The story is interesting, if only as an exploration of Indian culture as it differs from North American. The protagonist, Gauri, falls into the glamourous Bollywood culture before discovering its dark side. With the help of a friendly person she met on her first day, she escapes from that to find her true purpose in India.

The highlight of the play, for me, was the interludes. The video logs and the puppetry. The frame story of a raindrop seeking a river to rest in. I was less enthused by the actual story, but it may have been late-fringe exhaustion setting in for the performer, Cara Yeates. She seemed to have some trouble keeping up with the physical demands of her show, as well as the character shifts.

If you have an interest in India or Indian culture, this is probably something you might enjoy seeing.

This was a lot of fun, and if you ever get a chance to see it again (last show was today at 2pm), do so. It’s entirely worth it.

I’ve gotten behind on reviews, but they’re not so useful for people looking to see shows anymore. Most of the ones I’m seeing now are on either their last or second last show, or are sold out for their runs. But if you get a chance, check out The Cockwhisperer. I think their last show is on Sunday at 2PM. It’s hilarious. The review will be up later.

Today the Fringe hit 100k ticket sales for the first time ever, which is one hell of a milestone. Leaves it still a far cry from the Edinburgh’s reported 1.5 million ticket sales, but for a smallish prairie city that’s still amazing. I was trying to find comparable figures for the Adelaide Fringe, reputedly the second largest in the world, and it looks like ticket sales for 2009 were around 180k. That with twice as many venues and about three times as many shows (looks like most Adelaide venues only do a couple of shows). Both the Adelaide and Edinburgh Fringes have a model that is, as far as I understand it, much more like the BYOV system we have here, but that’s how all their stuff is done.

It’s great to see the Fringe growing. In pretty much every way. Let’s hope it grows ever more. Hopefully while remaining true to its roots.

I’m almost out of frequent fringer passes for this year, right around the time fatigue sets in. Though I had thirty, I’ve only seen around 20 plays. I’ve shared them with other people a lot more this year, and I think that’s entirely worth it.

Since the Varscona broke away from the main Fringe venue list a few years ago, the number of BYOVs have exploded. This year, for the first time, there are several BYOVs that are following directly in the Varscona’s footsteps and staging multiple shows as if they were normal venues. And this year, also for the first time, the number of shows I’m seeing in BYOVs is competing with the number I’m seeing on the normal venues. As of two days ago, BYOVs were ahead 8 to 7. Today, normal stages are ahead 10 to 8. In the waning days of the Fringe, this may reverse again.

I’ve always had fairly mixed feelings about this explosion of the BYOV. I worry a bit that BYOVs being outside the lottery system will result in less adventurous performance at the Fringe, as I don’t think stages like New City or Wunderbar are really that interested in staging performances that don’t sell one or both of beer or tickets. I’m aware that many other Fringes outside of Canada actually use the BYOV model for everything (notably, to my understanding, the Edinburgh Fringe that started it all), but I always really enjoyed the random egalitarian nature of the Fringe. Now, though, you can argue that almost as many shows are ‘juried’ in some sense than are unjuried, and that’s a trend worth questioning.

If it were just that, I would consider it an acceptable thing. Giving people that kind of choice is not against the spirit of the Fringe, so that’s ok. As long as the lottery and the main stages don’t go away (though I think it might be nice if there were a couple more of them, but I imagine the costs of that would be difficult to justify), this is evolution I’m ok with.

No, my real issue at this point with BYOVs is a purely practical one. Though many do an excellent job of providing a really solid space, comparable to most of the main venues in nearly every way, some of them can be a little bit frustrating. It’s not at all uncommon to have the venue be oversold to the point that people are being shoved into corners as standing room where they probably can’t see anything at all.

In fact, I seriously question some of the capacity numbers in the guide (which, I assume, are used to decide how many tickets the central box office sells before handing off sales to the venue). One BYOV in particular lists its capacity as 80 for a space that I’m pretty sure isn’t any larger than my living room. I think you’d have to have people dangling from the ceiling to fit them all in.

I get that without the Fringe itself subsidizing the venue, costs have to be recouped somehow, but it’s kind of ridiculous how frustrating some of these venues can be when they get oversold. Say what you will about Acacia Hall, the Phone Museum, or the King Edwards (and believe me I have), I’ve never felt like I was being stuffed into a sardine can in any of those. When I go to BYOVs, it often seems like I do.

Maybe it’s not practical (volunteer resources and money stretched thin as I expect it is), but it might be nice if the Fringe put in some extra oversight into the BYOVs now that they’re so much more prevalent.

Am I way off base? Anyone agree with me? This is a rapidly evolving piece of the Edmonton theatre scene, it seems to me, and now is the time to question its value and point out areas for improvement.

No matter what else, though, it was a hell of a lot of fun and I definitely recommend it. If you’re shy about standing up in your chair or chanting from the audience, it might not be for you (unless you want your boundaries pushed), but otherwise check it out and have a good time.

Tonk and Fozby, our protagonists, speak in a kind of jargony english mixed with kind of russian accents. Often it’s difficult to understand what words they’re speaking, but it’s always clear from context and action what’s going on. Adam Cope and Elliot James do a masterful job of conveying emotion and story through a blend of speech, action, and facial expressions, which is what you would expect out of a clown show.

Go see this. It’s entirely worth it.

I don’t know if these are things that might really happen in this situation. I’ve never been in a situation remotely like it. I just have a lot of trouble making the leap that the playwrights (also the actors) did.

Everyone involved in this has been involved in UofA New Works plays that I’ve seen before, and they’re all very talented at their craft. I’m just not sure this was the right subject matter for them. Somehow I just wasn’t convinced.

I saw three plays yesterday, two of them about loss of family (but in very very different ways), and one very strange one about abandoning shame. (Real) Gone (Girl) seems to have opened up the floodgates of more experimental theatre for me this Fringe, which is pretty awesome. I’m sure I’ll be seeing a couple more like that in the waning days of the Fringe, as often that’s all the stuff that still has tickets.