Love, Burlesque, and Turtles in the Night: Further Exploring the Fringe Feast 2010
To further prove that anything can happen on the stage, Ottawa Tonite trekked to the edge of the Market for another night of fantastic Fringe fare: The Last Straight Man in Theatre, Dale Beaner and the Turtle Boy, and Burlesque Unzipped are all wrapping up their runs at the Ottawa Fringe Festival (some will continue on to tour more festivals across Canada) and OT got the chance to chat them up about how they do what they do.
All the way from New York State, Kurt Fitzpatrick embodies a slew of different love-seeking characters in The Last Man in Theatre at SAW Gallery. With the help of Ottawa-area director Alison Cousins, Fitzpatrick successfully created a melange of storylines that involve multiple characters portrayed by the actor on a projected screen and on stage. The result is a unique and often hilarious tangle of people trying to find love in the night, as Fitzpatrick explained to us.
From just a few hours down the 401, Toronto’s Connor Thompson and Devon Hyland bring their side-splitting, two-handed, dynamic comedy Dale Beaner and the Turtle Boy which opened at the Atlantic Fringe Festival last summer to glowing reviews. A series of vignettes ties together the story of aging former child star Dale Beaner, star of the Cupcake Captain movie franchise, and Georgie “Turtle Boy” Bowman, who is also trying to rebel from the father who arranged to have a turtle shell attached to his spine at birth. Yes, the show — and the two actors — are just as hilarious as the story they co-wrote sounds.
Also from Toronto, Sharon Nowlan brings us Burlesque Unzipped, a historical look at the evolution of burlesque performance from Shakespeare’s era to the present. Not hesitating to show a little skin herself, Nowlan attempts to break down the stigma attached to the style of theatre — which, as she explains, is much more “theatre” than today’s audiences are led to believe.
Lucky for you, both Dale Beaner and the Turtle Boy and Burlesque Unzipped won “Best in Fest” for each of their respective venues (awarded to the top-selling show per venue, based on ticket sales over their first four performances).
If you didn’t get a chance to check them out yet, both shows get to perform at the Ottawa Fringe Festival one more time on Sunday, June 27 at 9:30 — you can find Burlesque Unzipped at Academic Hall and Turtle Boy at the SAW Gallery.
You can check out more information about the other “Best in Fest” winners — and see which other shows still have performances on Sunday the 27th — at www.ottawafringe.com.
Emma Godmere is a local journalist and entertainment fanatic who believes the Ottawa arts scene is very much alive and well. She is the host of Now Playing on CHUO 89.1 FM every Wednesday at 1pm.
Videos by Kevin Burton
Tags: Burlesque Unzipped, Dale Beaner and the Turtle BOy, SAW Gallery, The Last Straight Man in Theatre, The Ottawa Fringe Festival
