Reviews to help you through the hit-or-miss loveliness that is the Calgary Fringe Festival

SEEKING...

Posted by Richard Lam in Fast Forward Fringe Blog

SEEKING…

Lantern Church Gym

July 31, 2010

There’s a 2007 Canadian movie called Young People F***ing that intercuts various relationships and their struggles. It received mild praise, but ended up being closer to amusing sitcom scenarios than anything particularly insightful about relationships.

SEEKING… takes similar set-ups (a friendship that wants to be something more, a bored couple wanting to experiment, the blind date with a weirdo) weaves them together through newspaper personal ads. The only theatrical twist — the cast of three (two girls, one guy) sometimes play the male, and sometimes they play the female.

This seamless switching plays nicely to the gender politics touched on throughout the play, but again, it is only hinted at. A handful of great lines stick with you, and the actors are masters of economy, relying on only three chairs, a few well-chosen costume props, and subtle body language. The play moves at an easy pace, and while the resolutions are satisfying, they remain unsurprising and oversimplified.

Early on before the unsatisfied couple entertain the idea of a threesome, the wife says she sees herself much like her shirt color — beige, bland, and hard to even notice. Unfortunately, SEEKING… may be the ‘beige’ of the fest. Despite a solid effort, there is funnier, deeper and more moving work to be seen elsewhere.


more in Theatre     |     posted Aug 1st, 2010 at 1:35pm     


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