Fringe reviews: Tale inspired by workers' deaths
Victoria Times-Colonist Staff
Times Colonist reviewers Amy Smart, Cory Ruf and Adrian Chamberlain are covering the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival, running to Sept. 2. All critiques use a five-star grading system.
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Times Colonist
Times Colonist reviewers Amy Smart, Cory Ruf and Adrian Chamberlain are covering the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival, running to Sept. 2. All critiques use a five-star grading system. The full schedule is available at the official Fringe site: http://www.victoriafringe.com/

What: She Has a Name

Where: Wood Hall, Victoria Conservatory of Music, 907 Pandora Ave.

When: Aug. 26, 27; Sept. 2

Rating: 3

Despite fundamental flaws, She Has a Name has its heart in the right place.

This 90-minute drama is inspired by a true human trafficking incident: the 2008 discovery of a storage locker in Thailand containing Burmese workers, half of them dead from suffocation.

She Has a Name is the story of an American lawyer, Jason, who goes undercover to investigate human trafficking in Bangkok brothels. He meets a 15-year-old prostitute, known only as Number 18. The soul-crushing depravity and hopelessness of the situation eventually causes Jason to unhinge. He finds himself resorting to the base violence favoured by the bad guys.

Andrew Kooman's play aspires to moral complexity. This is admirable, since single-minded didacticism is the coffin nail in political theatre. Unfortunately, She Has a Name is plagued by melodramatic - and just plain bad - cop-show dialogue.

He: "Just cut the perverts' balls off and shove them down their throats." She: "No - justice doesn't work that way." Hmmm.

Kooman's decision to introduce a Greek chorus of mysterious hooded figures who waft around chattering about angels doesn't help. Neither do the implausible plot twists.

That said, some of the main characters - including Evelyn Chew as the prostitute and Carl Kennedy as Jason - have their moments.

- Adrian Chamberlain

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What: Cougar Annie Tales

Where: St. Andrew's School Gymnasium, 1002 Pandora Ave.

When: Aug. 26, 27; Sept. 1, 2

Rating: 4

You can study history books all you want, but nothing quite brings the past to life like a dramatic performance.

In Cougar Annie Tales, Sooke's Katrina Kadoski introduces us to one of the province's most resilient characters by assuming the role herself.

Cougar Annie, born Ada Anne Jordan, survived to 96 on an isolated piece of land near Hesquiat Harbour, 50 kilometres north of Tofino.

The woman is tough as nails - outliving four husbands, giving birth to 11 children and killing more than 70 cougars.

But as Kadoski guides the audience along her life path, Jordan's loneliness, humour and heart of gold make her a truly endearing character.

This is the kind of show that's made for Fringe and will appeal to a wide audience.

It's multidisciplinary and well paced - Kadoski tells her story by performing real-life letters between Jordan and others, talking directly to the audience as various characters, as well as song.

Her folk ballads intimate some of the more tender emotions of sadness and loss that Jordan herself may not have spoken about directly. And the subject matter is what the musical form is made for - she covers everything from dissatisfying husbands, an unforgiving life in the wild and the heartbreak of losing a child.

All the while, projections of historical photos, letters and documents fill out the narrative on screen.

Kadoski is a confident performer who has created a well-polished cultural addition to Vancouver Island's heritage.

- Amy Smart

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What: Earth Leader: Son of 'Bub

Where: Wood Hall, Victoria Conservatory of Music, 907 Pandora Ave.

When: Aug. 26, 31; Sept. 1, 2

Rating: 2 1/2

Victoria musician/comedian Richard Leon Gauthier has stepped out with his quirky, comedic look at a man struggling with mental illness.

It's a peculiar piece. Certainly, as a performer, Gauthier has strengths.

He's a superior singer and guitarist - the songs he offers are the show's highlights. Although he seemed a touch nervous (this was the inaugural performance), Gauthier spoke well, sometimes displaying an off-beat charisma.

Where Earth Leader: Son of 'Bub falters is the material. Gauthier struggles to find humour in dark subjects. For instance, a stand-up routine includes an ill-conceived bit about getting raped as a child by a relative. And Gauthier's riffs on mental illness (the protagonist believes he's receiving "thought transmissions" via TV programs) are puzzling and just plain strange.

There is potential here. Gauthier has musicianship, natural charm and a rare ability to convey vulnerability. The show needs reworking, however.

- AC

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What: slut (r)evolution (no one gets there overnight)

Where: Victoria Event Centre, 1415 Broad St.

When: Aug. 26, 29, 31; Sept. 1

Rating: 3 1/2

In her one-woman confessional work slut (r)evolution, Boston-based storyteller Cameryn Moore chronicles her slow ascent from her days as a nerdy Mormon teen who mined paperback novels for steamy content to a life of sexual prolificacy.

Using out-of-order vignettes, she details her escapades as an exchange student in Russia; an

eight-year, highly domestic lesbian relationship; her return to sleeping with men; and her initiation into sado-masochistic kink at Burning Man, the annual festival of hippie hedonism in the Nevada desert.

Though expectedly crass, the show offers more than a few moments of sweetness and vulnerability.

And it's empowering. Moore is a brassy, full-figured, short-haired, bisexual woman. Her tale of sexual empowerment will surely hearten viewers whose body types and personal narratives don't usually pop up in mainstream TV show and film.

Unfortunately, unlike many of the trysts Moore describes, slut (r)evolution doesn't afford audiences the knee-shaking climax they might have been hoping for.

-Cory Ruf

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What: The Wyf of Bathe

Where: Wood Hall, Victoria Conservatory of Music, 907 Pandora Ave.

When: Aug. 26, 28, 31; Sept. 1

Rating: 3

Julian Cervello's Canterbury Cocktails was a hit with Fringe audiences. The Victoria actor is back with another Chaucer performance, his interpretation of The Wife of Bath tale.

We're tipped to Cervello's intent by the archaic spelling of the title: The Wyf of Bathe. Yes folks, this one is performed in Chaucer's original Middle English (as was Canterbury Cocktails). While admirable in some respects, it's also a great way to alienate audiences. I confess to not being versed in Middle English, and so had no idea what was going on 80 per cent of the time. The glossary in Cervello's program didn't particularly help.

His notion seems to be that performing a contemporary translation of the text would dilute it. Cervello states (in his program): "I am distrustful of the way 'accessibility' has become a buzzword in classical theatre."

Again, that's admirable. But for most audience members (the exception, perhaps, being Plantagenet era scholars) the experience will be that of attending a play offered in mostly incomprehensible lingo.

It's a shame, because Cervello, dressed in Wife of Bath drag, is a good actor. As well, the show is well directed. Members of the Society for Creative Anachronism may find this an absolute hoot. Others, perhaps not so much.

- AC