Corporations have been under heavy scrutiny in recent times, at least since the heyday of the global Occupy movement in 2011. In light of both this and the numerous public controversies that have surrounded the dominant Starbucks brand (such as racial profiling in the US and exploitive working conditions in Africa), a coffee-chain is an apt representative for the kinds of corporations that are targeted in Matt Hertendy’s apocalyptic-comedy Beans of Fury. …

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photo Andrew  Alexander

Nicholas Arnott’s one-man performance of ARNOTT: A Masterclass in Good Theatring, is laudable in his ability to craft a convincing, though entirely fabricated, personality. Donning the accent of a half-English, half-German actor called Niklaus Arnott, the masterclass begins as an unorthodox lesson in theatre technique. Each performance focuses on a different aspect of theatre; the one I went to featured “Proper Yelling”. The session starts out light-hearted enough, with the actor appearing nude before the audience (spectator warning) and speaking matter-of-factly about how “the lessons of acting can be harsh.” The plausibility concerning one’s identity is also discussed in this opening monologue. …

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Mental health is a topic much discussed in contemporary media and culture, and as such, is an appropriate one to explore in the theatre. While Hamda Elmi’s self-created play Get Well Soon cracks open the door to an important conversation, it does not go far enough in detailing the implications of the scenario that it presents regarding this issue. Featuring three female university students who have all gathered together in the school psychologist’s office for a therapy session, the play makes an overt comment on the quality of mental health resources in an academic context. The women initially wait awkwardly in silence before the psychologist arrives, only to break the ice among themselves and informally start their session. …

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Solo shows are Fringe’s bread and butter and offer an excellent vehicle to explore in-depth a singular, idiosyncratic character. With the Yukon Artists Collective Theatre from Whitehorse, playwright and actor Doug Rutherford does exactly that in The Last President of Canada, a monologue delivered by Paul Chartier, the real-life figure who tried to blow up the House of Commons in 1966. …

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Stick or Wizard? is an old-school theatre clown show that brings the audience onto the stage for an endearing story-telling show that will have you leaving happy.

London, UK-based theatre creator Oli Weatherly hits all the marks on good theatre clowning—the audience laughs at him and with him, but we’re also left laughing at each other and ourselves. The show is highly participatory, and Weatherly, through his wizard-clown persona, knows how to bring out the hidden comedian in each of his audience members who come up on stage. He’s a funny guy on his own—his opening bit, when he repeatedly poses the question “Is there a wizard in the room? Why yeeees!” in a lovely sequined outfit had the audience laughing in the first minute of the show. But he knows how to make his audience funny too. …

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Beans of Furyis a hilarious comedy about the last coffeeshop after the apocalypseBeans of Furyis a comedy built on an interesting premise—what it’s like to work for a coffeeshop in a post-apocalyptic world. On a planet ravaged by floods and fires, one of the last remaining coffeeshops is actually a pretty hilarious place. Show creator Matt Hertendy plays a robot barista alongside Sheldon Parathundyil and human barista Robin Star Breiche, a new employee (with a big secret). A lot of the comedy comes from Hertendy and Parathundyil’s deadpan robotic delivery—think the classic trope of robots attempting humour extended through a whole show. Hertendy and Parathundyil never drop the gimmick, and it’s a credit to their acting that they don’t laugh at their own jokes. …

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Good detective stories are always entertaining, perhaps none more so than Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes stories. The rendition of two specific stories, “The Red-Headed League” and “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”, by seasoned performers John D. Huston and Kenneth Brown, in association with Winnipeg Thespian Fellowship  Productions, is both engaging and impressive from a performance standpoint. As a two-actor production, Huston and Brown seamlessly take on the roles of different characters as they appear throughout the stories. The voice of Holmes however, is always identifiable by the actor who wears his characteristic deerstalker cap. …

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