CincyFringe Reivews

When you are looking for help on how to avoid making mistakes on a topic, say dating, who else is better to turn to than someone you trust and someone who has made far more dating mistakes than you will ever make in a single lifetime? The Venzin-Althaus EXPLOSION's newest production of 101 Rules for Dating (of which you will hear 20 or so...) gives not only one lifetime of bad dating experience, but two: Megan Venzin and Emily Althaus.

I am thrilled when my expectations are exceeded.  The running time of Left Out Productions NYC's Miss Magnolia Beaumont Goes to Provincetown was leaving me a little bit disconcerting for a solo Fringe show, but this is more than a solo show.  This is a multiple character one person play that is a crafted work with two distinct and seamlessly woven roles played by Joe Hutcheson.

I don't how anyone could imagine finding a way to 'break the 4th wall' better and with a sense of joy within the improvisation no less.  Jimmy Hogg's Curriculum Vitae will have you laughing at each lightning speed phrase that no American as easily phrase.  Originally from Britain, Hogg has the verbal ability to talk fast common to many of his home county.

Free Bread sticks, special tea, a lizard, Adam Smith, and big dose of introspection make total sense after you see Artemis Exchange's new production Peyote Business Lunch. The show goes deep inside the mind, and I do mean deep, to pull out that wave-particle choking your soul, causing you to wake up screaming in the middle of the night, but then makes you laugh when you think about it years later.

What are you 'supposed' to be? We all ask that question and we all face the mirror we ask.  When we answer ourselves those answers can sound similar, but that "supposed" part of the question is subjective or rather it is 'supposed' to be. If you are a woman and/or if you are not white, that subjectivity has social and cultural constraints that don't match the reflection you are 'supposed' to see in the mirror.

Terror is Funny.  Sitting by a campfire with a flashlight to your face telling a story while your friend hides in the bushes with a hook in his pants waiting for the right moment to jump out and scare the cute girls is funny for everyone.  It just isn't funny until after you calm down and release there isn't a man about to stab you to death.  Four Humor Theater's Harold brings the Funny to Terror and hits the Scarecrow out of the park.

Classic literature is a rich source for theatre and Madea, from paperStrangers Performance Group, is a beautiful adaptation of the ancient play that uses stunning costumes to bring forth the intense story.  

There is a surprise in this production that I want to share with you.  I can't.  I just can't ruin the surprise.  I can tell you to run and see Finite Number of Monkeys production of Tantric Acting at the Holiday Inn.  I can tell you about the Bindis, which you may have seen running around the festival.  They are hilarious, but are but one of the gut busting laughs that will greet you while attending TantraCon2010.

Character is key to most theatre.  The characters in a blue collar neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota are as plentiful as bodies of water in the Land of Lakes.  Blue Collar Diaries, presented by Bridge Productions, is a one woman show exploring the depth of those characters.  Playwright Michelle Myers Berg performs each of the characters with sharp detail.  Using nothing more than a slight clothing change or few props, Berg transforms into each person with ease.