Fricative

What happens when you add a May Festival mystique to a Fringe show?

Performance Gallery has created a Sound Poetry piece put forth in the form of a classical musical concert complete with music stands and formal black and white attire. The performance consists of four works where each work has a short interlude with the audience applauding as if the CSO had just finished all of Stravinsky's Right of Spring. It came across as a subtle homage to a Music Hall concert change in between musical pieces when the orchestra is reconfigured for the next work, where the music stands need to be in certain places to make sure the 1st Cello isn't upstaged the 2nd Cello.

Sound Poetry is a tough thing to try and describe. It has non-words put together phonically that make for a nonsensically meaningful verbal structure. For the smart people out there, nae me, we are talking about an art form that in part stems from Dadaism, so yea you need to know that going in. Clearly this is not for those who don't venture anything past the Broadway Series, but neither is anything else at Fringe.

The final of the four pieces was the most interesting because it put one of the eight cast/musicians/poets in the place of conductor. I would have liked this format used for more than just the final portion, since it gave the most and only other visual movement to the entire, except the hilarious opening warm up portion, including a processional onto the stage. If you want an experience that goes beyond the narrative, then Fricative is a best bet for the 2008 Fringe.