Ottawa Fringe 2014. The Surprise

The Surprise

Martin Dockery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
ODD Box

Reviewed for the Ottawa Citizen

The Story: Martin Dockery – who’s lightened our lives  with Wanderlust, The Bike Trip, in years past- rockets through another true-life adventure in his usual riveting storytelling style. This time it’s rooted in his trip to  Vietnam and Cambodia to meet for the first time his two Vietnamese siblings, both decades younger than he. The story is a series of surprises, none more memorable than the wrenching conclusion.

Pros:   Dockery’s gifts, here in full flight, include not just an extraordinary sense of dramatic pacing but an eye for character, place and the funny or poignant or just unexpected element in an otherwise unremarkable event. This tale of family, love, other cultures and our essential aloneness in life feels as true as anything he’s ever done.

Cons:   Dockery’s high-energy shows can be exhausting, but who’s complaining?