not a piece of theatre, rather an annoying murmuring of soporific humbug droned on. And eventually I simply had to slip behind the back curtain and walk out, high tailing to the bar next door to quaff some ales and try to put this particular misery out of my head.
What on earth was the point of this? A couple of tweaks might have made this slightly more bearable:
- A story.
- More energy for heavens sake (I actually was quite looking forward to a fringe show promoting itself as one casting the audience as part of the rave….sadly the audience, pumped and primed as they arrived, soon defaulted to occasional swaying, but mostly stood still in the box looking bored).
- Pump up the volume! That might have added some infection.
- Put real drugs on the tray brought out by the waitress touting vitamins.
See it if: You need somewhere on 14th street to hide out or doss down for a snooze.
Skip it if: Anything else critical matters to you.
“Iconicity”
Iconicity
The Shop at Fort Fringe
Remaining Performances:
Friday, July 18 @ 8:00 PM
Sunday, July 20 @ 6:00 PM
Friday, July 25 @ 6:30 PM
Saturday, July 26 @ 7:00 PM
Sunday, July 27 @ 5:00 PM
They say: “Iconicity is an original show. Perhaps it’s still work in progress. I guess that comes with the nature of the material. With so many images bombarding us today, it’s hard to tell what will be considered iconic. We know we haven’t hit them all. Some of the piece originates from the photos themselves, otehr from stories told by family, friends and strangers. These were just a few that moved us.”
Dan’s take: Sixty minutes of Iconicity wraps up with lines from Walter Benjamin: “..history decomposes into images, not narrative”. Over the course of the preceding hour, we were treated to a balance of both in a production full of genuine intrigue in the play between image, memory, collective consciousness, subjective interpretation and the licence to forget. The key iconic subject matter ranged from California migrant workers in the 1930s through Iwo Jima and World War II, to political assasinations of both Kennedys and Dr King, Vietnam, the US defeat of USSR in ice hockey, Tiananmen Square, Sudan and all the way up to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. An interesting collection of iconic episodes, in the main negative. Half way through I wondered whether manifestation of communal tragedies is more amenable to iconic expression. Why not more icons of happiness, celebration (non-partisan, which might exclude the ice hockey victory) – is joy more often captured as individual testimony?
The Shop at Fort Fringe was steamy and hot on this typically roasting Washington summer afternoon. Why was I sitting behind the slide projector, emitting even more heat into the furnace? The space is acoustically challenging – and the combination of background soundtrack and narrative did not come together all the time. The cast of seven varied in performance strength, and did best when scenes called for collective theatre. There was an especially moving piece constructed around the assasination of JFK.
Lots of insights throughout and good provocative musings – how images are created, how iconic images are established, how stories and memories are reinvented and at times stolen…”pictures don’t lie except when they do”. Ultimately, I was left wondering where exactly this iconic journey had taken us and what the abiding intended message was. Maybe in the end, a reiteration of our fascination with iconic images and a reminder that context is everything and stories around images are subject to multiple interpretation.
See it if: You need reminding to think back where you were when you heard….
Skip it if: You have an aversion to warm boxes and would rather be hooting at the Pear Tarts Burlesque.
‘Dorks on the Loose: It I Awkward’
Dorks on the Loose: It I Awkward
Warehouse – Beyond
Remaining Performances:
Friday, July 11 @ 8:30 PM
Saturday, July 12 @ 7:00 PM
Sunday, July 13 @ 4:00 PM
Saturday, July 19 @ 3:00 PM and 12:00 AM
They say: “Sketch comedy for the people, by the people, and in front of the people.”
Dan’s take: This was a lively and entertaining pitch, cleverly constructed, smooth orchestration between sketches thanks to a zippy Kinks soundtrack (and some glorious snippet around “take me to a gay bar”; was that the peaches on the beaches fellas?) and humourous lip-synching. I thought we would be in for more awkward–we were served up slightly more wholesome than off-beat in the final reckoning and my sense was that the audience had the appetite for more on the offside. After a first night uncertain start, the pace picked up and we were treated to a plate of nutritous fringe originality. Skits varied in quality, but the show never lost momentum and a whole package of passion was pumped into 45 mins.
See it if: You still get pissed off when someone yakking on a cell phone interrupts your snooze on the bus.
Skip it if: You’re only there for the spandex and pole dance.
