An easy day for two shows I had high expectations for. The Rarig Thrust is one of the largest venues in the Fringe (259 in the lower section, 460 including the upper, said the house manager). Carole and I saw a 7:00 show, had a leisurely Jimmy John's dinner and saw the 10:00 show. It was great not to rush, and get refills on the soda.
Photos added to Public Facebook gallery: 20120731- Fringe & Uptown Art Fair
Ash Land
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Dust Bowl Cinderella
Yet another astonishingly moving show from Transatlantic Love Affair. Without props and with only a slide guitar for accompaniment, the troupe creates the entire dust bowl experience, including animals, farms, dry water pump, bank office, wind… and a fairy godmother. A little rough around the edges at times, but that's part of the emotional impact. Five stars, easily.
Candide
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The Fringe Does Voltaire
I've never read the book, but I sort of imagine Voltaire approving of this version. In an hour, The Four Humors zips through a rather amazing series of plot set against an historical background while sharply portraying nearly two dozen characters. Bawdy, romantic, violent, optimistic and disrespectful: Quentin Tarantino, eat your heart out. Really four and a half stars, I'm rounding down for the narration (which was usually drowned out by laughter) and for zipping past some scenes that should have been longer in the best of all worlds.
We're probably only going to see two more shows. Perhaps tomorrow's "The Complete Works of William Shatner (abridged)" and "An Agony of Fools". Or not. I kind of want to see "Leaping Dragons". Not that we're actually limited to six, that's just what we have tickets for at the moment.
