Halifax Fringe Roundup #2

The second Halifax Fringe Roundup! In this episode we check in with Andrew Gaunce, Laura Thornton, and Mariel Kathryn Hunter to see how their Fringes have been going, talk about shows they have loved, and about surviving Fringe exhaustion!

Andrew Gaunce
Instagram: @TempleGaunce
Aberrant Theatre
Instagram: @aberranttheatre
Something Wrong

Laura Thornton
Walesong Theatre
Twitter: @whalesongprod
Instagram: @whalesongtheatre
The Birthday

Mariel Kathryn Hunter
Instagram: @comehomeplay
I Want to Come Home

Transcript

Welcome to episode 147 of Stageworthy. I’m your host, Phil Rickaby. This is the second of the Halifax Fringe Roundups.

If you were here last week, I’m here with the same people. We’ll start on my left with introductions. Hi, I’m Laura.

I’m waving because they ate up the fringe and it’s audio. I’m with Whalesong Theatre and my show is The Birthday here at the Halifax Fringe. I’m Andrew Gaunce.

I’m with Aberrant Theatre and our show is Something Wrong. And it scared me to death. Thank you for that, Andrew.

My name is Mariel Katherine Hunter. I’m with Fort Hart Productions and my show is called I Want to Come Home. And of course, I’m Phil Rickaby.

I’m with Homebody Productions and Stageworthy Podcast and my show is The Commandment. So, it is day 10 of an 11-day festival. How’s everybody feeling? What day is it? Is it day 10? I have actually so many times had to look at a calendar just to know not the date, but which day is it? Is today a Saturday, a Friday? What is it? I have no concept.

I’m 100% telling my week if I have a show or not. Do I have a show today? Okay, it’s Thursday. Well, Andrew, of course, has a different problem because he has shows every day.

I’m really curious. Andrew, you’ve had shows every day. Correct.

And you’ve had sometimes two shows in a day. Correct. How are you feeling? Honestly, it’s a mixed bag.

I feel great overall. I feel like artistically and for the show, it’s been a fantastic experience because it is still a work in progress and this has been such a great way to workshop it. I get people to play with it and I see what works and I see what doesn’t and that’s awesome.

But I’m also just physically exhausted and just mostly delirious at all times. For your listeners, Phil, I think it’s important to note that Andrew’s coffee has doubled in size since last week. No, it’s true.

He did go for the biggest coffee you can get. So, that’s saying a lot. This is my third today.

Well, we know how you’re getting through the rest of this week. It’s also being recorded at 11 a.m. It is 11 a.m. I was on that point laughing. I’m like, the fact that there’s coffees at all this week.

Last week, there were no coffees. I had a juice. This week, it’s like we all have coffee in hand or knitting or whatever.

I have a second monster in mind. If you’re medicating yourself, you have to pace it. The interesting thing, I mean, Andrew, you’re obviously a little tired than you were last week because I sort of wondered how you were going to do with performances every day and not a single day off.

It’s no wonder that you’re sort of drinking such a large coffee and not quite sure what day it is because everything has got to be a blur at this point. Oh, it is. Yeah.

No, I can’t make one day from the next. I was talking about something that happened in the audience the other day. I’m like, was that yesterday? Was that four days ago? I have no idea.

I’m not going to lie. I’m having that anyway. I’ve had six performances and I still am like, what day was this thing that happened? Yeah.

Right. Yeah. I will be perfectly honest.

My show has not been the same once yet because we keep forgetting stuff because we’re all so tired. My show is only 15 minutes long. Well, I will own this.

I dropped an entire page out of an 11-page script last Thursday. That was the moment we looked at each other and we went, okay, this is our wall. Thankfully, we had yesterday off, Friday off.

After I’m done here, we’re going to go. Let’s just have a rehearsal, like an actual check-in rehearsal because we had a couple of days off. Thursday the audience liked it, but backstage, we’re like, that was an unmitigated disaster.

But that’s never happened to me in my Fringe experience before. I was like, oh my God, that’s an entire subplot of a 15-minute long show gone. Oh boy.

It’s interesting to remember during your Fringe how diligent we do have to be about the work. I had that experience too, where I had an off show and it happens to all of us. Again, the audience didn’t notice because they don’t know the script.

Thank God. It was the next day, I was like, okay, rehearsal mode. I kicked my stage manager out of our billet and did some work.

It’s so important when you’re in the midst of these festivals to remember what it is we’re doing here. I had the same thing. I had a really off show, sadly for my largest audience.

No, they didn’t know. They were just really quiet and that threw me off. Then the next day, I had a show the next day and it was entirely just like, all I could think about was I can’t do that again, I can’t do that again, I can’t do that again.

Then you get stuck in that. Well, we had an interesting conversation about that, you and I, about having an off show and the different reactions to having an off show. I think that’s something we could all touch in on.

You were saying for you, you go into that can’t happen again, can’t happen again mode. I was saying for myself, once I have that show, it’s good for me because then I’m like, oh, snap back to reality. I definitely have more of the reaction of psyching myself out that, oh, this was bad.

I think about it a lot and I start to really work on it maybe too much. I start to worry that it will happen again. Yeah.

It’s been such a long time since I’ve acted. It’s been about six years since I’ve been on stage. I mentioned that last week that for me, as a director and a producer, I’m always like, actors, get your shit together.

It’s not that hard. That’s one of the reasons why I was like, I have to do this just to walk the walk every once in a while. Having that show on Thursday, I’m going, okay, I need to back off my actor.

Also, it hasn’t psyched me out. It’s snapped me into work mode. Like you said, it’s the, okay, we have a two show.

It’s our only two show day today. We’re going to meet and have a proper rehearsal. We’re going to go into it and then we’re going to disperse and not think about it.

That’s the agreement we made as a group. However, today’s show goes in the afternoon. That’s what happens.

We’re going to shake it off and we’ll come back for the evening show and not to put too much emphasis on it, which is a healthy thing to do, I guess. You kick yourself. Absolutely.

Yeah, you kick yourself. Even though the audience has no idea. The audience that left my bad show, they left smiling.

The people told me they enjoyed the show. It just felt different. You can never know.

My worst show was also in front of my largest audience and it was the I got the best feedback on. I had a woman come up to me in tears after the show and just be like, that was so, and I so enjoyed. And when this, and I was just like, we need to take a breath.

This is a lot. Thank you so much. And when it’s silent, that’s another thing is you and I both have like comedic shows and when it’s silent, it is kind of like a, all right, do you hate me? Or are you just quiet? There were moments I was like, nobody ever doesn’t laugh at this.

And you guys are like, you start to wonder like, is it me? I actually went up to the house tech afterwards. I was like, be honest with me. Was I garbage or were they just off? And she was like, they were cold.

We had that on our last show, Tuesday, Tuesday night. And it was the show that we ended up getting a five-star review from Amanda Campbell. Thanks Amanda.

But like we had a full house and not freaking peep. And there’s like, our show gets a little dark at the end, but it’s, there is funny at the beginning. And the thing that I like that always gets us to laugh at the very start, didn’t get a titter, not even a chuckle.

And it threw us both off. We were like, okay. And, but we did it.

And then afterwards everyone stayed. Like we couldn’t hear them in the audience. And like, we’re pretty much on top of them.

We couldn’t hear them. And, but afterwards everyone’s like, that was awesome. We love it.

We’re like, you have the weirdest way of showing it. And that would be interesting too, Andrew, because your show is terrifying. So do you have the opposite experience where everyone’s like really quiet? Yeah.

For the most part, it’s, it’s fun. Cause there’s certain moments in it. And one story in particular that pretty much every day we get an audible reaction.

Yeah. Go see the show. I’m still having nightmares about that moment.

No, it is not. At the reveal of that one particular story, pretty much every day there’s a kind of like, you can feel people start to cringe into their seats a bit. So that’s what I check in on.

And then like as much, I don’t consider it a comedy show, but you’ve got to have some laughs. A few little gags in mind. It’s a good way to check in to make sure that they are still with you.

Absolutely. Absolutely. I just have to want to like, how much can, cause I know how much I can see the audience in my venue.

Um, so can you see anybody? Nothing. Okay. Not a thing.

I can see the legs of the front row. Well then let me tell you that at that moment, our entire row in complete unison listeners, you can’t see this, but our hands literally went over our mouth. All three of us, like other people I was with brought their hands down eventually.

And I think mine remained there for the rest of the show. Phil actually said, what was it you said about me after the, after we saw Andrew’s show? Uh, something about like how viscerally you watch, like you’re like moving, like everything is like your whole body. I can take no responsibility for that.

That’s all. Entirely. One thing I got to say is one of the things that I’m a little bit envious of, uh, Andrew and Mariel is you guys are from, not from here.

And, uh, you travelled with somebody, have somebody who travelled with you, who’s like your stage manager, producer, that sort of thing. Which means that in a way you’ve got somebody to lean on if things don’t go well, somebody who can keep you on track and like, say, no, you have to rehearse or no, you’re done. Stop for a little bit just to get your head in the game.

Do you think you could have done it without somebody with you? Like what, can you imagine what the experience would have been without? Personally, it wouldn’t have been as strong. I feel like, um, Jordy and I make a really great team on this kind of thing. Like I think the show would have been fine because there’s not much tech.

There’s not much for the stage manager to really do in my show. Um, Jordy just kind of sits there and watches, but from a production perspective, from a marketing perspective, 95% of that work has been on Jordy and they’ve killed it. Um, so I, that’s not necessarily my skillset and I’m learning and mostly from being around them, but, uh, no, it wouldn’t have been nearly as successful.

And just on a personal level, it’s so good to have just like a piece of home to check in with. Um, and especially someone that’s been there every stage of development on this show that they know where it was. They know what the original concept was.

They can be like, you’re kind of losing focus on this. Like maybe you should check back in on this particular idea that you had and things like that. So no, I, I, I think it would have kind of stumbled through if I was here alone, but it wouldn’t have worked nearly as well in any sense personally.

Um, I did my show without a stage manager last year. Um, and the tech is simple enough to operate. If like someone from the fringe lovingly steps up to do that, that’s great.

Um, it’s a little more complex this year and we’ve added things into the show because Adriana is here. Adriana has been such an asset to me. Um, and to the show, she is a formidable artist in her own right.

She’ll never tell you that herself. Um, she just came off of, she literally had a 24 hour, I think, turnaround. She went, um, and she was running, she was in a show called circle game, which is brilliant.

Like if you ever get a chance to see this show, see this show, you will never be more inspired in your life. It’s a re-imagining of Joni Mitchell’s music. Oh, it’s phenomenal.

The things they do in this show, I’m pitching a show that I want to hear that pitch later. We’ll check. Yeah, but it is truly an incredible show, the things they do.

And Adriana is right at the heart of it. Um, and again, formidable, um, she flew back from, she was in Saskatchewan for that run for I think two and a half weeks. Um, and then she was back in Vancouver for an overnight, repacked her bags and flew out here to help me with my show.

She’s a dear, dear friend of mine. Um, but on top of that, she just professionally, like the ability to see things in the show, um, and to very lovingly guide some moments like, Oh, maybe this isn’t working or man, that really works. You should hold on to that.

Like she’s been such an asset in that way. Um, and then also I have to say yourself, Phil, like we’ve become pretty good friends, fringe friends, vocal warmups going to be a big day. Um, but yeah.

And like, you have been such an asset to me too. And having like another artist to bounce things off of who’s going through the same experience. Um, I think that’s really one of the things I love most about festivals like this is making fringe friends and collaborating down the road.

And like, it’s, it’s been so great to have you here and know, like I have another artist who’s in my corner and like your input on my show has been great and your feedback, like it’s, it’s been tremendous. So I think I would have made it without Adriana. Yes.

But it, it’s been such a wonderful experience to be able to share that with her and to meet people like your lovely selves. I, as, as somebody travelling without somebody I have, and I mean, I know a lot of fringe artists who do this, you and Jillian English, for example, she travels the world by herself and things like that. And, uh, you know, talking with people like Al LaFrance, I think Al was here last year with, um, I think I’m dead.

And, uh, after the year before that was with the quitter. Yes. He did a double feature doing something else.

Oh shit. Okay. Yeah.

He did two shows the year before and he’s a master. And he, uh, you know, and he does it and there’s all kinds of people who travel and they just do fringes all summer long. And occasionally I’ll see the posts from them, which is like, okay, this is shit.

I’m having like this hard thing. And everybody hits that point. I had a point in the fringe where I was like, I went home and I was like, okay, I think you need to have a little cry tonight, you know, cause some things hadn’t, hadn’t happened.

Right. And I think what it was for me is I, I, I pitched a bunch of people who were going into a show and given them all my flyers and they all went into the show and they had all just left my flyer on the table and it was like, oh shit. And that was, that was a, it was just rough to see that.

I was like, okay, I’m going home. Yeah. Oh my God.

Yeah. I feel like I, I have no idea what it’s like to travel into a show period. Like my song, my company is a whale song because my team literally travels in a pod.

We, I, I have such a team at all times that you listen to you guys. Yeah. Like we did it by ourselves.

I’m like, what? Like, even with the, just the three that I’m working with, I have everybody else here that’s part of my network. So like, if we’re like, oh, something else we’re not working, I can reach out to one of my directors and say, Hey, can you come take a look at this? And so it’s so, it’s such a different, like I’m sitting here going, oh, I wouldn’t be able to do this. I wouldn’t be able to tour it.

I have so much respect for like the artists who are like, this is what we’re doing this summer. And we’re just going to go out and we’re just going to do it. Like, I think it’s so cool.

And it’s something that I want to do eventually and like experience other fringes. And so, and it’s, and it’s important as you’re almost cultural ambassadors because you’re coming here and saying, Hey, this is what the rest of the country is doing. Like, just so you know, like, I will say that’s been difficult about this fringe festival in particular is there’s, there’s a lot of home town companies and shows going on.

Yeah. Um, and it’s been really, I know for myself, I won’t speak for anyone else. I know it’s been difficult for me, um, coming from so far away and then, um, being kind of at a venue that’s outside of the core, um, getting people to that venue has been really tough.

Yes. And also it, it feels lonely. Like it’s, there haven’t been many fringe events and not many fringe events that are like super accessible to people.

A lot of fringes have like fringe bars where everyone kind of congregates. And, and I think this festival would really benefit from something like that. I don’t want to be critical of a festival that’s welcomed me, but I, I think there’s so much potential here.

I would actually say that one of the things that, that we, that would really benefit is to be able to have a place where artists from away and artists from here congregate and get to know each other. Cause I still feel like at this fringe in particular, that I don’t really know really any of the people from here because it hasn’t really been a place where we can go and hang out. Yeah.

I know that it’s been a conversation we’ve been having here for years and I don’t want to speak for the fringe, but it’s, you know, we’re 28 years old, but in a lot of ways we’re only about five years old because there was a complete change of like a complete overhaul of how everything was done and a changeover back in 2012, I think. So, because before it was the Atlantic fringe festival and it was, and I worked for, I ran it for two summers as a summer student. Like that’s, it was a summer position job, like the government paid for, and it was a different beast altogether.

And so I know that Leanne and April and all the folks who’ve come before them are definitely like, we hear this feedback. And so it’s always good to share it. Cause I agree.

I’m like, I, you know, I, if I wasn’t doing this, I would not know you guys. I wouldn’t talk to you. I’d be like, what’s up? I kind of recognize you.

I saw your show. And it’s not because we’re standoffish or we don’t want to welcome people. It’s just, it’s such a hometown crowd.

And you know, I did notice, and I think maybe it’s because of the language, we know how to play the game in the application process because everyone gets accepted. A lot of the hometown stuff is here in the bus stop. And it’s because they knew exactly how to write their application to get this space.

And, and, and, you know, not saying that we’re trying to push people. It’s not, it’s not, there’s nothing malevolent there. It’s just, we got, we fill out our forms and we know what to ask for.

To be honest with you, like in every fringe festival I’ve ever been, we’ve like, when they start talking, like usually like the, the venue isn’t decided by the application. They send you your tech writer and you fill out that stuff. I have totally filled that out being like, okay, so if we say this, I can get this venue.

Just so we, if we say that we need projections and we need this sort of thing. And then we can just be like later on, if we don’t use the projections, we can go, oh, wait, things changed. And it happens.

And like last year, the venues that we were all up there, like up in the North end, they were the hotspots. Like this was not like, this was a hub, but up in the North end, there was way more shows at the waiting room and pool hall and a campfire. So it was a whole separate thing.

Like Good Robot was essentially the bus dock. Like we all, and we were all up there. So it was a different, because we’re in the same boat.

Like I’m like, wait, hello. Where is everybody? I asked for a venue that I thought people would fit. What the hell? And it’s, but it’s just been a weird fringe too.

Like, I just feel like the audiences are kind of there. Like maybe it’s because we’re up in the North end and we just don’t see them. But yeah, it’s been really tough.

Yeah. Um, and I think that’s been at the heart of like why, you know, I’ve had a couple of bad nights or just like, you know, things like that. You’re, you know, you, my show is not easy to do.

You know, it takes a lot out of me. And so sometimes if there’s like a really small audience, you’re, and we were actually talking yesterday, how about a small audience, you work harder because you’re just trying to keep them. Yeah.

It’s, it’s tough. I had an audience of four and it was two fringe artists and the two people working the door. That was really tough.

Um, and my show, like it says the reviews I’ve gotten, you know, like this show needs an audience and you know, with the audience it deserves, I suspect it would be great. And you know what? It’s a great show. I stand by my show.

But it really like, it kills me to pop out and see, uh, see that there’s like five or six people there and then know that the next hour I’m just going to have to like give everything I’ve got, which of course you do. But this is what we were saying last night, though, is like, it’s a reciprocal thing when they give back to you, you know, it’s just, yeah. Because when there’s a large audience, it doesn’t feel like as much work because they give back.

If everybody gives a clap, we have a full round of applause. Yeah. Please clap if you believe in artists.

Thank you. So one of the things that, I mean, it’s last week when we met, we hardly had a chance to see anything. So now that we’ve had some chances to see things, um, what have you seen that you’ve loved? I get the apple.

I didn’t get to see that. Oh my God. Is it done? Um, I think they have, I think they have two more shows.

It’s from the folks who did, uh, Feeble-Minded Dictator here last year. Um, and it, it is, it’s like Comedia Del Arte meets Circus meets Acid Trips meets Dr. Parnassus’ Imaginarium. And it’s their work in Feeble-Minded Dictator.

And then this show, this is the kind of art that I want to see. Like, and I don’t even call it theatre. It’s me.

It’s, it’s art. And you’re just like, this is what I do doesn’t even apply to this style. And I don’t care.

I just want to steal like little elements and go, yes. I learned how to do that from watching that show. Um, blew my mind.

Um, also I really liked, uh, Negroes are Congregating. They had to leave early. Uh, so their two shows this weekend got cancelled, but it was so uncomfortable in the best way.

Um, I was like, hi, I am a very middle-class white woman and you are saying some things that make me uncomfortable. And that’s the point. Yeah.

I actually, I mean, I had the same thing watching that show because I’m actually not their audience. Um, I am, uh, yeah, I’m a white male. And, uh, so the, a lot of things that they’re saying, and I’m fully aware that white privilege makes me go, no, not me, but you have to listen.

And it was actually a really great forum for being forced to listen. Um, and yes, it was uncomfortable, but it was really important. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, I’m sad to hear that their two shows this weekend got cancelled. I was kind of hoping to catch it.

Um, but Agatha Apples, and she’s at the waiting room tomorrow at three 30 and at seven right after Andrew’s show at two o’clock. Um, I’ve seen some great shows. I get brave about everything.

Um, so actually two of my favourite shows are in this room. Uh, Andrew’s something wrong. I am still having nightmares.

Okay. Go see this show. So I don’t suffer alone.

Um, seriously though, it was really great. And there’s, um, I won’t give anything away, but there’s this movement piece that you’ve incorporated that I loved. I loved it.

Haunts me became a different person. Um, like performance wise, I am a fan. That was beautiful work.

I was just like, yes, no, no, no, no. Oh my God. I think I, yeah.

Five screens. Um, I think I hit Phil six times. Five, six hit show folks.

Go see it. It is, as you say, a hit. Yeah.

I like that. We all did that. And also Phil show I’ve seen Phil show a whole bunch of times now.

And I always love it. Um, it’s, it’s a really like, I love the premise of the show, which isn’t given anything away. Uh, an atheist is spoken to by God and told that he is to deliver the last commandment.

It’s so funny and idea. Like, I don’t know how you came up with it, but it’s brilliant and I love it. And then the heart that is in that piece as well is just beautiful, beautiful, beautiful work.

So I’m such a fan of you guys. Um, what else have I seen this week? I’ve seen so much. Um, I think those are my two, like top shelf shows for a second.

I’m so sad. You’re not here, Jillian. Oh my goodness.

I’m so sad. I was going to fangirl all over you. We get a sneak peek at her new show.

That’s coming out. She’s taking to Melbourne. Yeah.

Because unfortunately the new girls are congregating had to cancel. She gets to preview 10 things I hate about 10 things about you or taming the shrew or whatever. Right.

I thought this morning just because I am a child of the late nineties, I’m like, what’s that? 10 things I hate about you. I didn’t even know that. That’s awesome.

Yeah. Her, her show was like to see somebody with, with the kind of command of an audience that she has an ease with an audience is, is pretty incredible. She’s a masterclass kind of one woman show or one person show.

Watch those and go, Oh, that’s how it’s supposed to be done. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

She’s, she’s really great. And like her command of the room was also great. Uh, the performance we saw someone, I think, thought they were part of the show.

Oh no. Yeah. And it was very sweet.

Like it was, it was very sweet. And Jillian handled it just masterfully. I was just like, I will take that.

We sat in the, it was in this venue and we sat in the very back and Phil Adriana and I erupted to our feet. I don’t even know if the show was over. I don’t care.

It was, it was fortunately. Yeah. It was amazing.

Yeah. And you know, go see, I mean, she’s got also her comedy album recording is still coming up. Uh, I think there’s that, I think that’s today.

And there’s also that preview of, uh, 10 things I hate about Taming of the Shrew. And to be honest with you, there’s a lot of things one could hear about Taming of the Shrew. I am curious to see what she hates about it.

Um, oh, there’s so like, so obviously, I mean, your show terrified me, Andrew. Um, I love the spooky theme of this fridge. We were talking, we touched on it last week, but it’s like, it’s such a, every show is about death, dying or the afterlife.

And I’m so into it. I’m like, my little goth heart is like full. I mean, I mean, I’m not really a horror guy.

Like, I mean, I know, I know all the references, but, and also some of the movies just don’t hang, hold up. Like if I watched, I’m going to admit something. I didn’t watch Halloween when I was younger.

I only really watched it for the first time about two years ago. It don’t, well, you could watch it now because it’s funny. It doesn’t hold up at all.

Doesn’t hold up. It’s not scary in any way, shape or form. All of the tropes that it invented have been used so many times since.

And so, so that you see everything coming. Yeah. So it’s not even scary.

It’s a museum piece. Yeah, it is. It is.

And yeah, you hold, I took, uh, I took film in university and I studied horror. So it’s like, yeah, it’s like, I’m seeing your show today. And yeah, and I’m so excited because I’ve been waiting.

I was like, I don’t want to do it the day before show. It was literally, it was. Yeah.

I mean, things that happened in that show, just like, I was just like, I still am having PBGBs about certain things. I’m not giving anything away because I feel like this show in particular, you can’t give anything away. You need the surprise your show, Mariel.

Um, there’s a moment in your show that, that, and I’ve seen it like twice now. And every time we get to this moment, I’m like, and it’s just like one sentence and I’m like, yeah, but it’s like the way that, the way that you handle the, like your audience members in that, um, uh, is really, is really quite, quite lovely. Thank you so much.

That’s so much fun for me. Like, I love that. It’s, it’s really, it’s, it’s just, and it’s been really fun to play with people at the Halifax Fringe.

Audiences don’t always come up, but when they do, they’re usually okay with audience participation. Yeah. It’s been a lot of fun.

Which is funny because I’ve been to show, at the Toronto Fringe, they will sometimes have like, in the, in the program will say like warning audience participation, you know. I warned no one. Audience participation is a surprise.

I am in the show now. That’s just like the risk of Fringe. Oh, do I get a cut of the door too? You do not.

Um, I also saw Wild Bill’s Facebook. Oh my gosh. Feeding Time, Live Feed, YouTube.

Yeehaw, whatever. Which to be honest with you is one of the strangest shows I’ve ever seen. Absolutely.

That show is weird. It’s super weird. I think it’s probably my favourite of the festival personally that I’ve seen.

Not to knock anything else, I’ve seen so much brilliant stuff. But like, it’s just so uniquely uncomfortable and such a character piece of a character that you will never see anywhere else. He’s just such a utterly unique human and just to watch him go about his life in this weird, like microcosm of society is so, so weird and so crazy.

But what I liked about it also was that it’s so prevalent these days to see such a weird character. Like it, I think it’s clear from the title that it’s a based on an online type of fragment of society. And so it’s like, you stumble upon these types of things online all the time.

And then to see the show behind that show, not that I like meta theatre at all. We all have our vices. But it was great.

I really enjoyed it. Yeah. I found this, I’ve been finding this fringe really strong, like content wise.

Even the shows that aren’t great are still really good. I haven’t seen any shows, I haven’t heard anyone going, Jesus, avoid it. There’s always at least one where we all smile and go, good job guys, but I was like, don’t, don’t.

And this year I haven’t heard that. I haven’t heard like, even the stuff that like from the, we have a lot of, I haven’t had a chance to see it. I’m talking out of my ass about this.

But a lot of like the theatre school kids are in this year’s fringe for the second weekend. And I’ve had people go and be like, you know what, even for like youngsters, for the youngsters, it’s really polished. Like there’s stuff that needs to be worked on, like basic elements that they need to learn, but like the bones are there.

And you’re just like, yeah, that’s what I want to hear. I want to hear that the kids are like, the kids are getting out there and experimenting. But you know, like remembering back to being 19, 20 going, yeah, I’m going to do the fringe this year.

This script’s going to be awesome. Your parents come and they pay the five bucks and go, I loved it cause I love you. Yeah.

Um, what else have I seen that I really liked? Um, Almost Highly Famous was, was really interesting. That man can do things with soccer balls that nobody should be able to do. Um, and, uh, yeah.

Oh, oh, uh, Sex, Love and Jazz Hands. Yeah. Oh yeah.

It was quite, it was quite lovely. I really liked, uh, Easy, oh God, Easy Rock. Thank you.

I really enjoyed it. Um, it was that kind of dark, smoky kind of show that I like. I was like, this is going to go dark places.

I want it. Give it to me. Give me the dark.

On the flip side, I love Herbie Dragons. It’s the Harry Potter, uh, kind of, I haven’t had a chance to see. Oh my God.

It’s hysterical. Um, Kevin Hartford and Dan Bray wrote it. They’re two local guys.

They, and last year they wrote, um, kind of a spoof of, uh, Sherlock Holmes, Baker street. And so this year this Herbie Dragons is their kind of continuation of, we’re going to take that thing you love and just twist it a little bit. And it’s, and it’s the two lead actresses, Kayla Gunn and Melissa McGugan, uh, are just so good together.

Like they’ve never done a show together. They kind of knew each other locally. Um, and their chemistry.

I’m like, Oh, that’s what chemistry is. Oh, cool. Great.

And plus it’s just hysterical and nerdy is all good out. And if you like Harry Potter, it’s built in. And if you don’t like Harry Potter, it’s still fantastic.

You’re like, I don’t get the references, but I really enjoy the show. That’s almost a little bit like, uh, the show potted Potter that has been turning around for, I think like seven years now. Something like that.

It’s like been handed off from the guys who did it originally in Edinburgh, who to another pair of guys to another pair of guys. And it just keeps like being handed down. It’s like the Pirate Roberts shows, but you know, you, the original guys are still getting like the blue man group.

They’re still getting their residuals. Right. Um, what else? Like there’s a certain point at which I know I’ve seen more, but my mind just does not allow me to articulate.

I just want to shout out evil for a second. I didn’t get a chance to see it. It’s like half hour, 40 minutes or so.

And I didn’t stop laughing. Like I laughed till it hurt. It is just such a hilarious concept.

And that cast just committed so hard to it. Oh my God. They, their children, like they’re grown adults playing what a nine-year-old thought teenagers were.

And it’s perfect. It makes me 100% left going, I know my mom’s got a box of my shitty writing somewhere from when I was a kid. And the unfortunate thing is that, it’s run with them.

They only had four performances. And they added a fourth one because the first three sold out. It’s a shame.

Cause they were in plan B, which is like the smallest venue. Cause I don’t think they thought they were going to have an audience. They probably could have, could have fit into one of the larger venues.

Especially if they were selling out at the 30 seat level. Cause I know, I know I wanted to see it. And they were like, you might be able to see it on the floor.

I’m like, I’m too old for this. I’m too old for a cushion. Give me a seat or nothing.

Yeah, no, they would have, I would have liked to seen that show up in the pool hall. I think it would have made sense in that space. So everybody still have, have shows left? Yeah.

You have three. So is this your two show day today? Two show day. Yeah.

And then you have one on Sunday? Yes. We have an 11 45 AM on Sunday. First show of the day in the waiting room.

It’s 15 minutes long. And then I am leaving for vacation. My parents are literally like, we’ll be in the parking lot at 1215.

I’m like, okay. That’s great. I’ve still got two left.

I’ve got one directly after this at 1230 today. So less than an hour. And then our second one to close is tomorrow at two at the waiting room.

I’ve got two left too. I’m at one 30 at the old pool hall today and three 30 tomorrow, which is not on the official schedule. So please send your friends.

It is in the program. It’s on the website so you can buy tickets for it. It’s just not on the grid.

So make sure that you tell your friends that the last show is three 30 tomorrow. Yeah. And it’s worth seeing.

It’s a good show. It’s a great way to appreciate your friend’s experience. It’s a lovely show to be like, it’s a Sunday afternoon.

I’m going to try a little more. I’m going to drink after. It’s perfect for a mimosa more.

I feel like, great. I have my brunch. I’m going to watch this show.

There’s great brunch places. Right. Oh, you could do that here.

I’m pitching it for you. Go to brunch at like East coast or like any of the place up there on when I’m Robie, go see the show. It’ll be great.

It’s not on the schedule. Buy your tickets. I don’t know why I’m talking with my hands.

It’s audio. Because you talk with your hands. I have one more show today at three o’clock.

I’m going. It’s the commandment. Please come out.

If you’re listening to this, last chance to see it. I don’t know when I’ll do it again. I’ve seen it a whole handful of times.

It’s great. Every time come see his show. It’s wonderful.

Thank you. Great. We’ll be there.

Adriana and I are hanging out. Awesome. It’s perfect.

We’re all up in the North end. So come all of our shows today. We all have performed.

There you go. Spend some time in the North end up around the pool hall and the waiting room. See a bunch of shows.

And if you don’t, we’re going to cry and shun you. It’s fine. All right.

Thanks a lot, you guys. Thank you for making this awesome. This has been a Homebody Productions production.