FRINGE 2022 DAY 3

Day 3

By Liz Eichler

Happy Fringe! Weekdays you can choose two shows (from about 12 options), and hang out for the Fringe News and After Hours Activities. Last night a lot of theatre folk were out and about catching up on shows and catching up with each other by the Outdoor Stage and “Beer Garden.”  Expect more of the same this week (weather permitting!) Lot’s of FREE nightly themed events such as Fringe Olympics on June 8, Fringe Prom on June 11, and Fringe- A-Oke 2 on June 15.  For a complete list pick up a City Beat or go to the Fringe Website.

FATHER, DAUGHTER & HOLY TOAST by Barbara Brady

This is a well-crafted solo piece that will certainly resonate with anyone caring for aging parents or helping them downsize their home. If you’re not at that stage yet, then this is a moving piece to help you build empathy for the process you WILL have to participate in some day. 

Barbara Brady introduces herself as “Divorced, middle aged, living with my father–not that I’m pathetic or anything.” As she tells her story, everyone in the audience (the shows draws a mostly 50 or over crowd) appears to nod in agreement or laugh in recognition. From the sibling battles over stuff in their parent’s house, to the childlike wonder of the first time in a Catholic church, to the explanation of the family’s daily toast ritual, Brady channels the humor and details with ease.  You identify with the people and actions she describes so well that the intimacy of the final scenes may really, really move you. 

Again, well-written, if a bit slowly paced, but ultimately she demonstrates how she can see humor in some difficult situations. 

A MORGUE OF THE FORGOTTEN by Performance Gallery and Solasta Theatre Lab

This is an “experimental, whimsical, theatrical journey into the cast-off, the lost and the forgotten.”  

Whatever it is, it has some strong and interesting acting. It was devised by the ensemble (Jasimine Bouldin, Erin Carr, Daniela Nenova and Willemien Patterson) and directed by Regina Pugh. 

Beginning with the question “Where do lost things go?” the show takes us on a journey with someone who so desperately wants to get rid of a memory that she navigates through the “Morgue” of lost things.  There’s a room for an accountant who tracks forgotten and remembered people, a place for forgotten birthdays, socks, daydreams, and more.  In each one Daniela Nenova and Erin Carr create unique persons who would live in this Willie Wonka-esque world. Nenova’s accountant is puppetry at its finest, and Carr’s Dreamer is effectively etherial. Bouldin is bold and driven. Patterson’s character–the Mortician–with her expressive singing, provide the fantastical element that lifts us out of our seats in Cincy and into another (odd and mutli-layered) world. 

Sound and lights for “Father Daughter & Holy Toast” at Fringe.
Fringe Volunteers before the curtain speech!

Show’s I’m looking forward to this week: SADEC 1965 (“Motorcycle Diaries” meets “Eat, Pray, Love” set in Vietnam), UPLINE! (there’s so much content to choose from, can’t wait to see what she’s done with it!),  CHARLOTTE VAN HELSING (vampires!), WUTHERING (great cast, heard great things) and I hope to stream some of the Digital Fringe Shows: TAKE A CHANCE WITH TOYBOX and YOUR GORGEOUS FUTURE.

A new Calendar for everything onstage from LCT’s member theatres.

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