#VanFringe: The Last Show You’ll Ever See & In the Boudoir

Two Vancouver Fringe shows with clownesque flavours, The Last You’ll Ever See and In the Boudoir, both feature one woman on mission.

Sarah Liane Foster of The Last Show You’ll Ever See dives into the philosophical discussion of beginnings, and more importantly, endings. And, buttons. Not the buttons on your clothes but the buttons you can push to stop or begin something. What buttons do you push in your day?… … An elevator button? A phone button? What does it begin? What does it end?

Foster presents her deep clown musings through a skilled trombone concert interrupted with delightful stories, observations, improvisations and a trip into the apocalypse. She inspires us to ponder the end of the world and what will we be doing at that particular moment? Listening to a trombone concert? Picking your nose?

It’s funny how we are able, as an audience, to laugh at the reflections of our habits, judgments, ideas and absurdities as humans displayed by a clown. The clown is such a helpful tool to bring us to ourselves. And, Foster does this well. I loved watching her reactive face as her thoughts unfolded before us, even startling herself.

As you may know, because of my bouffon teaching, I am drawn to physical theatre as it’s fascinating to watch the subtext of a thought be expressed in a physical way.

Which brings me to In The Boudoir!

In the Boudoir by Summer Shapiro, also physical theatre a la “clown”, is an adventure into a sexy date with one guy – look out, it might be you! Again, the clown provides a form to laugh at, mock, and exaggerate a situation that, for the most part, goes rather awry. In fact it gets downright messy, in a “hand over the mouth” guffawing fun way. As with Foster, I loved watching Shapiro’s subtext revealed in her facial and bodily expressions. Unlike Foster’s show, there is no text per se (just under the breath mumblings or the occasional outburst).

And, if you are expecting to see red noses in either of these shows tuck that idea away. There are no red noses! Other costume elements, however, enhance. Shapiro’s over abundant white tutu style dress supports her wild bouffonesque antics, with a side of spaghetti. Foster’s dramatic hat and veil underline playfully her different states, with a side of squeaky chicken.

So… grab your funny bone, your philosophical bone, and your dog bone (kidding), and see these shows!

In the Boudoir plays at Performance Works: Here’s its schedule… (3 shows left)

The Last Show You’ll Ever See is at the False Creek Gym:  Here’s its schedule… (4 shows left)

Written for the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance