LITTLE ORANGE MAN
SNAFU Dance Theatre · Victoria, Canada
by Kathleen Greenfield, Ingrid Hansen
Comedy
Prepare yourself for Kitt, a high-octane Danish girl, as she fires up homemade technology to extract and reenact the audience’s dreams. “Haunting and hilarious.”— CultureVulture. “The kind of inventive, heartfelt and unique storytelling you normally only dream about.” — Visitorium. “Very Entertaining.” — CBC. Pick-of-the-Fringe Victoria & Vancouver. Live songs, shadow puppetry.
Tickets are 2 for 1 on opening night.
Deal is only available at the venue, not for advance tickets.
last review was for White Noise…
Reviewed by Maja Stefanovska (www.capitalcriticscircle.com
,,,,The play is gripping, especially the scenes with the Qallupilluit, monsters from Robert Munsch’s book A Promise is a Promise, who come to both girls and spiral them ever-deeper into depression. There’s a dreadful, understated feeling throughout and the actors manage to get the story and atmosphere across without resorting to over-the-top or pathetic performances. A great, touching play!
another opinion of LIttle Orange Man
Reviewed by Rajka Stefanovska (www.capitalcriticscircle.com)
For a little bit over an hour while watching the Little Orange Man, I was trying to understand what the show was about. I’m still trying and, I must admit, failing.
Ingrid Hansen plays 12 year old Kitt whose imagination, helped by Hans Andersen’s fairy tales that her beloved grandfather used to read to her, transports the audience to the wild and hyperactive time of childhood. Kitt uses everything that could fit in a lunch box and a trunk to convey the story. Everything is there: pieces of food, puppets, a lamp, a hat a suit, and a shiny bike helmet. The only thing missing is the story.
The performance is very physical. Hansen is energetic, talented and funny, as far as that part goes. Thanks to this, the show was a success. The audience rewarded the performer with a standing ovation and cheers. Unfortunately, except for effective use of different objects, nothing really worked. It felt like a collection of a few randomly picked stories, or rather, the beginning of a few unfinished stories. Kitt, supposedly 12, sounds more like a 7 year old, and for some reason, has a speech problem. The whole thing is unnecessarily long, tiring and, due to utter lack of direction, confusing.
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Perhaps another one of those shows where a standing ovation was not particularly meaningful?
Little Orange Man is highly recommended. It’s the best fringe play I’ve seen so far this year. Humorous, quirky, touching, high-energy and intense. The audience participation is fun and easy – nothing to fear. The only negative was the seating, and it would have been great to see this show in a more suitable venue. Parts of the performance took place very low on the stage. But the stage itself was low and most of the seats were not elevated. Even sitting in the highest row at the back, it was at times very difficult to see. Nevertheless, this show is definitely worth checking out. Unless you’re tall, arrive early for a seat near the front.
This is a classic Fringe show. It’s solo, dramatic, amusing, clever, inventive, has audience participation, and hits the heart.
Ingrid uses unconventional props, such as bread, an apple, celery, scissors, an umbrella, a large trunk, dolls, children’s shoes, a bicycle helmet (which I was proud to wear), dolls, a hippo hand puppet, and, very importantly, a flashlight. The lighting is well done, and follows the story carefully and attentively. Danish and English are used interchangeably in some parts, which shows us Kit’s attachment to her beloved grandfather. The set is small, yet there’s all the space needed to be a frenetic, active girl. Ingrid becomes Kit very well, with four small, tight braids, rather dirty clothing, oversized glasses, and a precocious combination of adult vocabulary and the awareness that her parents don’t know what to make of her, with a child’s faith in magic.
Kit is only 12, but she’s bright. Bright enough to see that her Danish immigrant grandfather is a wonderful man, and much more interesting than her career-driven, hardworking parents. She’s a group of one when she’s in her schoolyard at lunch, until she meets the kinders in the adjoining playground. They appreciate her storytelling, which tends to the graphic and bloody folktales that her grandfather tells her. Not the cutesy Disney versions, but their ancestors, full of mutilations, unjust choices, and memorable nastiness. She finds them better friends than her supposed peers, who just think she’s a freak.
Things go from there, as she gets caught up in situations that she doesn’t have the conventional power to influence, no matter how much she wants to. So, she uses the power in which she does believe, which is dream power. This is where the audience comes in, but I’ll let those who go find out just why they’re there on their own, rather than spoil Ingrid’s unfolding of Kit’s solution.
Go to this show, but if you’re at all susceptible, take tissues.
Apartment613 (apt613.ca) is reviewing all the fringe plays at FullyFringed.ca! You can check out our review of Little Orange Man here:
http://www.fullyfringed.ca/?p=1067