Well, it's been a crazy weekend... Since the beginning of the festival, I've now seen twenty-two shows (seventeen of which I attended on Saturday, Sunday and Monday). Having now seen approximately two-thirds of the shows from this year's festival, I'd like to offer a few of my recommendations, though I do so with a caveat: I know how subjective the reviewing process is.
I have had a few experiences at this festival where either a) I've left the theatre feeling elated, charmed, enlighted or otherwise engaged while walking past people shaking their heads in confusion or disgust, or b) sat through a performance with my head in my hands only to hear the patrons sitting in front of me exclaim, "Well, that was just *so* good!" There are a huge variety of factors at play: age, literacy, sense of humour, openness to new/weird experiences, etc., and I can't pretend that my preferences are in any way normative. That said, having seen well over one hundred Fringe plays in the last four years, I do feel like I have a critical perspective that may be of some value.
So with that proviso out of the way, here are my current favorites:
- Bertha
- The Sucker Punch
- Giant Invisible Robot
- Rat Bag
- Oh, That Wily Snake!
As an aside, my favorites represent the productions that I think have strongest combination of exemplary writing, performance and direction, whereas the honorable mentions are plays that I found to be of a generally high quality, but that may have been lacking in one or more of these areas.
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