Vancouver Fringe Festival review: Mr. Boat-Head's Electrical Dream Ship makes you think about narrative conventions

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      In this groovy, unpretentious little show, Brendan Albano and Kate Barbaria invite tiny audiences—the max is eight people—to sit around a warmly glowing lamp underneath a tarp and drink tea or cocoa. They also give audience members 30 seconds to think of four kinds of material to share: a story, a dream, a lie, and a poem. Our lives and subconscious minds are all treasure troves; the night I was there, a woman told a dream about fending off a bull, I learned about the founding of the University of Bologna in the 11th century, and a woman said that she was inspired to volunteer at the Fringe by how much help she received when her son was diagnosed with a rare disorder. There’s a two-minute time limit, which is fun because interrupted stories make you think about narrative conventions. And the recorded material gets posted on www.casualstoriesproject.com/. Intimate and elemental. I totally dug it.

      At Triangle Square on September 9 (8 and 9 p.m.), 10 (8 and 9 p.m.), 13 (8 and 9 p.m.), 14 (8 and 9 p.m.), 15 (8 and 9 p.m.), 16 (8 and 9 p.m.), and 17 (8 and 9 p.m.)

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      1 Comments

      Mary Bennett

      Sep 18, 2011 at 7:44am

      I attended this show after reading this review and was very disappointed. There seemed to be little motivation and no magic. I think my friend and I were the only paying guests - everyone else had volunteer passes. Compared to the value (and even time - but maybe the tea balances the time) of the other 9 productions I attended with my frequent fringer pass, this was definitely the low point.