In the News
Follow the rooster at the Fringe
August 20, 2009
Graham Hicks
Edmonton Sun
EQUALITY
Worried his teen son was spending too much on girls, Billy Bob asked him the cost of his last date.
The son replied, "about $20."
"Wow," said Billy Bob. "Way to keep your costs down."
"To be honest, Dad," continued the son, "we'd have spent more. But that was all the money she had."
PLANET FRINGE
You do wonder what planet some of these folks reside on.
Some of these Fringe performers are so weird, unique, strange, abnormal ... so artistic!
Thank God they exist. The world would be nothing but grey without them.
Eric Davis, a.k.a. the Red Bastard, is one of the oddest, funniest critters around.
Think of Jim Carrey's facial distortions and biting humour.
Add a New York City in-your-face attitude.
Plus a rooster's movements — the strange spasmodic dance cocks do before they jump the nearest hen.
Some prerehearsed shtick ... but mostly improvised madcap interaction with the audience.
An absurd, sorta rooster-like body suit with an enormously distorted bum and chest. (Actually mega-balls within the suit, on which the Red Bastard can flop.)
And he's very, very funny.
Turns out the Red Bastard's comedic style didn't materialize out of thin air.
The New York-based Davis is a "bouffon," a style of clowning born in France, featuring the clown as anti-clown, mocking his audience to the point of parody, yet somehow endearing himself to them.
This Carryesque-rooster evoked audience participation like I've never seen before.
The most reticent of audience members joined in — if only for fear of being singled out!
At one point, the Red Bastard climbed row over row to get in the face of the person who was deliberately sitting as far as possible from the stage. You can hide ...
Two more shows, tonight at 6:30, Sunday at 12:15 p.m. Fringing at its most interesting.
CAN YOU GO BACK?
David Belke had his first big Fringe hit, The Maltese Bodkin, in 1991.
The show cemented his reputation as a playwright to be closely watched and enjoyed.
The show had a near-perfect script and plot, featuring a contemporary gumshoe who for no discernible reason operates in 17th-century London, with his surrounding characters all borrowed from Shakespeare's plays.
The original run was sheer magic, with a picture-perfect performance by William Davidson as the world-weary private eye. (In a supporting role was Nathan Fillion, now Edmonton's best-known Hollywood export since Leslie Nielsen.)
Eighteen years later, Belke has reprised The Maltese Bodkin as one of his two Fringe shows.
The problem lies in the comparison to the original.
It may be an indistinct, fuzzy memory, but the original seems to have been a tighter, better show.
Maybe it was a less-claustrophobic venue, or the sheer joy of what was an exciting, highly accessible new show. Maybe the fact the clean and crisp Jesse Gervais (as the private eye Birnam Wood) lacked the world-weariness Davidson carried like a cross upon his shoulders. Gervais is good. Davidson was great.
This show is fun, but not half as intriguing as the original.
Which raises the whole issue of re-mounts.
So many Belke originals deserve resurrection, and several have enjoyed revivals in Shadow Theatre winter seasons.
But can original Fringe magic ever be recaptured at the Fringe itself?
FRINGE EMBRACES SOCIAL MEDIA
You watch the spread of "social media" — the ability of anybody with a computer, Internet connection and the know-how to make their words, pictures and videos available anywhere in the world at minimal cost — with slack-jawed amazement.
Through social media, an unplanned but most powerful youth coalition erupted in favour of closing the City Centre Airport.
Those who shook their fleshy jowls bemoaning the lack of young 'uns in politics weren't so happy when the next-gen did flex its new-found muscle!
Now the Fringe has embraced social media, spreading communication tentacles the world over.
Walter Schwabe's Fusedlogic company, billing itself as a "social media strategist," filmed three Fringe productions — the original VIP party, the Korean youth show Choon-Hyang and Red Bastard — that were Internet-cast, live with no time delay, on the all-things-Fringe showyouourblog.com.
Which meant the Korean parents of the wonderful young actors in Choon-Hyang could watch the whole Monday evening performance (Tuesday late morning their time) in Korea on their computers.
"A few cameras, a computer, some know-how and away you go," says Walter.
Clips of those shows are available on YouTube, the "showyouours" channel. Artists at any Fringe the world over can contribute to showyouourblog.com. Or images can be added to the Fusedlogic/Edmonton International Fringe Festival Flickr site. Or Facebook. Or this! Or that!
"There are Fringe communication possibilities we're just starting to capitalize on," says Walter.
Hey Schwabe, don't forget that the "old" media — i.e. newspapers and related Internet media sites — still do a darned good job of delivering the essence of ALL news!
The Hicks on Six blog can be accessed at edmontonsun.com/hicks.
