the Montreal Improv blog

Blink Blink Blink by Kirsten Rasmussen at Wildside Festival

Gang, our favourite Kirsten has a show coming up at the Centaur. If you missed it at the Fringe, this is your chance to see it. I thought it was one of the best things I saw at the Fringe this year. Do go check it out…

- vinny

Here’s the details and press notes:

Blink Blink Blink is a one woman dark comedy written and performed by Kirsten Rasmussen.  Blink Blink Blink is the comedic story of a motivational speaker Sara Tonin, and a scared little bunny, Benjamin Bunny.  All Sara wants is the success and happiness she’s worked so hard for. All Benjamin wants is to be more courageous like his heroic father. They both strive so blindly for their goals, that they lose sight of themselves and collide head-on with each other.

Blink Blink Blink was first produced by the artist as a workshop performance at the Free Standing Room Theatre in Montreal in January 2011. Then the show was presented Shumiatcher Sandbox Series season at the Globe Theatre in Regina, Saskatchewan in May.  Then the artist produced the show at the Montreal Fringe Festival in June.

At the Montreal Fringe Festival Blink Blink Blink was nominated for Best Comedy by Just For Laughs and Best English Production by the Centaur Theatre. Blink Blink Blink  was awarded the Best English Production.

Quotes About Blink Blink Blink

“I was snorting with laughter.”

“The writing is sharp and funny…”

-       Canada Arts Connect Magazine

“ You will laugh to tears.”

“The show is f@%king fantastic!”

-       Montreal Mirror

“Rasmussen’s timing is unreal.”

-       Charlebois Post

“Kirsten Rasmussen’s star power is mind-blowing.”

- Charlebois Post

Kirsten Rasmussen was a co-founder and director of Montreal Improv. And her award winning solo show Blink Blink Blink is being featured at the Centaur’s Wildside Festival Jan 3 through 14th. Kirsten is an actor/improviser and writer and this show combines all of those things, and a little clowning too.

The show began as an idea that was flushed out through improvisation, both in rehearsal and fully improvised run that happened last January.  After many improvised runs, Kirsten wrote the piece down. But she improvises in each show, finding new lines, new jokes and new moments between the characters and her audience.

This show is a great showcase of how the skills of improv can play into creation; how the art of story telling taught by improv can be used in writing; and how the imagination we use in improv to create characters and environments out of nothing is extremely relevant to independent theatre. 

The show is running:

• Jan 3rd, 7pm
• Jan 5th, 7pm
• Jan 7th, 9pm
• Jan 11th, 9pm
• Jan 13th, 7pm

Call Centaur Theatre Box Office For Tickets (514) 288-3161

Reg Tickets $15 ($12 for students/under 30/seniors)

Last night’s Fringe-For-All

Reminded me of Bryan’s wise advice from a couple years ago (which would have been more helpful to post before the FFA, but whatchagonnado).

-vinny

Advice for future fringers:

• Use dance, music, physicality or video for the Fringe-for-all
• If you’re talking, always use a microphone. Walk around with hand-held mics if you insist on doing a scene. Do not speak without amplification. You can’t yell louder than 300 people chatting about how they can’t hear you above the chatter.
• Try to avoid complicated props, sound or video cues if possible
• Don’t pretend like you’re going to get naked, and then not. That’s lame.

Montreal Fringe Review: Esther Goes Pro

This show’s run is finished, which is a shame because I’d love for you all to see it.

Lise Vigneault, armed with not only Jim Carrey’s rubbery face but also a similar mischievous glint in the eye, brings several character onstage for a few minutes each to entertain. Entertain, they do. Funny, endearing, skirting with the edge of cliche but never going too far into that dark territory, we get song and dance and monologues: the usual one-person show fare.

Highlights were the interstitial video clips, Lise’s hard-working face and some great song arrangements that mingled humour with Lise’s solid vocal talents.

Too bad you can’t see it.

-fv

Montreal Fringe Review: There Will Be Lasers

And there were.

Honestly, I’m not 100% sure what to write about this show. Describing it to you would be like trying to show you what La Pieta looks like by grabbing a pot of Play-Doh and squeezing it through the gaps in my crushing fist. But here goes.

There Will Be Lasers is a full sensory experience. The lights, the 80s-sci-fi-apocalyptic music, the spoken word that sounds like a science thesaurus read backwards, the smoke that fills the air and your nose, those beams of bright red lines tracing lines through the space of the theatre. And wandering through it all is the source of the voice, a shadowy spectre from beyond, never glimpsed but sensed as the faintest hint of a shadow, the outline of an LED-lined hood, a red flare where the laser has hit something, no, someone, that has halted its infinite journey through the cosmos.

I cannot remember seeing a show at the Fringe that will leave such a lasting visual imprint on my memory. There is no real story here, no beginning, middle and end. There is a series of impressions. There is no musical opus beyond the unrelenting waves of synth. There is no set design beyond the regimented arcs and flights of photons. The spoken word script, a charming mix of kooky and evocative, is delivered slowly, as though each word costs her a fortune in some otherworldly currency, by Sarah Claire while she traces steps only she can see in that semi-dark.

If you want to visit another dimension, to be immersed in some mind’s creation of artifice and delight, to exist in an entirely new way, go see the show that delivers on such a bold promise: There Will Be Lasers.

There is one last show on Sunday afternoon.

-fv

Montreal Improv Recommends: Shoshinz presents: A Day in the Life of Ms. Hiccup

My decision to see Shoshinz was based on the above youtube video of what I assume was their Fringe-for-all for 2008.  This year’s show features just one of the Shoshinz duo, as the titular character.  Ms.  Hiccup is a strange, clown-like character that goes through her daily routines from morning to night.  The blurb from the Fringe site describes this show best, “[t]his surreal Tokyo comedian will lure you in and bend your mind with brilliant physical theater, dance, absurd music and song.”   Watching Ms. Hiccup, I felt like her show came from a pure desire to entertain, and I was entertained.

-mr

Montreal Fringe Review: The Duck Wife

Saw The Duck Wife at Tangente last night. It was the first time I was at that venue as I usually hover around the beer tent. It’s a very nice venue and perfect for dance.

So what did I see? It’s a dance show with a live rock band that tells the mythic tale of the man who married a duck. First, shows that have live bands playing before the show starts are awesome. It’s a touch that I love every time I see it. The band played music throughout the show. They had a few technical sound issues but it’s an early show. Hopefully, they’ll have it worked out for the next one. I think I preferred the instrumental accompaniment. The rock aesthetic was an interesting choice but I’m not sure it worked for the show. The band was game but I found it either distracting or inappropriate to the mood I wanted to see.

The dance was super fun, inventive pieces with charm and personality. A couple of them did a great job of moving the story forward as well. It’s tricky combining storytelling with dance because it can get confusing if you’re too abstract and it can get simplistic if you’re too literal. While there were a few rough patches, I think I managed to follow the show (it’s possible I made up my own story but that’s fine too!). The performers were uniformly excellent. The duck wife especially gave a charismatic performance.

Note to people running shows at the Fringe: make sure you have clearly discussed your latecomer policy with the people running the door. There were a ton of people being let in at terrible moments, in the middle of a song, middle of a dance piece, middle of a monologue. It was totally distracting off the top especially when there are huge breaks between acts/sets.

I will recommend this show but with a few qualifications: 1) If they can work out the technical issues. 2) Overall, I liked the show. It’s an ambitious mix that can be very tough to pull off. This group certainly did enough for me to to enjoy it but there were clearly some moments that could use some refinement. 3) Go see it if you like dance numbers because they were best part of the show.

-fv