How to Cheat
Review from The Minneapolis Star TribuneLink to original article
Fringe Festival reviews for Aug. 7
H.P. LOVECRAFT'S "THE RATS IN THE WALLS"
Horror is difficult to pull off on stage, but Tim Uren's one-man reading of H.P. Lovecraft's Gothic tale set in 1923 captures an eerie malevolence. A man returns to the abandoned English castle where, centuries before, his ancestor had slaughtered the entire household. He faces occurrences grotesque and repellent, emanating from the sound of rats in the wall -- whether real or in his mind. Uren makes easy work of the complex, overheated prose, creating a vivid and compelling sense of dread. (7 & 8:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Mill City Museum, 710 S. 2nd St.)
WILLIAM RANDALL BEARD
DIRTY
In Chris Schlichting's postmodern pastiche, spoken text, street clothes lettered with "great top" and "cute skirt," live and taped music and a white curtain are juxtaposed with rigorous, inventive movement that's languid one moment, then goes into overdrive. The fantastic cast of seven dancers (all downtown dance-scene notables) takes everything in stride. But embedded in the nonchalant attitude are disturbing moments, such as Hannah Kramer berating herself, and the gang beating up a scruffy homeless-looking Schlichting. (10 p.m. Friday, 4 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Av. S.)
CAMILLE LEFEVRE
ET TU? YA BIG BRUTE
Empere Theatre presents supposedly comic takes on Shakespeare scenes. Their bad taste is evidenced by the "humorously" fractured titles such as "A Midsummer's Wet Dream," and "All's Well When Ends Swell." Worse, the young cast has little idea how to actually speak the poetry, and they are so unprofessional that they frequently break character. When they try to be cute, behaving like squabbling children, they are merely irritating. They jokingly act bored at the long speeches -- which have nothing on the audience's experiences. (5:30 p.m. Wednesday and Sunday. Interact Center, 212 3rd Av. N.)
WILLIAM RANDALL BEARD
HOW TO CHEAT
As infidelity plays go, this one is at least heartfelt, well-written and ably acted. Playwright Alan Berks lucked out with the casting, as Emily Gunyou and Randy Reyes bring the brittle two-hander to life. The dialogue is of the liberal, clipped, slightly upper-crusty variety, as married Meredith meets Luis in a storage room while a party goes on elsewhere in a big house. They circle each other, then hook up, then deal with the fallout of their actions. The serious themes about happiness, regret, faithfulness, sex and cheating are leavened with enough laugh lines to keep it all from becoming a bit too much. (5:30 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. Saturday. Rarig Center, 330 S. 21st St.)
CLAUDE PECK
STRUGGLE: THE TRUE STORY OF EX-INMATES
These guys are not actors. Their show is not a real play. Judging from the performance itself, there probably isn't even a script. Instead, your ticket gets you two motivational speakers who recount their lives before, during and after prison. But as well-intentioned as this show may be, the stories are all too vague and familiar. The speakers sometimes mix up the order of events in their lives, having to stop and backtrack in order to continue forward. These major flaws make it extremely difficult to capture an ounce of sympathy or to inspire us. (5:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 7 p.m. Friday. Rarig Center.)
JEFFREY E. MCCANTS
LOVE IN A TIME OF RINDERPEST
Woodbury's forensics coach is dead. It looks like the Minnetonka Thespinauts will win the "Theater Derby," but their hair flips and superior attitude pale before Woodbury's replacement coach, the Oracle of Chaska -- who dispenses such advice as: "Always ... use ... an ACCENT." Theater gags gallop by. Then Bruce Springsteen shows up. Josef Evans' script and direction pull it all together, and it's great. (5:3 0 p.m. today, 10 p.m. Thursday, 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Minneapolis Theatre Garage, 711 W. Franklin Av.)
ERIC RINGHAM
ILLINOIS JANE AND THE PYRAMID OF PERIL
This G-rated adventure/melodrama moves at a fast clip, as the title character and her sissy sidekick discover an ancient Egyptian secret to eternal life only lose it to some malodorous French malefactors. Toss in an officious father, a couple of pirates and a mime, and you get the picture. Inventive use of moving backdrops makes for a fun, low-budget fight atop a moving train, but unless you're a child or a sucker for this zany, one-dimensional slapstick, it won't amuse you for long. (5:30 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Sunday. Mixed Blood, 1501 S. 4th St.)
CLAUDE PECK
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