Thursday, July 30, 2009
Back (Press Release Index)
Sketch-22
Charlottetown Festival
The Mack
July 11, 2009
by Ann Thurlow
There were many years, I'll admit, when I didn't find much to laugh at in Sketch-22. I was, I'll also admit, in a minority. A cheap laugh is still a laugh. And those were, for a couple of years, the troupe's stock in trade.
But this is a different year - and, man, what a different show. The cheap laughs still show up. But the humour now is more grown up, more thoughtful - less Three Stooges and more Monty Python. What accounts for the difference? Maybe it's Sketch's debut on a Confederation Centre stage. The Mack offers the troupe what I can only describe as a more sophisticated venue. The actors have to work on and around the Stan Rogers set. But after a few minutes you stop noticing the ship's rigging and ramps, because what's going on on the stage is so funny.
Another great addition - Kelly Caseley's imaginative and and often zany costumes, Cecily Lalande's props and some inspired lighting and special effects. These small touches, often unnoticed, add a lot to a production and this year they shine.
But probably the best thing about this year's production is that Sketch, once again, is doing what they do best - and what Islanders love most. They are making fun of us. A sketch called Actual Letters to the Editor where the actors simply stand on the stage and read, well, you already know. It's very, very funny. No one is hitting you over the head with a mallet - they are just pointing out the humour in what it means to us.
And the Confederation Centre is not immune to Sketch's bright flashlight. A piece called PEI Rocks Jingles has "Wade Lynch" and "Anne Allen" discussing what they'll do now that they've mined every popular music genre. Their solution? The songs that are near and dear to every Islander's heart - commercial jingles from MacArthur's Appliances, the PEI ferry and (sing it with me) woo, woo, woo Owl's Hollow. Brilliant in conception - hilarious in execution.
In other years, the video segments have been the stars of the show and there are even more of them this year. But, for me, they didn't always work as well. The production values were outstanding - again, the phrase more sophisticated comes to mind. But the humour in them tends to be wonkier. The McHuffringham's is a very, very funny piece about finding a group we can all look down on. Anna di Tempani Verdi is, well, you know who imagined by the director of a bad Italian movie. Again, very funny. But Sunday Time - a piece about a disastrous Sunday drive kind of misses the mark, at least for me.
Truly though, the only really sour note was a piece called Two Shot. It's a funny idea (a couple who wants to document every aspect of their pregnancy for YouTube) gone terribly wrong. Actor Lennie MacPherson kind of saves the day by sharing our horror when it's revealed that the baby is, well, no longer with us.
It's an envelope pushed too far - a little blot in what is really, a very successful piece of craft - and art.
-30-
Sketch22 Media Contact - Jason Rogerson, (902) 368-2392 /
jason@sketch22.ca
