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Monday, August 7, 2017

Fringe Festival 2017: "The Buttslasher"

Day: 4

Show: 14


Category: Comedy

By: New Endeavors

Written by: Andy Rakerd

Location: Ritz Theater Studio

Summary: A noir crime thriller set in modern day Stillwater in which the main mystery to solve is that of serial butt-slasher.

Highlights: With a feeling of Garrison Keillor's Guy Noir, The Buttslasher combines that noir film feeling with comedy and local flavor. It seems to be set in the current time but some of the characters are straight out of the '40s, particularly our reluctant hero Detective Heck Bills, perfectly portrayed by Glen L. Dawson as he delivers monologues filled with world-weariness and regrets, particularly those involving his former partner Heart (Varghese Alexander) and former love Jo (Dorothy Owen) proprietor of the local establishment. Heck is faced with his toughest case yet in the tough town of Stillwater when a masked man begins slashing people in the rear (leading to lots of funny and groan-worthy butt/ass/cheek puns). Chief Karen Bently (Joy Rakerd), who takes no crap from anyone, least of all Heck, assigns Heck a new partner - the young brash Eric Balls (David Wasserman). Heck's daughter (Stanzi Schalter) also gets involved with the investigation, and with Balls. With great performances by the entire cast and clever writing by Andy Rakerd, The Buttslasher is perfectly fringey and cheeky fun (sorry, I couldn't resist!).

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.