Gemma Wilcox – Analog Artist Digital World

The Fringe Show, “Magical Mystery Detour” featured Gemma Wilcox as more than 20 characters. The story followed her on a road trip that the actress took as she questioned life and love. The actress would switch characters on a dime even becoming inanimate objects like the car or a coin. As she drove down the road, the dog would be panting happily in the back seat and the car would talk about road conditions. There was a certain child like joy as Gemme became an annoying buzzing fly who spouted rude comments. Catching Gemma as she switched characters every few seconds was a challenge, but luckily she drove fairly often.

A particularly memorable scene involved her decision to get a massage. Her dog stayed behind at the car and she was lifted by a brawny masseuse. As she floated in bliss, wondering if the masseuse was single and how many children they should have, she switched back to the dog who had just met another dog and they were sniffing butts. Switch back to Gemma as she planned a life filled with pleasure and sensitive touch. Back to her dog who was humping wildly. Gemma panted and thrush her hips with abandon. As she intellectualized and reasoned, her dog was just being a dog. It was hilarious.

There is a dancer’s grace as she shifted from a soaring seagull into the woman climbing lighthouse steps. It is from this high vantage point that she surveyed her life. The troubled reason for her pilgrimage became clear and she was ready to move on. Her relationship was on the rocks and her mother had just died. The ending was poignant as she blew her troubles into a coin and threw it into the ocean. As a one woman show, this was a real tour de force, theater at it’s best. I left the theater glowing.

On Wednesday May 15th the Fringe National / International Preview was held in the Orange Venue at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center. 44 shows from out of town performers had two minutes to get patrons interested in their show. If and performer went beyond two minutes, Bikini Katie would get up and escort the performer off stage. Michael Marinaccio, Fringe’s producer, and Chase Padgett hosted the event.

The first performer up was Miss Hiccup, Shoshinz from Tokyo Japan, and I placed her in the sketch. Her show is called “A Day in the Life of Miss Hiccup“. Her loud flower covered costume was hard to resist. Her physical comedy looks like it could be a fun show. Alexa Fitzpatrick from Aspen Colorado told us about her show called “Serving Bait to Rich People.” Alexa works as a bartender at a Colorado dive in a mountain town where men outnumber women two to one. She got serious for a moment, “I’m in the middle of a break up.” She paused to let that sink in. “But I’ll be OK, the couple was already having trouble.” I laughed out loud.

That reminds me, there was a guy seated in the front row who had the loudest guffaw of a laugh, I’ve ever heard. One performer commented, “I love your laugh, It’s like you’re hurling acceptance at me.” Oddly a woman in the audience chimed in saying she hoped it would stop. Chase was very diplomatic and stressed that different people have different laughs, and at the Fringe , laughs from all walks of life are accepted. Sadly the guy seemed to have become self conscious and didn’t laugh as loud or as often. Then again, seeing 44 previews in a row can wear an audience member down.

I was impressed by the performance of Qurrat Ann Kadwani from NYC. First off she lamented that her parents gave her a name that no one could pronounce. I can identify with that. She switched
characters often as she talked about what it was like growing up Indian
in the Bronx. I circled “They Call me Q” in my program. Jason Nettle educated us about Fetishes. He said Bronnies and Clappers are individuals who get off on “My Little Pony.” He said he could explain why Michael keeps asking George for a Blimpkin. I obviously have much to learn, so I circled “Fetish” in my program.

Patrick Combs got one of those fake checks from publishers
Clearing House for $95,000 dollars. He thought it would be funny to
deposit it at his bank signed with a smiley face. He forgot about it and
later discovered that his Bank (Bank of America) had cashed the check
and he was $100,000 richer. When he went to the bank to straighten
things out he was greeted by armed gun men in black suits. His two
minutes were up at the mic, and the audience all went awww. Because we
all wanted to know what happened next. Bikini Katie walked him off stage
with “Man 1, Bank O” written on her thighs.

Chase Padgett and Paul Strickland teamed up to do a guitar duo. They made up lyrics on the fly and Chase came up with lyrics about laughter that tied into the evenings ongoing theme. I circled, “Chase and Paul: Solo Shows are Hard“. Gemma Wilcox from London took us for a ride in her “Magical Mystery Detour“. She played a dog, a driver and a motorcycle side car, switching between characters in an instant. I suspect this show is a must see, although she moves so fast and so often, she might be hard to sketch.. “Little Pussy“ by John Grady isn’t about Sex, but about a little kitten named faith that he rescued from sprawling LA traffic. Martin Dockery is a master storyteller. I saw him last year and recognized his frenetic energy. I definitely want to see “The Dark Fantastic“.