REVIEW: In Waves @ Ottawa Fringe 2012

Jonah Allingham’s In Waves tell us of a sailor sailing for the Northwest Passage and despairing through his isolation.

In Waves is the story of a sailor in winter, 1601, sailing through the arctic looking for the North-West Passage. He is haunted by the same nightmare of his wife being with another man, and his loneliness drives him to the point where he starts to see a beautiful woman looking at him from the sea. The show is written and performed by Jonah Allingham. If you look at the program write up, it promises that the show is: “An Ocean tale told through poetic language and folk music.” This is definitely true, but whether this is a turn on or not is up to you. The performance is very eloquent, but it almost seems out of place, especially since the main character is a sailor, and sailors and poetry aren’t often thought to go together. So that’s either a hit or a miss, depending on how you feel about it. Also, when I mentioned that the main character has dreams that his wife is cheating on him? Well, those are described in detail. It’s not raunchy but it is a little risqué. There were some awkward laughs during the show because of it.

Through great use of lighting and sound cues, the tiny BYOV really does feel cold and isolated, and Allingham’s performance is very effective and personable. “In Waves” is an easy three.

What did you think? Did you agree with our rating? What did you love, or not, about this play? And what rating would you have given it. Tell us in the comments below.

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Kurt Shantz

About Kurt Shantz

Kurt Shantz is a Theatre and Scriptwriting graduate and an occasional Should You See It reviewer. He currently works as a warehouse clerk, but has big aspirations of someday achieving his dream of becoming a senior warehouse clerk. He's also been known to write on occasion.

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