Miss Hiccup – Analog Artist Digital World

One of the most colorful characters of the Fringe has to be Miss Hiccup who I’ve seen many times on the Lockhaven park green lawn of fabulousness always in character. The program described her show as, “Fringe favorites Paul Strickland and Chase Padgett combine their talents…” wait a minute, they have nothing to do with this show! Major typo! Let me look online, … “The mysterious Miss Hiccup lives alone, but is definitely not lonely. She is forever accompanied by a raucous cast of sounds and music that make her life an absurd adventure. A hilarious and beautiful physical comedy by award-winning Japanese performer Shoshinz from Tokyo.”

Miss Hiccup performs in the Blue venue which is the Shakes black box theater. The performance was absurd and endearing. When she unrolled a whole roll of toilet paper with childish delight, she decided to ensure I was paying attention by kicking the pile of paper onto my sketch pad. She does indeed hiccup her way throughout the show. She came onstage in a crouched crab like position, I’m not sure why. In one cute bit she held a tiny umbrella, maybe twice the size of a drink umbrella over her head. The sound of water leaking would be different if it hit the umbrella. She ran about trying to have every water drop hit her umbrella. While much of the performance was mime along with physical comedy, Hiccup does also sing.

The audience at 5:15PM Friday May 17th was rather small, perhaps 10 people, but everyone could have a front row seat. I’m sure the folks expecting Chase and Paul were confused. The show is light hearted fun and quite kid friendly. As a matter of fact you need to be ready to channel your inner child to fully appreciate the show.

Remaining shows:

Wednesday May 22 at 8PM

Friday May 24 at 6:45PM

Saturday May 25 at 2:15PM

Sunday May 26 at 2:00PM

Where:

Blue Venue at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center.

Tickets:

$11 plus a Fringe Button

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“.