Saturday, September 16, 2006

Fringe Review: Legoland

Arts Club Theatre
September 16, 2006 2:00pm

This is what I love about the Fringe--walking into a play with no expectations and finding something extraordinary. 16 year old Penny Lamb and her 13 year old brother Ezra are two precocious kids from Elysium Farm, a hippy commune outside of Uranium City, Saskatchewan. Sheltered from the outside world their entire lives, they must rely on their wits and each other when Penny's crush on a teen idol singer takes then on a adventure across America--winding up in more trouble than they could possibly imagine.

It's a multimedia, multidiscipline extravaganza with every element thrown in including music, singing, dance, puppetry, and slides. The script is clever, and packed with wit and pointed commentary as the siblings experience the rediculousness of modern North American society.

The acting is terrific and the actors revel in their parts with energetic glee. Penny's cherubic face is fixed with a beatific smile and manic glint in her eyes, like some demented angel. Ezra seems quiet and nerdy until one of his penetrating outbursts hits you in the funnybone.

This is easily the best show of this year's Fringe, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Legoland is one of Georgia Straight's Pick of the Fringe. Encore performances are on from September 21 to 24. Congratulations to the wonderful performers of Atomic Vaudeville!

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