To Fringe or not to Fringe
If walls could talk, then on Wednesday night at the Cavern (on Commercial Drive) they would have laughed their asses off (if walls had asses). The night in discussion was a presentation of the Jesse Award-winning monologue Tired Clichés by Vancouver actor and writer TJ Dawe, preceding a small sneak preview of the Vancouver Fringe Festival.
Four local groups presented a scene each from their works, which will run in September at the Fringe. The sneak peek began with Lillith and Eve, a feminist-modern dance-biblical-theater extravaganza. The eclectic evening continued with an act from the comedy show 'Nuckle-head Fever with New Wit.' If watching hockey fans sing about their love for the Vancouver Canucks to the tune of John Lennon's "Imagine" sounds good, this show is for you.
Third came Dialogue Between a Prostitute and Her Client, a drama with some very dry humour, not to mention a half-naked star.
Finally, a scene from the very bizarre performance art show Contents, which involved a world music-style band, a speech about Y2K and a very strange scene with canned ham. This scene was made even better by the improvisational skills brought about by a power outage.
Judging from this Fringe sneak peek, it looks like this year's festival, with its wise choice of local acts, may be a bigger success then last year's.
As great as the Fringe preview was, it was the full performance of Tired Clichés that stole the show. This show was incredibly funny. TJ Dawe has taken the same look at life as comedians Stephen Wright and Jerry Seinfeld. But instead of committing comic forgery, Dawe has taken his observations and written a theatrical piece with a style all his own.
The show begins with the actor/writer diving into a pile of boxes to the sounds of percussionist Jason Overy (The Libeatos; Hounds of Buskerville). He continues with his monologue, which includes a look at cats vomiting, graduation day, and casual cyclists versus wanker cyclists.
Dawe's ingenious dialogue proved his worth as a writer, but it was his slapstick facial expressions and his comic timing that had the audience rolling in the aisles. The woman next to me laughed so hard that she had tears streaming down her cheeks and bubbles coming out of her nose.
Unfortunately, after touring three times with the Fringe, TJ Dawe will not be performing at Fringe Festival this year. But, on the brighter side of things, Tired Clichés is now on CD with TJ speaking, Jason on percussion, Branden Wise on bass, Patrick Pennefather on piano and Richard Spenser on guitar.
Where to after this? Well, because of the success of a remount tour of Saskatoon, Edmonton and Calgary, the show will soon be heading to San Francisco.
Corey Kalman,
The Peak
September 7, 1999
1, vol 103
