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Afeni (B)

Afeni is a one woman show in the truest sense – it knows where the focus is and how to keep it there. Revolutionary activist and Black Panther leader Afeni Shakur is often introduced in the stories of famous and infamous men – her generationally famous son Tupak, the comrades she married, and her alleged co-conspirators in the Panther 21 facing trumped up charges from the NYPD at its most ruthless – but she is the main and only star in this story. Onika Henry takes the stage alone on a bare set (save a single chair); there is no music and no unnecessary lighting etc to distract from the message or propel it forward. Her performance, like Shakur’s, has to take the stand itself.  The verdict is mixed but positive. Henry is a compelling narrator who inhabits the role sincerely and convincingly; the immersion is only broken by verbal stumbles that were unusually frequent this late in a show’s run. This minimal staging, while effective, is more suited to a smaller, intimate setting – but I expect Afeni will find a bigger stage in every sense soon.

The Improper Identity (B)

Being heard and being understood don’t always come together or at all; Miho Suzuki is determined to make people listen in this fun and frenetic show that draws on her attempts to get her footing in the Canadian arts scene. As enthusiastic newcomer Ai is reminded all too quickly, an accent that marks you out as different means some conversations are over before they begin. When her problems persist despite frequent interventions from her persnickety accent coach (in a strong showing by Kent Penaranda), she turns to drastic measures: an experimental Pronunciationizer that promises to erase her accent but doesn’t stop there. Quick hops between plot points and shifts in tone and medium leave some of the finer details lost in translation but Suzuki is a magnetic lead and her use of her own kamishibai art to frame her narration gives the show a distinct aesthetic that a diverse audience audibly enjoyed (in a broad range of accents).

Andrew Silverwood: Love Thy Neighbour (B-)
British stand-up Andrew Silverwood takes us on an energetic world tour that starts from the farthest reaches of the universe in the Deanne Taylor Theatre. It’s a funny, rowdy act that – as he riffs on well – is less natural for a sedate Fringe audience on a weekday afternoon in a remote black box than in your typical comedy club; for better or worse, the act makes few concessions to that.  Silverwood moves through his world at a fast clip; there’s a good amount to laugh at but not much time for any of it to sit. He weaves the ‘plot’ together well though repetition in the setup gives the show’s rare moments of lag. His final stop at a wedding in occupied Palestine drops into an impassioned monologue on Gaza, a jarring contrast in its sincerity but not one that engages or challenges the crowd.  Worth a look if your Fringe travels fit it in or a trek if you enjoy his style of stand-up.

Cards We’re Dealt (C+)
Each performance of Cards We’re Dealt is unique – host Samantha Ling draws a colourful tarot card, muses on its theme, and summons one of a large roster of comedians and storytellers for a short act, repeating to fill the hour. It’s hard to judge a show that’s so inherently varied – I saw a batch of mostly solid acts on a broad range of topics from dating here to moving here to various medical ordeals. These didn’t neatly map onto the cards themselves (though Death was a helpfully literal prompt) which hints at a larger concern that the tarot theme is getting in the way of a more polished (if more generic) stand-up show. Tarot as a source of randomness or an explicit theme is intriguing but felt unrealized here.