Saturday, August 03, 2024

Fringe 2024 - Review - A Horse Walks Out Onto the Stage and Dies - The Fringiest Thing I'll See This Year? - 5 Stars


Threads review, mnfringe mind f**k part 1, show 7, A Horse Walks Out Onto the Stage and Dies: honestly don't have fully coherent thoughts about this yet; hilarious, touching, weird, because it is very much the title, and very much not, just the Fringiest f**king thing I've seen in quite some time - 5 stars

Writing about the Fringe show A Horse Walks Out Onto the Stage and Dies is challenging because I don’t want to spoil it.  Part of the fun of seeing the show is having no idea what’s going to happen next.  Yes, a horse walks out onto the stage, and yes, it dies. But also, it’s a guy in a horse suit who acknowledges his dual human and horse faces, and the fact that he’s walking around on two legs and not four, and that he’s talking, all of which are not normal horse things to have going on. And death on stage… it can be, and is, handled in a number of ways. And it’s not a snuff film - the actor does rise again and take a bow.

“I’m a horse.  I am God’s immaculate machine.”

So much of this rests on the broad equine shoulders of the creator/writer/Horse of this story, Sam Sweere, that I feel like I have to start there. Because a lot of this performance is about a Horse wanting to create a life that matters, that means something, that has worth. And the creation of this show was about a lot of the same impulses. So, as ridiculous as this sounds, even as you are laughing at this very funny Horse and his over the top efforts at self-aggrandizement, the depth of feeling is real. This Horse doesn’t want to die feeling his life has been wasted.  This Horse doesn’t want to die on someone else’s terms.  And this Horse is also an indictment (albeit a hilarious one) of an audience gathered to watch him suffer.

“I like the way the air fills my lungs.”

Sweere addresses the audience so much that there are only shreds of a fourth wall, and some audience members don’t know how to navigate without clear boundaries.  But it’s not (really) an interactive show, and it’s not an improv show that the audience can push in one direction or another. Sweere, in real time and in character, had to push back more than once on over-eager audience members, insisting in the plaintive voice of the Horse, “This isn’t that kind of show” and at one point simply imploring, “Stop.”  Protecting this integrity of this wonderfully odd little show while still staying fully inside it but also always pushing the boundaries of performer/audience engagement is quite a tightrope to balance on, but Sweere never topples.

“If I cry, are you guys gonna get mad at me?”

I could talk about the opening dance number, or the multimedia show, or the puppets, or the shadow puppets, or the merch, or the rat riding a remote controlled car, or the intrusions of farmers and stage hands, but going into too much of any of that would spoil the surprises, and there are many of them, and they are more fun if you have no idea how and why they happen. Suffice it to say that Sweere and his band of horse enablers (Annika and Kate Bakke, Beau Bauer, Marsh Kelly, and director Hannah Steblay), know the conventions of theater, and how to gleefully exploit and subvert them. Every minute of this show is filled with the joy (and resulting laughs) of what live theater can do.

“It’s sort of like Mamma Mia meets To Kill A Mockingbird.”

As someone who has been affected by friends who committed suicide, I have to say I’m not a fan of popular culture romanticizing the act, particularly when it is followed by the cheat of seeing the person in the afterlife, no longer deformed or in pain, reunited with their loved ones who have gone before (see the movie Iron Claw for the most recent egregious example, or don’t). It was challenging sitting through the end of A Horse Walks Out Onto the Stage and Dies, because although that doesn’t happen, it also kind of does.  Weirdly it still worked for me, maybe because it’s a guy in a horse outfit and it’s live theater.  And choosing to die on your own terms isn’t always suicide, but… that’s a very gray area (a horse of a different color, if you’ll pardon the pun because I really needed to lighten up this paragraph). All of the above is, weirdly, not a spoiler because, again, it’s in the title.  And I still haven’t told you how the horse dies.  But the horse dies.  So be prepared.  Is it a funny death scene?  Yeah.  Probably one of the funniest I’ve ever seen.  So you also have that to look forward to.

“Do any of you have friends in the animal rights industry?”

I know it’s only the second day of the festival, but A Horse Walks Out Onto the Stage and Dies is quite possibly the Fringiest thing I’m going to see this year.  You should see it, too.  Things like this don’t really happen anywhere else but the Fringe.

5 Stars - Very Highly Recommended.

 

 

Here's some handy links to coverage of shows I've seen in the Fringe this year getting 5 and 4.5 Stars (Very Highly Recommended), 4 and 3.5 Stars (Highly Recommended) as well as the shows ranking 3 stars or less; also links to this year's Top 10 list and Top 11-20 list, also a full list of all returning favorites to this year's Fringe, plus a link to ALL the 2024 Minnesota Fringe Festival coverage.

While I have your attention, please VOTE :) 

Minnesota is currently in the early voting period for our Congressional and local primaries (I had the U.S. Senate, Congress, and the Minneapolis school board on my ballot) - final day to vote in the primary is Tuesday, August 13th, but you don't have to wait until Fringe is over, go vote right now :)

Early voting for the Presidential Election itself in Minnesota starts on Friday, September 20th. We're lucky to have a lot of time to get our voices heard, so cast your vote, and then make sure everyone you know and love is registered and gets to the polls to vote. Election Day, your final date to vote, is Tuesday, November 5th.

As a queer playwright and theater maker, I want a government that's compassionate and competent enough to keep us all safe and healthy, keep theaters open and running, and personally, I'd just like to be legal myself and keep the weirdos out of government and out of my personal business (and the things I post on this blog, for instance). We all have our reasons, so let's make sure we get the leaders we need and deserve, and get our friends, family and co-workers to raise their voices, too.

Find where to vote and what's on your ballot (with links to candidate websites) and other resources at the Minnesota Secretary of State's website.

For other resources on how to register, volunteer or donate, locally or nationally, check out Vote Save America.

Vote.  Raise your voice. We're not going back.

 


No comments:

Post a Comment