Vancouver Fringe Festival

Another year has gone by and the Vancouver Fringe Festival is here!

Over the last few years I have been horribly disappointed by the quality of the shows I have seen at the Vancouver Fringe. There have been only ten or fifteen incredibly good shows and, the rest that I have seen, lacked something very important: story and script. I will admit, Fringe theatre can be experimental and exciting and often take chances that other shows would never dream of taking. But a show must have a story. There must be a reason to have it on stage otherwise it just becomes a series of jumbled images that do not make any sense!

This is not just happening in the Vancouver Fringe either. I have been following theatre in Vancouver and am quite involved in the theatre community - but people - please, stop making shows which are presented as "experimental theatre". Now, before you get angry with me let me say that I have against experimental theatre and I believe has a place in Vancouver. But not in every show.

There are a whole lot of shows that have come out in the last few years that lack a scripted story or, at least, a logical story arc. "Throwing it all together" is does not make for a quality show and wastes my time. If I go to a show billed as a "love story" then I want to see a love story - not a series of people running about the stage in different stages of undress and use single-word sentences. This does not make sense to me. Are theatre people getting lazy? Anyway, more story - less visual. Talk to me and don't try to confuse me in order to hide the fact no consideration was taken to create character, story, flow, and...script.

Hey, on a side note, did you notice that the Fringe website (hidden in the bottom right corner) has a system for blogging? I thought it was damn cool to have the performers (or others involved) blogging about their experiences. I am sure this is something that will become more common as time slips by.

Well, after all my ranting regarding theatre in Vancouver and the Fringe Festival, what are you all going to see? In no particular order, here is my list:

1. The Spice of Life (Ummm, my spouse is in it, so, I can't NOT see it.)
2. The Curse of the Trickster (Although, not his best work.)
3. One Man Lord of the Rings (Apparently, not as good as Star Wars)
4. My Brother Sings Like Roy Orbinson (HUGE expectations for this one.)
5. Patti Fredy in...The Hunt (Should be good.)

I am sure there will be others, but, I will keep you posted on what I see.

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about me

Shane Birley is a blogger, huge geeky nerd, web developer, poet, and creative writer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is a partner at Left Right Minds, a web development, arts management, business blogging and on line marketing company.

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