The Slip-Knot
If people at this Fringe are doing a solo -and many are -and need an object lesson in how to do one correctly- and many do - they should take in TJ Dawe's latest work. Nothing I had seen of his, Labrador or 52 Pickup, prepared me for this.
Dawe sets the bar extremely high; his intent is to tell the stories of three dead-end jobs he had (stock boy, post- office worker, trucker), and how they wormed into his personal life and eroded his self-esteem. Best of all, in a coup de theatre rarely seen in monologues, he brings the three stories -set years apart - together in a mighty climax.
How? With a bare stage, three differently coloured lights and a mad pace. The text starts as a slow cascade of words and images and then just floods out of its author and over us in a hilarious and surreal torrent.
It's a virtuoso performance. Just when you think Dawe is going to lose control, with all three of his stories simultaneously reaching fission: blackout. He reins it in. Let's us breathe. Goes on.
This is not just a lesson in rhythm, text and performance; it is also a scintillating explosion of imagination. Fine, fine theatre oulled out of thin air.
Gaeten L. Charlebois
The Hour
