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Cusp (A)

This Uncle Vanya resetting sees a group of young adults gathered at a family cottage to celebrate the birthday of their glue character Sophie (aka Chekhov’s Sonya, played by producer Chrisevina Tsoura with great  warmth and barely hidden exasperation). As she puts up her own decorations and makes her own birthday cake live onstage, Sophie’s family and friends engage in power struggles and squabbles staged with visual interest and creativity by director Tanya Rintoul. Standouts include Jack Emerson Mosney’s Mikhail, a kind but distant interpretation of Astrov, and Kaleb Piper (Ivan aka Vanya) and Philip Diamond (Xander aka Serebryakov), both of whom also do excellent work in other Fringe shows. Barely out of theatre school, the ensemble feels a little young for their roles (slight tweaks to the text could accommodate this, changing a doctor to a med student, a married couple to college sweethearts) but they give nuanced and lived-in performances that promise fantastic careers to come.

Jon Bennett: AMERICAN’T (A-)

Fast-paced and fun Australian storyteller Jon Bennett returns to the Fringe with a personal tale of honestly dubious truthfulness about his misadventures as a touring artist stranded by Covid. Smartly using visual aids for both interest and short breaks to catch his breath, Bennett keeps his story rollicking along and it never goes where you expect. Recurring video cameos from fellow Fringe favourite Martin Dockery and his daughter are an added treat.

DEI Another Day (B-)

The very clever premise of this comedy show is that a new generation takes over an  old school Italian mob family and decides to implement DEI practices, hiring some women, a bunch of Indian people, and one person from Bangladesh. The best scenes are when the ignorance of the old guard is at its peak, namely in the interview scenes where the hiring board is attempting to find out the answer to such pressing questions as “what kind of brown are you?” And “do you prefer curry or Hamas?”. The overall comedic style is sketch-like, which feels a little sloppy for a more developed play working with continued characters and a single premise. But a good premise is the hard part, from there it’s just a matter of polish and followthrough.