September 17, 2012 by The Ubyssey

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2012 |

EDITOR ANNA ZORIA

FRINGE 2012 ROUND UP >>

VISUAL ART >>

AMS art collection on display after 37 years

YARA VAN KESSEL PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

Prabhi Deol Contributor

GEOFF LISTER FILE PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

Ingrid Nilson, a UBC theatre alumus seen here performing outside the SUB, rattles off her bucket list in the show Welcome to my Wake.

Profs, students, alumni dazzle at Fringe Fest

TWO BLONDES WITH A PASSION DO DEATH IN VENICE Have you ever wished that one of your professors would start singing in the middle of an otherwise dull lecture? Two Blondes with a Passion Do Death in Venice indulges that fantasy. The cabaret-style production, which is less about Venice and more about the pains of unrequited love, stars Stephen Heatley, a theatre professor at UBC, accompanied by his friend Richard Link on the keyboard. Decked out in full professor garb (complete with a blue UBC logo-patterned tie), Heatley belts out stories of youthful romance while poking fun at academia. This curious intersection between academic lecture and straightforward musical cuts out a lot of the pretentiousness that can mar Fringe theatre; such transparency is refreshing. The performance itself is intimate, honest, charming and clever. Both Heatley and Link can carry a tune; although the venue is small-scale, their stage presence could just as easily demand the attention of a large audience. Link’s superb musical accompaniment complements Heatley’s delivery. Excepting a few pleasant theatrical detours, however, students may find the gentle pacing and overt similarity between each song repetitive. The downtempo character of Two Blondes is better suited for older audiences looking to wax nostalgic about their youth.

—Rhys Edwards

PIRATES?

—Rhys Edwards

WELCOME TO MY WAKE Welcome to My Wake is not so much a performance as it is an experience. In a parking garage opposite Emily Carr School of Art, Ingrid Nilson enthusiastically shares her bucket list: a list of tasks to accomplish before death. Given the morbid nature of the show’s subject and the frigid setting, one might think that Welcome is a sombre production. In fact, it is the total opposite. Through song, dance, incredible feats of physical prowess and eloquently spoken word, Nilson, a graduate of the UBC theatre department and former president of the Player’s Club, fills the cavernous garage with joy. From beginning to end, Welcome is an absolute pleasure to behold. Under the able direction of Chris Robson, himself a student in UBC’s MFA directing program, Nilson breathes exuberance into everything she does, whether it’s reciting Shakespearean sonnets or giving tips on bicycle safety. Although Welcome is experimental in nature, it never felt like a novelty. Audience participation is not contrived, but a natural and beautiful element in the show. In all her eccentricity, Nilson never acts; she inhabits the space as naturally as a fish in water. The results are authentically touching.

Pirates? is the first major production of Quimera Collective, a consortium of young performers whose ranks include several UBC undergrads. Staged on the kids’ tugboat near the entrance to Granville Island, the short performance follows a group of friends as they embark on an adventure set in their imagination. Though their fantasy world seems limitless, they must defend their imagination from the evil machinations of everyday reality. As one of this year’s Fringe Onsite productions, the performance is, conceptually, well suited to the space. Pirates? toys with

the idea of imagination; while the cast (as well as the children who actually play on the tugboat every day) use the tugboat as a vehicle for their fantasies, the audience itself becomes a participant in the imaginative act just by watching the performance unfold. Making an audience suspend their disbelief is difficult enough, but making a static playground object come to life is a challenge of its own. When only one or two actors use the space, they sometimes struggle to manage this task; conversely, the strongest moments of Pirates? occur when the entire cast convincingly uses the tugboat to full effect, navigating the waves of their world with hilarity. During these brief moments, the audience shares in the dream of their fantasy.

—Rhys Edwards

THE BIKE TRIP Martin Dockery’s performance may not be what you expect. For a live monologue act about LSD, there’s a serious lack of hippie outfits and psychedelic light shows. Instead, The Bike Trip is an autobiographical account that is potent in its simplicity. Armed with nothing but a tall stool and his bottle of water, Dockery storms the audience with his unrelenting energy and storytelling skills. Through voice and gestures alone, he sweeps you through California, Switzerland and India, all places where LSD helped shed light on his relationships with friends, lovers and strangers. Over the course of 70 minutes, audiences meet a six-year-old girl who claims to possess psychic abilities, follow Dockery on a moonlit bike ride through the Indian countryside, marvel at LSD’s discovery by Dr. Albert Hofmann, and shed some tears over the loss of Dockery’s best friend. The experiences are so honest and personal as to transcend the barriers of place and time. The Bike Trip is wonderfully spontaneous, very real and absolutely irresistible.

—Cynthia Chou

HOME FREE! If it weren’t for the incest, Home Free! would be among the more conventional offerings at the Fringe Festival. The one-act play stars Lawrence and Joanna, a young couple struggling to prepare for their future while raising their children. The pair may strike audiences as a charming couple at first. Their doting displays of affection reflect the idealized, happy-go-lucky attitude of sixties-era United States. Mixed in with their reverie, however, are childish exchanges that reveal the sordid nature of their relationship. For underneath their couple dynamic, Lawrence and Joanna feel like quintessential siblings. They argue, tease and annoy each other; moments later, they forget their quarrels and start playing together. Under the direction of UBC MFA graduate Brian Cochrane, the cast performs their roles all too well.

Joanna, played by UBC acting graduate Maryanne Renzetti, seems the more mature of the two, yet her calm demeanour is ruptured by brief flashes of rage. Lawrence, played by Langara graduate Jason Clift, is foolish and naive, but must adopt the father role in the family. The duo are harmonized; their near-perfect timing and delivery evokes a nauseating tension. Home Free! succeeds because these interactions between brother and sister, or husband and wife, feel disturbingly natural. The audience laughs because it recognizes the silliness of the siblings’ behaviour, but underlying this laughter is a deep sense of revulsion.

—Rhys Edwards

LOON Specializing in classic make-believe, The Wonderheads (the physical theatre ensemble behind Loon) have already taken a whimsically Pixar-esque look at death with last season’s Grim and Fischer. What is there to do but examine that other human mystery, love? In Loon , Kate Braidwood portrays a lovable sadsack who falls head over heels for the moon. Without the benefit of dialogue and behind a full-faced mask, she manages to convey a stunning array of emotions. Every hunch of the shoulder and tilt of the head speaks volumes. Though adorable to the audience, the slumping protagonist has little luck in love — and it’s no wonder. Occupation? Janitor. Favourite person? Mom. Favourite colour? Plaid. But the plaid exterior belies a bustling inner life. In his imagination, the character moonlights as a fantasy hero, fighting intergalactic battles and romancing Ingrid Bergman à la Bogart. After nights and nights of gazing at the moon, our hero begins to pine for it. When he tries to bring the glowing orb home with him, the results are by turns uproarious and heartbreaking. Andrew Phoenix, the other half of The Wonderheads duo, directed this well-crafted yarn. His clever soundscape and set completed the magic, and, together with Braidwood’s moonstruck bachelor, left even the most cynical misty-eyed. U

—Catherine Guan

Some of the oldest paintings in the Alma Mater Society (AMS)’s art collection are on display for the first time in over 30 years. “From Brock Hall with Love is the Alma Mater Society’s most recent show highlighting works from roughly the collection’s first 20 years,” said AMS Art Gallery commissioner Kathleen Handfield. “It was housed in Brock Hall during 1948 to 1969 until its move to the Student Union Building after its construction.” Concerning the AMS’s decision to hold off on selling any of the pieces from the permanent collection, Handfield said, “We just wanted to open up the discussion and see what other possibilities we have for the art. An elected group of us will be meeting to discuss this.” “These paintings haven’t been displayed since approximately 1975,” said Diana Zapata, one of the volunteers at the AMS Art Gallery. “It’s good to have them out to show the students what famous works we have, and hopefully generate interest.” The AMS aspires to attract students from all faculties to the AMS Art Gallery, and possibly inspire them to sign up for future events. One of the gallery’s upcoming workshops is on canvas painting — an activity that’s for everyone, from novices to artistes. The exhibit comprises nine works, ranging from landscapes to human portraits. All of them are by famous Canadian artists, a fact which the AMS hopes will foster a sense of identity and pride in UBC students. For example, one of the pieces by Joe Plaskett shows the Fraser River as seen from the historic Sapperton neighbourhood, located in New Westminster. “These two pieces create a nice dialogue,” said Handfield, comparing Northern Image (1952) by Lawren Harris to Untitled (2003) by Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, the only aboriginal artist in the AMS’s permanent collection. “The Group of Seven purged their paintings of any sort of politics or changes to the natural landscape through human contact like industrialization. They wanted to show Canada’s terrain in its purest form. Lawrence Paul’s work, on the other hand, is heavily influenced by people, politics and industry.” The SUB Art Gallery is the perfect location to display a small number of complex works of art; it allows students to consider each piece without feeling crunched for time. U