by Mallory Moad & Lorie Lewis Ham
The Rogue Festival is here! It is taking place March 1-9 in the Tower District of Fresno. Here are 3 more Rogue show reviews, with many more to come over the next few days! You will be able to find all of our reviews, and our performer preview articles, and our article about Rogue 2024 in our Rogue Festival section here at KRL, and you can find more Rogue Festival information on our Rogue event page over on KRL News! There you will find press releases and extra info! You can also go to the Rogue Festival website for more info and to purchase tickets.
Tonight! A Clown Who Just Wants to Be Loved
Review by Mallory Moad
An empty stage, the sound of yawning and gargling, then the pledge of a doctor’s oath – this is going to be fun! Andrea Barello’s Tonight! A Clown Who Just Wants to Be Loved is a simple, and simply delightful one-man show. Andrea is a clown (think Charlie Chaplin rather than Ringling Brothers – no red noses here) with exquisite comedic skills and a ton of understated stage presence.
Through a series of related vignettes, he tells a story of looking for love. His attempts at self-improvement and savoir-faire are playful and a little surreal – in a good way – and the ending is a sweet surprise. The comedy aspect is physical and visual, with very few spoken words. There’s a lot of outside-the-box thinking going on as Andrea makes imaginative use of various everyday objects, with hilarious results. At times he is nearly upstaged by a tape measure that serves as a walkie-talkie, microphone, standup bass, and a medical device. At times, the audience becomes part of the show: encouraged to cheer a Rocky-esque boxing match (complete with stars and stripes trunks and slow-motion punches) and clap to the music during a giddy celebration of “Pizza Day.” And there is nothing fake about Andrea’s performance. He’s clearly having a good time and so are we.
This show is refreshing in terms of Rogue productions in that it is all-ages and abilities appropriate. With its limited dialogue, there are no language barriers, either. Quality family-friendly entertainment is always welcome and so is Andrea Barello.
Remaining shows are at VISTA Theater, 1296 N. Wishon Ave. March 8 at 10:00 and March 9 at 6:30.
Martin Dockery: Truth
Review by Lorie Lewis Ham
While it is fun to discover new performers at Rogue each year, most of us have those that we watch for when the lineup is released hoping they will be back. Martin Dockery is one of those for me. I am serious when I say that Martin could read us all the phone book for 45 minutes and manage to make it funny and interesting. I had no idea what to expect this year as Martin was premiering a brand-new show that he had never done anywhere else, but I was excited to find out.
Here is a bit of what Martin had to say in a Rogue preview guest post for KRL about how his shows are created, which I found fascinating-
“There are never any written scripts for my solo shows. I create them orally over the course of two to three weeks. I go for long walks, or if I’m feeling athletic, runs, during which I mumble to myself. Or I pace my apartment when no one’s home, and I see what bubbles up, what story wants to be told. I don’t write down a single word, not even an outline. My approach is that if I can remember what I’ve mumbled, then it must be important, it must mean something. And so I mumble it further, refining the mumble into words which only get spoken at volume when I’m finally on stage in front of an audience. And then the show gets made and remade again and again with each performance and every festival.”
You can click here to read the entire post here.
It would be hard to tell you exactly what the show is about as it involved so many different parts that circled around to an aha moment at the end, and honestly, I wouldn’t want to spoil the enjoyment for you of watching it unfold. I can tell you that the story included baby carriers, poopy diapers, Covid, politics, lies, and sex. In the Rogue program, it says Truth is a true story about lies—or the other way around.
Martin is a brilliant storyteller, keeping the audience engaged until the very end no matter what the story is about. He is energetic, charismatic, and funny, and this particular show also makes you think.
My hope is that you go out and discover many shows at this year’s Rogue which has one more weekend to go, but be sure not to miss Truth! The performance I saw sold out so be sure to get there early.
The remaining performances are at LAByrinth Art Collective, 1470 N. Van Ness Ave. on Thursday, March 7 at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 9 at 8 p.m.
Sandwichland
Review by Lorie Lewis Ham
If you are looking for something that is completely different from everything else at Rogue, Sandwichland fits the bill. It is a short 30-minute film with a Q and A with the performers and the director afterward.
Here is the description in the program: After seven years, Andrew Champagne (writer/director of Rogue sell-out hit Demidicus Rex, Good Americans Don’t Smoke Pot, and Twatties.) returns to Rogue Festival with Sandwichland, an experimental new film about dating, depression, and mimes. Featuring Dorian Follansbee and Brendon Mustaciola. Written, Directed & Edited by Andrew Champagne.
During the question-and-answer period, someone asked the actors about the inspiration for the film and they said that David Lynch was a big inspiration, and the director seemed to confirm that (at that point he hadn’t gone up on stage yet). Having seen Eraserhead, I can totally see that.
The film is very surreal and seems to be a romance between two lonely people who have struggled to find their place in the world. It goes back and forth between black and white and color, and was filmed at various locations in the Tower District including Alchemist Coffee Lab (one of my favorite spots). I am not sure what the title means, but that’s probably just me lol. I was still processing what I had just seen and didn’t think to ask that during the Q&A and now I wish I had. They do talk about sandwiches some in the beginning.
As the program states, this is definitely an adults-only show.
Remaining performances are at The Lotus Room, 626 E. Olive, on Thursday, March 7 at 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 9 at 2 p.m.
If you love theatre, be sure to check out Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast, which features mysteries read by local actors. You can find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, and also on podbean.
Check out more theatre reviews & other local entertainment articles in our Arts & Entertainment section. You can also find more theatre coming up on KRL’s Local Theatre event page.
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