Author: Christina - Published 2008-06-21 12:53
- (3253 Reads)
Fringe Festival Notables
I don’t know where here is
Jessica Rose portrays a mentally and physically infirm young woman whose mind is brilliant and delusional, lucid and cunning. She has an innate sense of what is ‘normal’ and also the tragic conviction that this desired state of ‘normal’ is never to be hers. In a forceful and dynamic performance, she acts out the abject helplessness and conscious tyranny of the invalid. It's an intelligent and witty script, conscious of its own sustained cleverness: a verbal roller coaster and exhaustive journey through the agonies of the heart and lost labyrinth of the mind. http://montrealfringe.ca/en/spectacles/i-dont-know-where-here-is
Songs of an immigrant in Paris
This is a soulful evocation of Paris, tasteful, sober, elegant and spare. Marni Rice exhibits a masterly command of languages, accents and astute impersonations: Portuguese immigrants, Russian exiles, and native Parisians with guttural tones and rough-diamond manners. In this performance, choreographed transitions lead smoothly from scene to scene and from song to song. Although a native New Yorker, Rice definitely looks the part of the quintessential ‘gamin de Paris.’ In character, of course, she wields a marvellous accordion with mother-of-pearl glittering keys. Gifted with a textured, flexible and evocative voice, Rice interprets songs that are both obscure and familiar, tragic, romantic and uplifting: as she says, in homage to her years spent living in Paris. Rice’s recurring narrative is the soul-immigrant’s quest for a place to be, to become, to connect and to settle: the cosmic quest of the century, given the migration of populations world wide. http://montrealfringe.ca/en/spectacles/songs-immigrant-tales-parischansons-d%E2%80%99une-immigree-contes-de-paris