Category Archives: Lifestyle

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

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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.

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

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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 →

London Fringe — Your Princess is in Another Castle, but the Castle is Still Just a Facade

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By Jay Menard

Before the play starts, Wes Babcock explains to the crowd that Your Princess is in Another Castle is very much a work in progress. He and Nancy Kenny, known for Roller Derby Saved my Soul and Everybody Dies in December, are workshopping this production and that honesty is greatly appreciated, because the production is very, very rough.

Ostensibly, the play is about Princess Polly, who loses the vote for Miss Leader of the Free World — the elections are won and lost by reality television. She finds herself a barista in a coffee shop run by her mannequin boyfriend. And Polly feels she lost the election because she was unable to make the mannequin population care for her.

There are elements of an interesting story here. The first building blocks of a foundation upon which something entertaining may arise. But right now, the drywall’s been applied a little haphazardly, the windows are slapdash, and the decorations are a little gaudy. It needs work and refinement to be something a little more stage-worthy. Continue reading →

London Fringe — Bedwetter: Not-So-Dry Humour About Growing Up Leaky

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By Jay Menard

Out of tragedy comes comedy. And though a childhood — and well into the teen years — filled with bedwetting may not be the classic definition of tragedy, for any youth going through it, it would be a devastating, confidence-draining experience.

Fortunately, Tamlynn Bryson came out of her experience stronger, more confident, and able to look back with a laugh at her experience. And Fringe goers are all the richer for the experience. Continue reading →

London Fringe: My Planet and Me – Isolated on Earth, Connected in the Stars

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By Jay Menard

One man, essentially alone in his own world, finds a connection amongst the stars. And in Damon Muma’s My Planet and Me, we’re invited to follow a man who guides us down a path of his own introspection to an ultimate realization of what his true value is in the universe.

Muma’s character, despite having a girlfriend, a job, and friends, feels isolated from the world around him. He increasingly can’t relate to the lives his friends are leading, he feels stuck at work — the tedium of bus rides to and fro blending into an indistinguishable rut, and his home life begins to fray as the play progresses.

Instead, he finds a connection where he least expects it — in the stars through a sentient planet that is communicating with him. He recalls other moments in his life when the planet spoke to him — and while he doesn’t understand what “she” is saying, it moves him both physically and emotionally. Continue reading →