With less than a month before Fringe 2012, Warrior Food tossed their original show concept and started from scratch to put together a show dealing with things that happen in women’s lives. Should you see it?
Three or four weeks before Fringe, the ladies of Warrior Food threw out their earlier concept and started from scratch. Kudos to them for such a gutsy move. Instead of the show billed in the program, they presented what was essentially a series of scenes or vignettes performed by the four members of the all-woman cast. To further credit Warrior Food, they themed all their sketches on the typical things that a woman will deal with day-to-day: covering topics of body image, two-faced conversation with former friends, giving birth and a bad one-night stand.
The vignettes, were hit and miss. Some were good, some were funny, some were less of either. Some were retreading things we’ve seen before while some provided new food for thought. Going to the gym was fun. One thing that showed through, however, was the short turnaround between concept and presentation. There were a number of scripts that could have been tightened with another pass or two, and a lot of places where the pacing could have been quicker in the performance. Both would have made the work much funnier/stronger.
What may have hurt the show more than that was the lack of any through line and the jarring juxtaposition caused by including several highly dramatic – as opposed to the generally comedic tone – scenes dealing with heavy topics. Though, a more constructed through-line might have made that work, too. Perhaps give the audience one character to follow through these life moments and create a sense of stability?
The actresses themselves were all solid. They were talented and energetic and you could tell they were having a ball of a time. Had they taken more time developing the content and the show itself, it would no doubt have been a stronger show, but as is, high two.
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About Allan Mackey
Allan Mackey is editor-in-chief of Production Ottawa, which, really, is too fancy a title. He also acts as show producer for Should You See It, making sure you get your answer in just about two minutes every time. He writes stuff and occasionally turns that stuff into movies. Keep being awesome!
