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Thursday, October 6, 2005

Another One Not to Miss

If you see any theater this month or even this year, see this: Please Don’t Blow Up Mr. Boban.

It’s everything live theater should be. Engaging, intimate, touching, hopeful, insightful, entertaining, and above all, human. With less than 100 seats in the Loring Playhouse and less than one foot separating the stage from the crowd, the usual separation between audience and cast is gone. When a cast member looks at you and asks a question, your response is automatic. You are no longer a spectator, you’re a participant.

At this close range, the story comes alive with richness. As Matt Peiken of the Pioneer Press wrote:

Shows of this complexity, bravery and ingenuity are usually imported by the Walker Art Center. With “Mr. Boban,” a richly layered piece of comic/tragic performance art, this local collective has single-handedly elevated what it’s possible to give to Fringe Festival audiences. Noah Bremer is the centerpiece of this tale centered around a fun-loving restaurateur and others in a small town in the midst of war. The show is at turns slapstick funny, abstract, physical, emotional and metaphorical — always riveting, always surprising — in what patiently unfolds into a character-rich tale about a community surviving and struggling to live normal lives at time of war. I’ve never seen a more brilliantly constructed ending to a Fringe show.

After all that, here are the details:

Showtimes
October 6-22
Thursdays & Fridays at 8:30 p.m.
Saturdays & Sundays at 6:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.*
*No performances on Saturday, October 15

Venue
Loring Playhouse
1633 Hennepin Avenue S., Minneapolis

Tickets
$20 Adults, $15 Seniors/Students/MN Fringe Festival button-holders
“Pay what you can” on Sunday, 10/6, at 6:00
Reservations highly recommended: 612-486-5757

Posted by Aaron on October 6, 2005 11:16 PM