Fringe Review: This May Feel a Little Funny

Playwrights Theatre Centre
September 9, 2006 1:15pm

Randy Rutherford's One Frigid Shiny Knight was a highlight of the 2005 Fringe. With his gift for storytelling and acting, he wove a vivid and engaging tale of his character's formative experience of love and loss in Alaska. It was such a personal performance that I wondered if it was autobiographical.

So it was with much anticipation that I went to his new show. While Rutherford was entertaining and gave a good performance it didn't live up to the brilliance of Knight.

Randy is a 40 year-old recently divorced guitar player. His friend Brian invites him to play at a camp where he hopes Randy might meet someone. Randy is dismayed by his friend's questionable judgement as he feels a fish out of water among the new-agey California hippy participants. His discomfort turns into acceptance through his musical skills. He meets a beguiling woman whom he dubs the Hummingbird woman for her beauty and flighty manner. He is entranced by her, but she's already married and so they go their separate ways.

10 years later they unexpectedly meet again, and this time the sparks fly. His introduction to Samantha's new age alternative California lifestyle is hilarious as he deals with the vegan diet, organic wine, and omnipresent driftwood decor. While jokes about bodily functions are usually crude, Randy's experience with colonic cleansing is cleverly staged, and very funny.

I guess the problems with they story are structural. The opening scene introducing his character as a young teenager during a traumatic incident with his mother leads into but doesn't seem to connect with the rest of the story. The character's story arc seems incomplete and the ending feels abrupt.

Despite the story's shortcomings, it's still worthwhile to see Rutherford's performance. He really makes you feel what his character feels, and evokes the scenery and other characters onto the empty stage.