fringe reviews: busty rhymes with mc hot pink and hamlet (solo).

My August 19 Fringe adventure began by joining a friend for a brisk walk from the University of Alberta to the Strathcona Community Hall where me and two friends settled in to watch a boisterous performance of BUSTY RHYMES WITH MC HOT PINK (aka Penny Ashton). A crude, sexually confronting, and hilarious show, MC Hot Pink reveled the audience with her unique poems and songs about all those lovely politically un-correct topics that make some people squirm.

Though I still can't understand why the Edmonton Journal rated Busty Rhymes as 2 stars out of 5, I was pleased to see that the Edmonton Sun, SEE Magazine and Vue Weekly had some sense to each award the show four stars. Though I would strongly recommend against bringing your Mormon in-laws to see this show, it was quite entertaining to take in as a group. Vue Weekly interviewed MC Pink earlier this week:



After crawling our way out of the unnaturally hot (and un-airconditioned) Community Hall, we headed over to the Next Act Pub for a burger and beer, which was followed up by another couple of beers at the always fun Fringe Beer Gardens. Packed to the brim on this hot evening, these beer gardens are great for meeting up with friends. Recent encounters have included a great conversation with Ward 4 City Councillor Ben Henderson, who had just finished his cameo appearance as the Mayor in David Belke's THE ADVENTUROUS TIMES OF KEVIN GRIMES. I haven't seen him yet, but I have heard rumours of Nathan Fillion sightings on the Fringe grounds this year (if someone can snap a picture of Fillion Fringing, I will post it).

Soon enough, 11pm hit and we were sitting in the Academy at King Edward to watch the spectacle that was HAMLET (SOLO). This intense performance by Raoul Bhaneja was incredibly intense to take in. Shifting from character to character, and having memorized the entire Shakespeare piece, Bhaneja gives quite the impressive performance as he shifts characters from Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, the Ghost, Polonius, Laertes, Horatio, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, and Fortinbras. It was a great show, though I would recommend seeing an earlier show, rather than bringing in the early morning hours in a hot school gymnasium.

Check out reviews from The Gateway, Vue Weekly, SEE Magazine, the Edmonton Journal,

Like MC Hot Pink, Vue Weekly also interviewed Bhaneja earlier this week: