Fringe 2009 - FFA 1 - Fearsome Critter

"The most melancholy of the fearsome critters, the swonk, refuses contact of any kind."

Mother/Destroyer

Fearsome Critter

After banjo music leads to a severed finger, a desperate Jack seeks help in splitting from town and his wife guilt free. Will a past friend's obsession with a dead woman thwart Jack's shot at deliverance?

Speaking of fearsome critters, the actor with an enormous walking stick and a wild untamed afro I could have sworn was a wig - but later indeed seemed to be the actor's true hair - just crowded Robin Gillette right off the stage as she read their introduction.

These guys were intense. And funny.

Mr. Afro-tastic held forth about many legendary forest creatures, while across the stage another fellow with a bandaged hand regaled us with the tale of how he lost a finger on the job. Meanwhile, in the background, the playwright/producer sat playing the banjo, in a world of his own.

(And unlike their first red light run in with last year's Fringe-For-All format, this year, out on the yellow. Well done.)

Any show that puts the words "banjo" and "deliverance" in the show description can't be all bad, right?

I was bummed to miss Mother/Destroyer's Skunkape Sexkult last year. (No, really. Don't just take my word for it. Audience reviews on the whole showed a great liking for the thing. 4-1/2 kitty average with over 20 reviews.)

This oddity looks like my chance to make up for that. I'm looking forward to it. One can never have too many fearsome critters, after all. Especially at Fringe time.

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