Fringe 2005 - Reunion of the Top Ten Class of 2004 - Many Happy Returns part deux

Claire Simonson - Boob Toob

What can I say? Claire Simonson's 2004 Fringe outing, The Origin of Consciousness in The Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind was, unfortunately and undeservedly, one of the best kept secrets and at the same time among the very best productions in last year's festival.

It was an amazing mix of human performer, camera tricks, and crude but evocative cartoon work (in many ways a sister show to the just as deservedly popular Fringe hit Knock! - both of which made my pre-Fringe Top Ten list). And let's not forget the evil rubber duck and St. Claire dueling it out for the performer's eternal soul. But I digress. You can read my review and catch at least a hint of what you missed.

The thing I liked best about the performance and the script was how they kept sneaking up on you in the friendly and innocuous guise of comedy, and then hit you between the eyes with a lot of food for later thought, even as the production kept whizzing along at its own quirky pace.

Perhaps the title scared people off. Well, no worries this year. Claire returns with -

Boob Toob
Solo performance using live and pretaped video/satire/object manipulation to explore evils and benefits of TV.

It's short, it's catchy, it's misspelled (but that could be a typo), it promises both sex (boob) and television/multi-media (things that seem to be popular with Fringe-goers.)

Don't miss out this time. Let Claire show you that there are almost no limits to what one person on stage can do.

[To see the full list of some of my favorite returnees from Fringe 2003, click here.

...including
- Rik Reppe (2003's Staggering Toward America)
- Kevin Kling (2003's Baseball, Dogs and Motorcycles)
- Ballet of the Dolls (2003's Beauty and The Beast)
- Rhino Productions (2003's The Hobbit)]

(For more of my writing - plays, past blog entries and more - visit www.matthewaeverett.com)