Stir Cheat Sheet: 10 hot tickets at the 2022 Vancouver Fringe Festival
This year’s fest features everything from a professional cello player clowning around to a burlesque artist confronting the C-word
The C-Word.
The Family Crow: A Murder Mystery.
WITH MORE THAN 70 shows on offer at the 2022 Vancouver Fringe Festival, it might be hard to know where to start when it comes to a ticket wish list. Here are some of the shows that are garnering big buzz.
Blueberries Are Assholes.
Blueberries Are Assholes
September 8 at 8:55 pm, September 9 at 10:30 pm, September 12 at 3 pm, September 14 at 7 pm, September 16 at 4:25 pm, and September 17 at 8:05 pm at Waterfront Theatre; and September 11 at 7 pm at Leap Creative Studios
Vancouver-born writer, performer, director, and instructor TJ Dawe is a Fringe stalwart, having performed hits like Tired Cliches, A Canadian Bartender at Butlin’s, and Medicine (which was based on a healing retreathe attended involving ayahuasca led by Dr. Gabor Mate). A master storyteller who has had plays produced throughout Canada, the U.S., the UK, France, Mexico, Australia, Iceland, and beyond, Dawe shifts gears in his new show, sending up food, our bodies, the English language, and “the tremendous overall weirdness of the world we overlook every day”. The Montreal Gazette has this to say about the artist: “Dawe can actually make you hurt with laughter”, while The Edmonton Journal writes “Come and see what a real virtuoso can do.”
Neurotic Erotica.
Neurotic Erotica
September 8 at 5 pm, September 11 at 9 pm, September 12 at 7 pm, September 13 at 5 pm, September 16 at 3 pm, and September 18 at 1 pm at The Improv Centre
You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe: writer-director Regan Shrumm introduces audiences to controversial author Esme J.K. Quimby as she reads from her latest novel, 50 Shades of Grief: A Neurotic Erotica. Based on real stories, the solo comedy performance lends levity to the brutal awkwardness of sexual discoveries of youth. Intrepid Theatre artistic director Sean Guist sums up the show as a “masterclass in subtlety, innuendo, camp, and whip-smart humour”.
Juliet: A Revenge Comedy.
Juliet: A Revenge Comedy
September 8 at 10:30 pm, September 9 at 8:45 pm, September 11 at 7 pm, September 12 at 4:45 pm, September 17 at 6:20 pm, and September 18 at 2:45 pm at Waterfront Theatre; and September 15 at 7 pm at Leap Creative Studios
Imagine if Juliet never killed herself. That’s the premise of this action-packed comedy by Monster Theatre written by Pippa Mackie and Ryan Gladstone, with the latter directing. In it, Juliet recruits several of Shakespeare’s most famous heroines to find out why they had to die. “Juliet: A Revenge Comedy is an example of the new heights that can be achieved when we rethink tropes as old as time,” says The Winnipeg Free Press.
BOOKMARKS.
BOOKMARKS
September 9 at 8:35, September 10 at 7 pm, September 11 at 3 pm, September 13 at 4:45 pm, September 15 at 4:45 pm, and September 18 at 8:35 pm at Carousel Theatre.
BOOKMARKS is a follow-up to Toronto writer-director-performer Corin Raymond’s Bookworm—which earned Pick of the Fringe for 2012. Part memoir, part word-wizardry, the solo show from Local Rascal Productions is all about books lost and found and the secret journeys they wind up on in the world. Raymond is also a Juno-nominated singer-songwriter whose Twitter profile includes these accolades: “Judges quote from his lyrics when handing sentences down. Truckers cry.” “Corin Raymond is a storyteller who by the end of the night you’ll have known your whole life,” notes The Globe and Mail.
Delusions and Grandeur.
Delusions and Grandeur
September 10 at 1:25 pm, September 12 at 7 pm, September 14 at 8:45 pm, September 16 at 3:10 pm, September 17 at 3:20 pm, September 18 at 1:25 pm at Carousel Theatre
Karen Hall is a classically trained cellist based in L.A. who has performed with symphonies everywhere from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl and who has appeared on the TV show Glee. She’s also an improv-trained comedian and clown who fuses artforms in this solo piece about perfectionism, failure, mastery, and expectations. London’s Everything Theatre describes her comic timing in the show “as impeccable as her playing”: “She knows not only when a note is needed but, just as importantly, when there is a need for a silence.”
Every Good Story Ends With One.
Every Good Story Ends With One
September 8 at 7 pm, September 10 at 4:45 pm, September 13 at 7 pm, September 14 at 10:30 pm, September 16 at 3 pm, and September 17 at 8:45 pm at Performance Works
Martin Dockery is another Vancouver Fringe Festival legend, this being the Brooklyn-based storyteller-playwright-performer’s 15th show here. (Past plays include Delirium, Inescapable, and You Belong Here). He has won multiple Best of Fest awards all across Canada, the U.S., and Australia.
The world premiere of Every Good Story Ends With One is a true comedic tale about what the fest describes as an unbelievable, mysterious romance: “A story about the nature of comedy, the delusion of love, the tunnel-vision of faith, and the fabrication of storytelling itself. A one-of-a-kind, high-voltage performance.”
mr.coffeehead
September 9 at 8:15 pm, September 12 at 8:45 pm, September 14 at 10:30 pm, September 16 at 2:45 pm, September 17 at 2:25 pm, and September 18 at 8:05 pm.
Writer-performer ira cooper’s “slapstick tragedy about bikepacking, dreaming big and giving up in your 30s”—complete with original music, puppetry, and “awkwardly captivating” dance breaks—was nominated for Outstanding Clown Show at Le Festival de clowns de Montréal. Aslam Husain directs the work from Vancouver-based Spec Theatre. “I was entranced by Ira’s performance, an existential journey about motivation and finding meaning,” says Montreal-based CKUT’s Sarah Deshaies. “I loved the . . . whimsical touches in a lighthearted show about the big things in life.”
The Family Crow: A Murder Mystery
September 8 at 8:15 pm, September 9 at 6:30 pm, September 10 at 12:40 pm, September 16 at 4:30 pm, September 17 at 10 pm, September 18 at 1 pm at the Revue Stage
Adam Francis Proulx worked at Walt Disney World before joining the original Canadian cast of Avenue Q, where his lifelong passion for puppets took off. The founder and creative director of Toronto’s Pucking Fuppet Co. has performed on stages and screens around the globe and has designed and constructed original puppets for such international projects, too. His 2014 BAKER’S DOZEN: 12 Angry Puppets has toured across North America, racking up awards along the way, and even opened for Rick Mercer. Directed by Byron Laviolette, The Family Crow: A Murder Mystery has been praised by The Orlando Sentinel for its “creative vision” and “superb execution”, with “a dollop of weirdness”.
The C-Word. Photo Greg McKinnon
THE C-WORD
September 9 at 7 pm, September 11 at 1 pm and 10:15 pm, September 15 at 4:45 pm and 8:45 pm, and September 18 at 8:45 pm at Performance Works; and Septmber 12 at 7 pm at Leap Creative Studios
Also known as neo-burlesque artist Burgundy Brixx, Kyrst Hogan is a singer, dancer, actor, and comedian who founded Vancouver’s Kitty Nights Productions. She has appeared in New York City’s Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes, performed for Norwegian Cruise Lines, and toured with the Westchester Broadway Theatre, among countless other roles. Last spring, her life took an unexpected turn when a routine visit to her doctor led to a diganosis of stage 4 colon cancer. She shares her experiences with the disease and treatment for it in The C-Word, a cheekily energetic cabaret show. Atlantic City Weekly has described the versatile performer as a “scene stealer”.
Discounted Hotpot Centre.
Discounted Hotpot Centre
September 8, 9, 10, 11 at 5 pm and September 15, 16, 17, and 8 at 6:30 pm at Granville Island Picnic Pavilion
Anthony Kit Chun Lee, Hin Hilary Leung, and Carlie Cheukiu Yeung of SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts present this immersive culinary experience that gives a small taste of what it’s like being Hong Konger in Canada. Live cooking mixes with storytelling as a down-on-her-luck saleswoman has trouble offloading her hotpot special. The show comes with a warning: “You will smell the Hotpot in this show, so don’t come in hungry!
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