#broadw

This is the first and only non-Winnipeg-based theatre company production I attended at this year’s Fringe. I didn’t plan it that way, but that’s how it turned out – I’m just naturally attracted to local talent, I guess. But after I heard a rep from Sex T-Rex promote Swordplay: A Play of Swords at The Cube as “a retelling of The Princess Bride told through an ’80s video game,” I was sold.  The Princess Bride is very near and dear to my heart. I knew I had to make the trek out to the West End Cultural Centre to see this show.

It’s difficult to be consistently funny – either you’re not funny, or the actors get exhausted, or they start to annoy the audience. But Swordplay, thankfully, does none of these things. They are funny throughout the hour-and-change play, taking every opportunity to make a meticulously-crafted joke. Every line has been chosen deliberately to advance the plot or be funny; every line is important.

This show has been performed and workshopped just enough that it’s in its sweet spot: it’s been through other Fringes and will continue on after this one, but Swordplay is seeing its first Winnipeg audience. It’s still fresh and funny and hasn’t been overperformed.

The DnD Improv crowd will enjoy this one – it’s nerdy and has hints of inside jokes while paying homage to video games and poking fun at fantasy clichés. It’s not so niche that others won’t enjoy it. I consider myself a very middle-of-the-road yes-I-like-nerd-things-but-I’m-not-a-dungeon-master-or-anything kind of nerd and I was able to catch every joke. That’s when you know that the comedy is good: it can still be about a particular thing to a particular audience, but it’s still funny to everybody.

Although Swordplay borrows from nerd culture across the map, it’s still a original tale with just the right amount of camp. I didn’t even want to take notes because I didn’t want my eyes to leave the stage and miss anything. Many of (if not all) the Fringe shows I saw this year left me thinking about vast topics on my drive home, but this one wasn’t. This is just a good ol’ no-thinker funny (without being offensive) swashbuckling adventure. And that’s a good thing.

Swordplay: A Play of Swords and the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival are on now until July 30. For ticket information, show times, and a venue map, visit WinnipegFringe.com.

5/5 stars

Here’s how I’ll be starring all my Fringe reviews:

5 stars = Astounding. I will physically push you in the direction of this show. Must see.

4 stars = Very good! Highly recommended.

3 stars = Well done. People interested in this genre/subject matter will enjoy it, but it may not be for everyone.

2 stars = Only people interested in this genre/subject matter will probably enjoy it.

1 star = Not recommended to anyone.

0 stars = Run in the opposite direction.

Read my other Fringe experiences:

• Review: 4.48 Psychosis • Review: The Trump Card • Review: Joe Job • Recap: SLAM! • Review: Macbeth • Review: KING

Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette in How to Succeed on Broadway. Image courtesy LA Times.

Was that title pun a stretch? Probably. Anyway…

  This past summer, I did a lot of nothing, to be honest. I decided at the beginning of the year that I would quit my retail job at the end of July, but I probably would have quit anyway since my availability was wide open and I got no hours. So I worked a little bit, did some freelancing, and – oh yeah. I wrote a book.

Let me say that again, with proper emphasis: I wrote a book!!! My first book ever. Granted, it’s only a novella, but I’m pretty proud that I was able to commit myself to writing 600 words a day, five days a week, to total my 30,000-odd words by the end of the summer. The best part about it was that I got to write about theatre. I got to create characters that get to audition for big shows and I got to study Sondheim as part of my research. Pinch me. If only I had a publishing deal and a big advance to go with it.

But here’s the thing – as I’ve mentioned before, as much as I love absorbing theatre, I’m not an actor. And I wrote about actors. I wrote about struggling actors and the audition process and I made up theatre monarchies that probably don’t actually exist to further the plot of my story. I’m trying to market this book to actors who probably know a lot more than I do. Yikes. 

Right now, I feel like I’m sitting at the kids’ table, ignoring my mashed potatoes and opting to eavesdrop on the adults’ way-more-interesting wine-fuelled conversation instead. How do I graduate to being able to squeeze my little plastic chair in at the big table? Will I know what to say when I get there? Or will I just make a fool of myself?

One day, a few years ago, my mom gave me a piece of advice when I really didn’t want to go to work (that same retail job, in fact). She told me to “fake it ’til you make it.” She told me to just keep smiling and eventually I’ll feel happy. So I’m taking this same approach with my book: I’m just going to keep faking confidence, and maybe eventually I’ll feel confident.

And hey, if someone tells me I have inaccuracies in my book, I’ll tell ’em it’s fiction: maybe it’s an alternate universe of New York. 

Sarah Jessica Bennett sings an iconic song from Oliver. As long as he needs me.