theatre, arts and culture in Edmonton
If you’re looking for a great debrief on the recently concluded Edmonton Fringe, head over to the I Don’t Get It podcast. I joined a panel of my fellow Beer Tent Reviewers for a lively conversation about this year’s Fringe picks, reflections on reviews and…
Rushing in to fill the void left by the departure of alt-weeklies, the Beer Tent Reviews (BTR) zine just landed at the 2019 Edmonton Fringe. The zine is print-only and the reviews are words-only – no star rankings. (My thoughts on this glorious development here.)…
At turns funny, clever and heartfelt, Check Me Out delves into a quartet of women’s lives and relationships as they unfold in the alley behind Pennywise Family Grocery. The four characters are vividly different from one another and verge on being caricatures, but Trevor Schmidt’s…
“Gender is dead; welcome to the funeral.” So declare performers Elena Eli Belyea and Sydney Campbell at the outset of their raucously witty sketch comedy show. The duo are practiced comedians and present a barrage of sketches that are frequently funny, often hilarious, and edged…
Fans of Brooklyn-based Martin Dockery will not be disappointed with his entry at this year’s Fringe. You Belong Here follows suit with Dockery’s signature brand of storytelling: rambling and digressive, delving into the humour of mundane details, punctuated by the occasional manic outburst. The circular…
“Queer alien space cabaret” is as apt a description as any for this zany little show featuring Niuboi (Julie Ferguson), a trans non-binary alien who has come from space “to save the world from a life of blasé mundanity.” This is the essence of Fringe…
Harold Pinter’s 1958 absurdist classic is a play that you should see at least once, if for no other reason than its seminal importance in the history of drama – not to mention in Pinter’s own Nobel Prize-winning career. And this marvelously acted Fringe production…
This is my 12th year reviewing Fringe shows and I’ve got a well-rehearsed opening night routine. I head to the Fringe grounds (via ETS – seriously just don’t try to drive to the Fringe) a little earlier than the first performances. First stop is the…
There was a brief period of time, right after I left Vue Weekly, when I thought maybe I wouldn’t review any more Fringe shows. That didn’t last long. I left Vue in July 2016; a few weeks later I ended up doing some reviews for…
I saw A Christmas Carol at the Citadel last week and guess what: it was my first time. Yeah, that’s right: I had never seen the longest-running theatre show in town, which has been going on for 15 years. I’ve previewed the show – twice…