Roller Coaster
At Firehall Arts Centre
Sept. 9, 10, 15 and 16
$14 at vancouverfringe.com
I have almost nothing in common with award-winning writer/performer T. J. Dawe. I have never seen Star Wars, never read or seen anything of Harry Potter, read – as a kid – Archie, not Marvel comic books, and I hate roller coasters. But T. J.’s so smart, so engaging and entertaining as he ricochets from tangent to tangent, that I’m completely caught up and taken on a ride that is not as scary as a roller coaster but much more interesting. At 75 minutes, this show is too long. And some will argue that it’s a blatant “call to arms.” Well, why not? Because what I do have in common with T. J. is a current of anxiety underscoring my life – much of which is the feeling that the world is going to hell in a Wal-Mart shopping cart. In Roller Coaster, T. J. suggests that Orlando, Fla. – home of the Harry Potter Theme Park – is a microcosm of America. But his most important thread is an exploration of the ways in which Trump’s presidency might work out: the good, the bad and the ugly. The best of these scenarios is the one in which “this mass of people starts rising up,” checking facts, petitioning, volunteering and running for office. Rabble-rousing? A call to arms? Why the heck not?
Hyena Subpoena
Studio 1398
Sept. 10, 11, 14-16
$14 at vancouverfringe.com
“If I could be a hybrid species,” says writer/performer Cat Kidd, “I’d be half hyena, half me”. What she is is a prodigious talent: a spoken word artist extraordinaire, lithe as a tigress, fierce as a lioness, almost predatory as a performer. And what does the hyena have going for it? It cleans up what other predators have left behind, much like, Kidd says, East Van squatters and dumpster-divers did back in the 1980s before Safeway put locks on its garbage bins. In half a dozen poems/meditations on our dog-eat-dog world, Kidd moves from the predators of the African savannahs to the rape of a 13-year-old girl on her way home from school and the slagging of Mr. Kestrel, her art teacher, because he was “different.” Never bogging down in darkness, Kidd suggests the antidote to despair is levity – “making light” – but not without the awareness of predators of all stripes, including and especially mankind.
Executing Justice
At Revue Stage
Sept. 10, 12,13, 16 and 17
$14 at vancouverfringe.com
Executing Justice, written and performed by Bill Pats, is executed with the precision of a hanging – and it’s just as horrifying. Don’t see this for a good time; see it because it’s provocative, political and relevant. According to polls, more than 60 per cent of Canadians favour a return to capital punishment; if you are one of those, you won’t be after experiencing Executing Justice. The show focuses on the last hours of fictional Daryl Kane, convicted cop killer, who is about to become the first person to be executed in Canada in 68 years. Kane was just a normal kid who, through tragic circumstances, ended up in the foster care system. Things went from bad to worse and now he’s on Death Row. “It’s fun to kill somebody,” Kane begins. Don’t believe him. Pats’ performance is so authentic you’ll believe every word of it; you’ll think he’s really Daryl Kane. A shocking reveal will catch you off guard and leave you questioning everything you believe about murderers. Outrageously good theatre.
