reviewvancouver: Fringe Festival Vancouver: John Jane

For a show that its creators like to name “The Chinese Clown Cabaret,” there is less than expected slapstick served up. Not to say there isn’t plenty of physical comedy, but what the show thankfully lacks in the ‘old banana-skin’ routines, it certainly makes up for with some charming rueful humour that is heart-warming, funny and surprisingly non-formulaic.

Co-creators Jane Chen and her real-life mother, Tair, have put together a low-budget, original cabaret which works across cultures, gender and all ages. The younger Chen actually gets her show going early, by kibitzing with front row patrons for five minutes before the scheduled start.

The Chen’s basic shtick is to exaggerate the difficulties of growing-up in the western world, while being raised by traditional Chinese parents. The result is that the audience doesn’t just get to laugh but also ponder their own family dynamic.

Jane Chen is brilliant as a caricature of herself, but her brilliance doesn’t shine in isolation. Tair is exceptional in support, and totally buys in to being the target of the gag as she admonishes her daughter with retorts such as “Pay attention in school”

I’m not sure if the world needs more clowns, but if it does, let’s have more like Jane Chen.

Screaming Chicken
Sex, Violence, and Nursery Rhymes

Dates 7, 9, 13, 16, & 17 September 2006 Venue Granville Island Stage

Reviewer John Jane

There is a fine line between vulgarity and crudity. Director Norm Elmore’s latest Screaming Chicken production "Sex, Violence and Nursery Rhymes" which debuts at this year's Vancouver Fringe Festival walks that line with dexterity.

The leggiest, sexiest Mother Goose you will ever see outside of British pantomime relates an auspicious take and her evil partner Sister Grimm provides the darker slant on all our favourite nursery rhymes.

Many of the best known nursery rhyme characters appear as we have never seen them before. An over-cautious Humpty Dumpty still manages to fall off the wall, but this time with no king’s men to put him back together. There is Jack Horner severely lacking in self-esteem over the size of his appendage and a Little Miss Muffett, with a passing resemblance to a Lolita, who meets a spider that does much more than sits down beside her.

My particular favourite was the gullible queen who presented a “stunning display” after being given an invisible outfit.

Melody Mangler, Candy Curves, Camero Luvroc, and Connie Lingus head-up a large troupe of performers in a lively, entertaining burlesque revue that deliberately pushes the boundaries of good taste.

Tippi Seagram’s Happy Hour

Writer/Performer Collette Kendall

Dates 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, & 16 September 2006 Venue Pacific Theatre

Reviewer John Jane

Hamilton, Ontario native Collette Kendall brings her tour-de-force, non-stop, 60-minute one-woman show to the “cultural vacuum” of Vancouver. Kendall, an attractive, fortyish natural brunette is the diametrical opposite to the blonde-wigged, martini-swilling cougar, Tippi Seagram being dragged kicking and screaming into middle-age.

Patrons coming to see Kendall’s “Tippi Show” shouldn’t expect to quietly hunker in the seclusion of the tenth row. Tippi is renowned for engaging her audience, often on a one-to-one basis. She (Tippi) laughs with her audience, not at them, in a propitiatory Rita Rudner comic style.

Frequent ‘Fringe’ patrons expect that their “Politically correct” sensibilities might be confronted, but Tippi goes on a full-scale assault from the go. She pokes her facetious brand of humour at just about everything, (except religion?) and covers the entire gambit which includes the seal hunt, kids (preferred lack of), ageing, sex, and Paul McCartney.

Tippi Seagram is considered one of the drawing cards to this year's Fringe for good reason. (See this week’s front page of the Georgia Straight.) Who wouldn’t want to spend Happy Hour drinking cocktails with Tippi?