Author Archives: Jay Menard

London Fringe – Woody Sed a Musical Trip Through Time

Leave a reply

By Jay Menard

Woody Sed examines the life and times of Woody Guthrie, his experiences, and the songs that were inspired by them. Thomas Jones does an admirable job trying to embody a couple of dozen characters who come in and out of the noted wanderer’s life.

It’s a warts-and-all look at Guthrie, from his early dust bowl days to his eventual silencing from Huntington’s Disease. Along the way, we travel along with Guthrie as he moves west, leaving families and wives in his wake, en route to New York. He gets introduced to communism and develops his voice — one that’s eventually silenced by Huntington’s. Continue reading →

London Fringe – Love is a Battlefield: More of a Gentle, Predictable Skirmish

Leave a reply

By Jay Menard

Love is a Battlefield is a perfectly pleasant and perfunctory piece of dramatic theatre. It doesn’t break any new ground, but it features capable performances by both leads. It’s less of a battle and more of a civil, but largely forgettable, disagreement.

The play, written by Martin Dockery and featuring dramaturgy by Vanessa Quesnelle, covers ground that’s been done frequently. It’s the standard femme fatale/oblivious suitor storyline that’s been a part of dramatic arts for decades. It’s a paint-by-numbers plot line with plot twists that are painfully obvious and viewers are able to predict the end well in advance. Continue reading →

London Fringe – Fool Muun Komming: Not Quite Full, but Potential to Wax

Leave a reply

By Jay Menard

Fool Muun Komming is fringey. Not quite able to be defined; not quite finished; but certainly representative of the oddball quirk that only Fringe theatre can provide.

Steve Day plays an alien who is coming to Earth on a crash course for a first-contact meeting of two peoples. Of course, there’s a good chance that the asteroid that Day is riding will destroy the very people that he’s excited to meet — but that point escapes him.

The alien has been inundated with Earthly culture through the miracle of sound and audio waves. He’s a card-carrying member of the YouTube generation with a fairly passable command of the English language — even if the subtleties of language sometimes escape him. Continue reading →

London Fringe — I Sound Like Mom – Honestly Growing into Self-Discovery

Leave a reply

By Jay Menard

Meghan Brown, early on in her one-woman show I Sound Like Mom, makes an offhand comment about her acting ability, suggesting that some critics may not have held her such high esteem. Well, with her latest Fringe venture, if Brown isn’t being completely open, honest, and exposed to the world, then she has nothing to worry about from the critics because she’s clearly the greatest actor we’ve seen in a long time.

Simply put, I Sound Like Mom is Brown sticking a pen in her heart and spilling it out onto the page. And then she stands before us all, with nothing to hide behind and no mask to wear, and tells the story of her life and her relationship with her mom. The good, the bad, and the delayed realization that being like her mother is actually a good thing.

Continue reading →

London Fringe — Within/Between: a Primal Celebration of Sound and Movement

Leave a reply

By Jay Menard

Wired On Words’ Within/Between is a stunning celebration of sound and vision, and movement and space. It is build as visual poetry, but it is best described as an experience — and one that should not be missed.

The production features Ian Ferrier on guitar, keyboards, and vocals, with Stephanie Morin-Robert providing the movement through dance and video projection (reminiscent of her “eye” work during last year’s presentation of Blindside.) The two combine to create a sound and vision experience that at once lulls you into a trance, then smashes you back into reality with a violent crescendo of movement. Continue reading →