Back with six more reviews today and here’s a link to an explanation of my emoji ratings! I was inspired to keep writing after hitting my daily target of four-ish partially because I realized tonight’s schedule gave me a chance to cover three pairs of shows which have something in common thematically.
There’s Homecumming and Breaking Brains, which both center female sexual self-discovery; Bytes and ://SHELF_LIFE, which both explore artificial intelligence; and Happy Human Song Machine and Pursuit of H-word, which have happiness as their uniting theme. So, onto the shows!
Homecumming
Despite its sexual title, this play is about much more than solo performer and storyteller Magalie’s search for orgasm, a quest which provides the narrative frame for a story that is really about her search for self-love. From the moment she loses her virginity, Magalie starts defining herself by her sexuality and attractiveness; and when she has her first vaginal orgasms at 21 and then loses her ability to experience them, that ability becomes a new benchmark for her self-worth.
With her vibrant red hair and distinct persona, Magalie quickly draws us in, her delivery sometimes bordering on shrill but never lacking in energy or enthusiasm. A fearless physical comedian, she is unafraid to take full advantage of her gifts to imply the explicit, and audiences can’t help but root for her as she struggles to recapture her own pleasure and to escape from toxic relationships with unsavory men. To give you a taste of this show’s style of humor by shamelessly borrowing one of Magalie’s best puns— regardless of whether she can cum, this is one show worth coming to!
Playing tonight @ 8:45 pm at the Scarlet Venue
Future performances and showtimes here!
Emojis earned: 💞😄
And, to make this emoji thing slightly more interesting now that I’ve mostly lost interest in it, let’s add in one of those wild card ones I said I might deploy and add a 🔥, which will from now on denote shows with prominent sexual themes or erotic appeal.
Breaking Brains: A Lewd Lesson In Polyamory
If you want to warm up for Homecumming with another one-woman show about a journey of sexual self-discovery, Breaking Brains is your best bet, and don’t be fooled by performer Dana Price’s teacherly outfits and stylings. Though this show is plenty informative about the workings of ethical non-monogamy, this introduction to the algebraic emotional complexity of polyamory is a lot more fun than your average math class. Playful, interactive touches make this creatively structured piece into something more engaging than if Price had presented her insights purely presentationally, though I almost wish she had gone even further with the theatricality of this idea.
I was personally familiar with most of the terms she defines for us as a millennial well-versed in queer culture and non-traditional relationship styles, but I can still say I learned a lot from Price’s more experiential insights, which she conveys through some pretty entertaining stories. Plus, my theatregoing partner, who went in with a lot less background knowledge about the show’s subject matter than I did, found the piece even more educational as well as easy to watch. I’m not sure I’d call this one a standout in the grand scheme of Fringe, but definitely worth making the trip over to Savoy for anyone interested in the subject matter!
Playing tonight @ 5:30 pm at Ivanhoe 1915 at Savoy
Future showtimes and tickets here!
Emojis earned: 💞🧠💙🔥
Tod Kimbro: Happy Human Song Machine
For a completely different experience than you’d have on the other side of Savoy at Breaking Brains, you can catch this sublime cabaret from Fringe veteran Tod Kimbro. Offering a set list of mostly pop hits loosely tied together by brief interludes of dialogue and the uniting theme of “happiness,” this show has Kimbro’s smooth voice and polished performance style as its main selling point. By that metric, it basically never disappoints, and the fact that it doesn’t ask audience members to do much more that listen and enjoy makes it a perfect choice if you don’t want to stop fringing but aren’t sure if you have the stamina for another storyline!
Playing tonight @ 5:30 pm at the Starlite Room at Savoy
Tickets and future showtimes here!
Emojis earned: 🤩🎈
Pursuit Of H-Word
If you’re up for taking a slightly deeper look at the idea of happiness that still has plenty of entertainment value, then you’re in luck with Pursuit of H-word! Solo performer Bobby Wesley integrates plenty of data-informed psychological insights on what does and doesn’t tend to make humans happier into this show, which is amusingly presented in the style of a satirical self-help seminar.
Sharp humor about how hard it is for anyone to be happy amidst the overwhelming insanity of modern life clearly landed with audience members at the performance I attended, but the piece becomes even more powerful when the topic shifts to Wesley’s personal struggles with alcoholism. He movingly describes clinging to drinking as a coping mechanism until he hits a personal and professional rock bottom, and then what he has learned from a subsequent two years spent trying to pursue happiness in sobriety.
In other words, there’s plenty of substance to this show behind the cleverness of its mechanisms. I wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that attending this show will guarantee any greater success in your pursuit of happiness post-fringe, but if this sounds like your kind of show, you probably will be happy that you took the time to attend!
Playing tonight @ 5:45 pm in the Scarlet Venue
Future showtimes and ticket info here!
Emojis earned: 😄💞🧠
Bytes
There is much to admire in this heartfelt drama, which will resonate with anyone who’s ever turned to a chatbot for solace or struggled to sustain a connection with the world offscreen. One of the most technically impressive shows I’ve seen at Fringe this year, Bytes centers around a character named Jamie, who is brought to life by the dynamic performance of actor Michael Marinaccio.
But though Marinaccio is the only actor we see on stage, this isn’t exactly a solo show in the traditional sense, in that he gets to play off of other characters who appear through voiceovers and projections, most notably Tymisha Harris as his AI companion Dessa. Her dialogue really nails the specific quirks and inflections you might notice when you’re talking to ChatGPT, and for once, the fact that her speech sounds like it could have been genuinely AI generated is actually a huge compliment and a credit to playwright Aradhana Tiwari’s grounded script.
Over the course of the show, we see Jamie retreat further and further from the real world in favor of Dessa’s artificial companionship, the story building to shockingly dark emotional territory that warrants sensitive viewers to take note of the show’s content warnings. Ultimately, though, Bytes provides a touching conclusion that affirms the value of human-to-human connection over the isolation of digital life. Don’t miss this intelligent meditation on the dangers of losing sight of that connection, which is also worth seeing for how masterfully it utilizes technology in its storytelling.
Playing tonight @ 9:20 pm in the Pink Venue
Tickets and future showtimes here!
Emojis earned: 🎭🧠💙🏆
://SHELF_LIFE
If you didn’t get your fill of thought-provoking contemplation of the role of AI in modern life at Bytes, you can stroll over to the Brown venue afterwards to continue your meditation with ://SHELF_LIFE. Though it’s a technically lower key show that I found somewhat harder to follow, it’s worth seeing for how adeptly it explores an entirely different question about the role of ever-encroaching AI technology in our everyday lives. What are the ethical considerations of using AI to “resurrect” a lost loved one through the creation of a digital facsimile, and what are the psychological dangers of emotionally connecting to that kind of technological ghost?
If I find the time, I’d love to give this one a second watch to give myself a better shot at absorbing the intricacies of writer-performer Zachary Scalzo’s storytelling, which I admit I may have just been too fringe-fried to keep up with when I caught ://SHELF_LIFE during one of my last few days of non-stop preview-going. Still, this one stuck with me for the things that I left contemplating, and for a surprising finale that affirms the value of human connection in a very different way than Bytes does, which makes it worth taking a chance on if you’re looking for something ambitious, unique and thought-provoking!
Playing tonight @ 10:35 pm in the Brown Venue
Tickets and showtimes here!
Emojis earned: 💞🧠🎭
So, there you have it, and these additions bring my total review count to 29! Overall, I’m glad to be done with my show for a few days and a little overwhelmed by the fact that taking on the enormity of Fringe has put way more eyes on my theatre-writing than usual – a feeling which I’m sure I can obscure later with all the lawn-drinking that I was probably going to do anyway. So, cheers, and happy fringeing!