Battle!

Cancer Plays

BALLS!
(STAGE 5)
Balls! has all the gonad jokes any red-blooded Fringegoer could hope for, and then some. Plus a Scrotathon! But that’s all just a ruse to get you into a very serious, seriously hilarious drama about testicular cancer.
Playwright Rob Salerno brings a sophisticated personal understanding of how this disease affects men’s emotions, not to mention their relationships with friends, lovers, and family members. Salerno performs the show with Adam Goldhamer, and both guys are amazingly diverse performers, switching between the heartfelt moments and the over-the-top scrotum jokes as swiftly as a kick to the... well, you get the idea.
With only six shows in a tiny venue, this one will be seen by, at most, a quarter of a percent of all Edmontonians. That figure is way too low. If you’re a man, or know one, it would be worth your while to score a ticket. Barter with the people in line if you have to. Even if you don’t succeed, hopefully it will convince Salerno and Goldhamer to bring their ballsacks back to town for the big run this show deserves. —Elliot Kerr
4 1/2 STARS

MILF
(STAGE 4)
There are a lot of reasons you might want to see MiLF. There are pretty ladies. There are dance breaks. There’s a lot of Feist music. And, of course, there are boobies. Lots more boobies than you’d think a show like this could get away with—but boobs do attract a crowd. (That’s some savvy marketing on the MiLF team’s part.)
But what’s really enjoyable about this show is the grab bag of mother/daughter joys, sorrows, and tensions that fill the spaces between the dance breaks. (Did I mention there are dance breaks? I mean, you could say they were “movement” pieces, but we’re not fooling anyone with that, are we?) The typical women’s rituals are all here: shopping and the subsequent trips to the return counter once Dad finds the credit card bill, arguments about menopause and “proper” menstruation,  bragging about 14 months of breastfeeding. Mom’s battle with breast cancer eventually comes up, but the meat of the show is Ava Jane Markus’ affectionate tribute to her onstage mother—who’s also her real mother, Susan Jane Markus.
Jeff Page directs the show with his usual sure touch and Mother Markus more than holds her own in her live stage debut. If you have a mother—especially one you’ve ever bought a fancy fan as a gift for—this MiLF’s for you. —Fawnda Mithrush
4 STARS

Dueling Hamlets

HAMLET (SOLO)
(STAGE 3)
Raoul Bhaneja obviously wanted all the best speeches for himself: in this remarkable one-man version of Shakespeare’s tragedy, he plays not just the melancholy Dane, but Laertes, Claudius, Polonius, Gertrude, Ophelia, and Horatio, not to mention Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (who in this version are, ironically, easy to tell apart). There are no lighting effects, no music cues, no costume changes: Bhaneja simply says, “Lights!” to start the show and “Lights!” again to end it; in the intervening 100 minutes, he effortlessly slips from one role to another, changing his voice and body language just enough to differentiate the characters without the whole thing turning into an overheated vaudeville turn.
His delivery of Shakespeare’s dialogue is refreshingly naturalistic, his take on Hamlet unaffected and modern—Bhaneja doesn’t condemn Hamlet for his hesitancy to avenge the murder of his father, but instead presents it more as an adolescent’s natural fear of assuming the mantel of adulthood. Interestingly, Hamlet is more comfortable with a more roundabout form of violence—using his faked madness as a way of insulting Polonius and Ophelia to their faces. Even with all the conventional theatrical trappings stripped away, Hamlet (Solo) is a rich dramatic experience. —Paul Matwychuk
4 STARS

HAMLETMACHINE
(STAGE 6)
Heiner Müller’s Hamletmachine chews up all your familiar memories of Hamlet and spits them out, leaving plenty of crumbs of Freud and Marx still clinging to its beard.
Danielle Charmaine Hall is excellent as Ophelia—she brings a haunted intensity to her every moment onstage, even while standing still, that vividly suggests a hollow shell of a person. The other three actresses, who play the supporting Hamlet roles (Aish deBruyn is Gertrude, Joëlle Préfontaine is Claudius and Hamlet’s Father, and Anna Fiddler-Berteig is Horatio and Polonius) as well as a sort of chorus, seem to be holding themselves back with their grotesque voices and movements.
There are many moments that should be shocking and uncomfortable, but the three actresses are either too inexperienced or unsure of themselves to act—much like Hamlet himself, come to think of it. Take the scene where Gertrude violently attacks Hamlet along with the other two women. The background music rises in intensity, but the actresses’ movements do not, nor is deBruyn’s initial monstrous transformation a dramatic enough change to inspire real terror.
Chris Gamble (who plays Hamlet) is a strong actor but miscast. Even in the
darkest scenes he has a natural approachability that seems better suited for comedic roles. Muchadoaboutnothingmachine, anyone? —Giorgia Severini
2 STARS

Crazy Long Titles

THE SHAKESPEARE SHOW, OR HOW AN ILLITERATE SON OF A GLOVER BECAME THE GREATEST PLAYWRIGHT IN THE WORLD (BYOV P)
After years on the Fringe circuit, Vancouver’s Monster Theatre has carved out a solid niche for themselves as some of Canada’s ablest fact-benders and history-skewerers. Their specialty is uncovering the “hidden truth” behind well-known historical figures (past titles include Napoleon’s Secret Diary and Jesus Christ: The Lost Years). Their latest show is based on the notion that the true author of Shakespeare’s works was... well, someone other than Shakespeare.
The script by Ryan Gladstone is a lesson in crowd-pleasing wit—it is written almost entirely in virtuosic rhyming verse that doesn’t miss a single opportunity for vulgarly poetic turns of phrase. Gladstone and partner Tara Travis incorporate everything everything from fight scenes to puppetry into the action, and everything from the Plague to Queen Elizabeth I into their convoluted plot, and while the details are sometimes hard to follow, there’s never a dull moment. Which is more than can be said for Shakespeare. (I’m sorry, but have you ever tried sitting through Timon of Athens?) —Caitlin Fulton
4 1/2 STARS

SAD VICTORIA’S PELICAN DAY: A PICTURESQUE ADVENTURE FROM THE MIND & MUSIC OF BRYCE KULAK
(STAGE 11)
The sight of Bryce Kulak always makes me think of Citadel Theatre musicals from 15 years ago, but all that is about to change. The native Edmontonian has returned with a new play based on his own compositions, many of which appear on his recent CD Tin Can Telephone.
There are about 20 songs in all in this show, which tells the story of Sad Victoria and her neighbours’ eviction from the Pelican Apartments. Kulak’s tunes are heavy on the whimsy, but they’re inspired by a very real concern for the shrinking number of historical buildings and affordable housing in Edmonton; the dancers convey this message with remarkable clarity, portraying quirky, charming, and acrobatic characters marginalized by this change.
All this is aided by a cartoonish modular set that get constantly rearranged, rebuilt, and eventually removed... much like our city’s historical buildings. But the most remarkable aspect of the piece are the stunning costumes that transform performers into 10-foot-tall blue caricatures. The only thing this endearing play lacks is another singer to complement Kulak’s voice. Fans of abstract dance, contemporary art, and cabaret music will all have a ball at this one. —Jeremy Schiff
3 1/2 STARS