Provocative puppets: Adults-only show comes with warning

'puppet nudity'

Crispi Lord and Kristi Friday (back, left to right) and Jules Mercier present Flip Side's puppet burlesque show Bada Boom at The Refinery

Photograph by : Greg Pender, The StarPhoenix



Cam Fuller, The StarPhoenix

Published: Thursday, January 11, 2007

Scantily clad beauties Kitty Kitty Bang Bang and Nurse Peekaboo will be shakin' what their mommas gave them for the next two weekends at the Refinery. But it's not something you need to alert the vice squad about.

Kitty Kitty Bang Bang and Nurse Peekaboo are puppets, just two of many in Flip Side's new, original burlesque show Bada Boom.

"It's sort of the dark side of the Muppets,'' says Kristi Friday. Better known for their family shows, Friday and Crispi Lord are pushing the cloth-and-stuffing boundaries of what we expect from puppets with an adults-only production. As always, the characters are handmade. When Friday saw the anatomically correct characters Lord was fabricating, she was awestruck.

"Oh my God, I can't believe we're doing this,'' she recalls saying. "The dirty old man in us is coming out."

(Not surprisingly, the show comes with warnings for "puppet nudity and mature content").

Other than the puppet handlers who are sometimes visible, the only live actor in the show is Jules Mercier, a University of Saskatchewan drama student who was drafted for his music and acting skills. Friday and Lord discovered him in last summer's Fringe sensation, the clown show Blunderstruck.

"We really liked his performance, and Crispi was like 'Oh, my God he plays accordion. We've got to have accordion in this show.' "

Mercier plays music and interacts with the puppets as Stan (The Lucky Man) Bottom.

"It's just so funny. The accordion just kills me,'' says Friday.

The show is set in a nightclub, and there are some backstage moments. It consists of "lots of songs, sketches, some stripping, of course, and some dancing."

The idea grew after the puppeteers were asked to contribute a scene to the hit Regina show Caberlesque, which also played the Fringe last year.

They haven't been able to co-ordinate their schedule, but the request gave Friday and Lord the idea for a full-scale show of their own.

"We don't get an opportunity to do this sort of thing, especially with puppets,'' says Friday.

Far from being a lost art, burlesque is enjoying a revival. Last year, New York and Vancouver held their fourth and first burlesque festivals, respectively. (Winners in New York are awarded the "golden pastie.") And the million-selling musical group Pussycat Dolls, which started as a burlesque project, has had no trouble attracting attention.

"As naughty as it is and as raunchy as it can be, it also has a lot of humor and a lot of wit and I think that's appealing to a lot of people,'' says Friday.

Even before opening and without the benefit of word of mouth, interest in the show was growing.

"I think people are definitely intrigued. It's been a great, wide range of interest, too. We had a lady, she booked her tickets in October, so we were like, 'right on!' "

This is the same company behind the skipping rope comedy Double Dutch, so fans know they're in for fun without too many intellectual demands - a little spark of mirth in the dark of winter, says Friday.

"We know that people will have a great time.''

SHOW ADDED!

Due to its roaring success Fat Pig has added one show
Monday October 15th @ 8pm
Get your ticket today 653-3549!

Fat Pig Recieves Rave Reviews!

Hard-hitting play on weighty topic showcases cast in top form

Cam Fuller, The StarPhoenix

Published: Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Fat Pig is funny and sad, breezy and hard-hitting. But you knew it would be. The real surprise is how exciting the play is. No other word describes the privilege of seeing actors in top form letting loose and giving in to the material, opening their hearts and guts on the stage.

The Canadian premiere of American Neil LaBute's play by Live Five guest company Wild Side Productions opened to a sold-out crowd at the Refinery on Friday -- sold-out in part because the chic set eliminates a good percentage of the seating. Here's hoping for a hold-over.

The play's premise -- a guy risks alienating his friends by going out with an overweight woman -- seems almost too easy. But the issues that emerge and the acting it takes to make them real result in some exhilarating moments. If the Jack Black-Gwyneth Paltrow movie Shallow Hal was the fairy tale, this is the documentary -- a brutally blunt and honest reality check as only LaBute can make it.

Helen (Tara Schoonbaert) is already there as the audience enters. For 15 minutes, she contentedly reads a book and munches her way through pizza, Caesar salad and garlic bread.

Over the sound system, Fat Bottomed Girls starts to play -- the first of a host of songs about large women. (Who knew there were so many?) Picking cool, apt music is a trademark of the director, Jim Guedo.

In comes Tom (Skye Brandon), who ends up sharing a table at the restaurant with Helen. They hit it off. Tom is smitten, but he's not about to start shouting it from the rooftops. In fact, he keeps the new romance secret from his friends at work, Carter (Rob van Meenen) and Jeannie (Clare Middleton).

Whenever he's with Helen, Tom is relaxed, at ease and content. At work, whether it's enduring the vulgarities of sex-crazed Carter or avoiding the wrath of ex-girlfriend Jeannie, Tom is brittle enough to crack. It's hard to think of anyone who can project unease better than Brandon, both for comic and tragic purposes.

It's a great cast overall. Guedo clearly gave Middleton the green light to bring out all of Jeannie's bitterness, her insecurities about rejection and her vindictiveness. Middleton becomes the ex-from-hell, an archetypal bunny-boiler whose emotional excesses are awesome to behold.

Van Meenen's impact as cruel, superficial Carter was almost visceral; one woman watching whispered to her friend "you want to hit him.'' Far from a simple stereotype, however, Carter furnishes the truth-hurts argument against Helen, warning Tom of the damage to his social standing if they continue to go out. He's so convincing you almost believe him; at the very least, you can't deny that people do think this way.

Schoonbaert, finally, is so funny and warm and attractive that she simply is Helen, in a way that would make other attempts at the part seem lacking. There's so much invested here that you feel it.

There's some discussion in the play about the film Lonely are the Brave. The '60s western has little to do with things, but its title reverberates in the theatre once it's mentioned. If Tom does the brave thing and continues to see Helen, he'll lose his friends. The sentiment applies to Helen as well -- brave and unfazed by society's fat-phobic prejudices, but alone in the boyfriend department.

Lonely are the cowardly, too. To leave your soul mate merely because your friends don't approve of her looks would be an invitation to unhappiness. You'll have to see for yourself where this one goes.

Fat Pig runs Thursday to Sunday at The Refinery. Box office: 653-3549.

2006/07 Live Five Theatre Season

We're about to give birth
to our
THIRD SEASON...

... and it's going to be BIG.

Fat Pig
by Neil LaBute
produced by Wild Side Productions

Giving Up
produced by 400lbs of Sunshine

Life After Hockey
by Kenneth Brown
presented by By the Book

Bada Boom
produced by Flip Side

Lawrence & Holloman
written by Morris Panych
produced by Flux Theatre

The Leisure Society
written by Francois Archembault, translated by Bobby Theodore
produced by Theatre Ecstasis

The Coronation Voyage
written by Michel Marc Bouchard, translated by Linda Gaboriau
produced by Last Exit Theatre

Double Dutch with The Condom...

Flip Side presents the third show of the LIVE FIVE Season with
Double Dutch
and
The Condom, The Cucumber, and the Girl from Ipanema
At The Refinery, 609 Dufferin Ave.
Preview January 12, 2006 January 13-15 & 19-22 2006, at 8pm
These shows are intended for mature audiences.
Language and Mature Content warnings.

The Condom the Cucumber, and the Girl from Ipanema
By Carole Birch, Tricia Braun, Chris Harrow and Crispi Porat

The First Date: is there another social ritual so full of promise, so fraught with anxiety? Four twenty-something’s, each on the verge of a first date, struggle to navigate the mating minefield with the help of a certain glossy magazine, the right underwear and some surprising motherly advice. A witty, sexy, and often poignant exploration of the state of the dating nation.

Past Press includes:
“I loved [this] show” the National Post

“a smart, naughty, titillating sex comedy” the Edmonton Sun

“fun, rollocking, clever, beautifully directed, wonderfully acted” Vue Weekly

”bold performances and hilarious birth-control props” See Magazine

More about:

Double Dutch
By Catherine Harrison, Kristi Friday, Joel McGowan and Crispi Porat

At the fringe of high school society, lies a team like no other, waiting for its turn at the podium. With only quantum physics and Mark Tewskbury to guide them in their quest for gold, our jump rope team must rely on their hearts and sports bras to get them to the top. There is a place between the ground and the sky where the air is sweeter and the sun shines brighter. That place is inside the Dutch.
Past Press:

“With its hilarious plot, clever jokes and impressive skipping routines,
Double Dutch has it all. Rush out and see it while you still have the chance.”
The StarPhoenix

“serious skippers are a wacko lot whose obsession is highly entertaining”
The Winnipeg Free Press

Scorched Ice and Beaver Feaver rock the Refinery!

The first two shows of the Live Five season hit Saskatoon hard with outstanding performances and full houses! These shows set the bar high for the rest of the Live Five companies. Please post your show comments here!

Season opens with a BIG Bang!

Live Five's season opened with a fabulous fondue party organized by Rob VanMeenan! Thank you to our friends and supporters who made the event a success! This year we beat our first year's season subscriptions in our first month of sales. Thank you season ticket holders!

October also saw the opening of our first production SCORCHED ICE produced by Last Exit Theatre. A wonderful article and review followed this production - as did nearly sold-out audiences. If this is an omen of things to come you had better get your tickets soon for the rest of the season!

Live Five Celebrates Season Two!

Live Five's second season promises to be full of excitement!
Watch for our season brochure and Saskatoon's theatre guide coming August 2005.
We hope to see you at our opening Gala October 1st!