Fringe Festival 2016: "Itch"

Day: 11

Show: 49

Title: Itch

Category: Something Different

By: Three Knives

Written by: Tyler Olsen

Location: U of M Rarig Center Thrust

Summary: An outbreak of a mysterious illness in a an experimental science facility turns deadly and super creepy,

Highlights: When the floor of the Rarig Cente thrust stage is covered with a blood-stained tarp, you know you're in for something weird and creepy. And when Raw Red Meat does the effects, you know there will be blood, and lots of it. The tension and creep factor slowly build as a scientist coldly reports on the events of the outbreak. The residents are having a party to celebrate a divorce, when one of the researchers realizes there was a tear in his suit. Whether real or only imagined, this virus soon infects everyone on stage (and in the audience). Compulsively scratching, writhing on the floor in agony, spouting blood from various places on the body, even chewing their own flesh, the researchers' illness seems almost too real, especially when they start lumbering into the audience and the lights go out. We eventually find out what (or who) caused the outbreak, but the bottom line is that Itch most definitely gets under your skin. The nine-person cast is incredibly convincing, and I can't help wondering what their post-show laundry routine is like, and if they have a place to shower before going on with their day. Gross in the best possible way.

Fringe Festival 2015: "FRANKENSTEIN"

Day: 1

Show: 1

Title: FRANKENSTEIN

Category: Something Different

By: Raw Red Meat Productions

Directed by: Tyler Olsen

Location: Intermedia Arts

Summary: A super creepy cool retelling of the Frankenstein story, in which a young boy becomes obsessed with the book to an unhealthy degree.

Highlights: Victor's story is told in a nonlinear fashion, and just like the original Dr. Frankenstein (and Victor himself), we need to put the pieces together to come up with one disturbing whole. Victor is often the narrator of his own story, and we see flashes back to his childhood mixed with scenes from the present at a dark and scary cabin. Scenes often move from one to the other in the middle of a conversation, with characters disappearing and appearing as if by magic. Tyler Olsen wrote, directed, and designed the show (a remount from last year's Twin Cities' Horror Festival), and has created a terrifying and starkly beautiful world. The whole show is done in the dark with hand-held lights and one floor light, flashed on and off at appropriate times to create some really beautiful images with contrasting light and dark. The sound design adds to the creep factor, from the moment you walk into the theater to the sound of buzzing flies. The excellent cast is fully committed to the creation of this world, centered around a raw and emotional performance by Miles Duffey as Victor, with the nimble Joanna Harmon as his girlfriend, Jay Kistler as a childhood friend, and Garrett Vollmer and Noah Bremer as some pretty scary monsters. The whole thing is really well done and yes, there is blood, and some pretty messy clean-up. Moral of the story: don't let your children read Frankenstein.