87% True: The Lies That Bind

EYE Review!

The great thing about having a reviewer at your show on opening night is that hopefully many of your friends are there, laughing in the right places and giving you the benefit of the doubt.

The bad thing about having a reviewer at your show on opening night is that perhaps you haven't hit your stride yet and the show, as we noted in our last post, still has room to improve.

The AMAZING thing about having a reviewer at your show on opening night instead of your second show is that at least the slide projector worked on opening night, UNLIKE TODAY, when it inexplicably died at the very beginning of the show and Chris and Rose nearly crapped with fear. So we are thankful that EYE Magazine's Buffy Childerhose was, in fact, there on opening night. Here is her short review:

87% True: The Lies That Bind (3 stars)

A charming but uneven excavation of familial relations, 87% True is the comic tale of two “twins” who discover that they’re not bound by blood but by family narrative and, through dueling recollections and absurd assertions, must divine which of the two is the last of their bloodline, and if that line divides them. BC

Hey - we have no bone to pick with this review. The show IS charming and also, at the moment, a little uneven. AND 3 is Rose's lucky number!!  Good times.

Reading some of the other EYE reviews ("It's a shitfest! 2 stars!"), we feel we got a pretty kind and gentle reviewer. Thank you, Buffy Childerhose! Thank you.

Slurpee count = 28

Rumball count = 6

87% True - 100% OPEN!!

Hey! The show opened! Last night! No one puked! Huzzah!

Our opening night performance was your typical mix of "Heeeeeeey! We're COOKIN' here! Yeeeaaaaaaaaaah!" moments, which were then followed by moments of "Heeeeeeey! It smells baaaaaaaaaad!" But overall neither of us forgot big chunks of the show and our stage manager Alex didn't play Black Sabbath instead of our accordion music and kind, kind friends came and even our venue technician laughed a couple of times, so really, it was a pretty sweet way to kick off our four city Fringe-stravaganza!

So thank you to all of you wonderful, guffaw-inclined folks who showed up at 8:45 p.m. on a Wednesday night. We felt the love. And it felt good. But not in a dirty way.

Speaking of dirty, Kate snapped a picture of Chris during what is widely considered to be the funniest line of the show. If you've seen the show, remember it fondly. And if you haven't, consider it a teaser. Good times.

Slurpee count = 26 (but Chris poured most of his down the sink. "Banana Split" is some nasty shit, people.)

In the Nick of Time

Our show is not particularly tech heavy. The fanciest thing in it is the slide projector, which we thought would be a big hassle.

Of course, we got the projector in plenty of time. But you know what's great with a slide projector? SLIDES. And? When the slides you ordered 10 days before don't make it to you in time for your technical rehearsal? Because you ordered them from the States 'cause they were cheaper and they promised a 48 hour turn around time? But they LIED?

Crazy contingency plans are spawned. Bricks are shat. Angry after-hours calls are made to the U.S. Postal Service. It was looking dire. But then - just as we were poised to spend more money we don't have getting an entirely new set of emergency slides done for the show tomorrow night - the slides arrived. And they are beautiful.

Whew.

That's it. Next time we do a show, it's gonna be a barstool and a bottle of water. And maybe we'll wear pants.

Slurpee count = 24

Our Fifth Cast Member . . . Grows In

After Rose forbade Chris to purchase a mullet wig for his character ("Oh my god, you can't. YOU'RE THE PRETTY ONE."), Chris had to find another way to express Orson's flamboyant nature through coiffure. After some dedicated facial hair care, Chris has succeeded in growing the rudiments of a handlebar mustache. Like the Slurpee count, the ongoing growth of Chris's mustache will be a feature on the blog. And, with no further ado, we present to you Chris's 'stache - Week One.

Slurpee count = 22

Happy Canada Day!

Chris and I celebrated Canada Day in the following ways:

* Drinking maple syrup right out of the bottle (Rose)

* Wearing nothing but a maple leaf out on Church Street (Chris, who wonders why people still think he's a gay)

* Interpretive dance to the music of Loreena McKennitt (Scottie the Bear)

* Trying to buy rope at the gay hardware store ("It's not for the spanky spanky!" - Rose)

* Dressing Scottie up as Sir John A. MacDonald ("The resemblance is striking!" - Chris)

* Pretending our Starbucks coffee was Tim Hortons (Love Timmies but was too far.)

Slurpee count = 20