Review of “Banned in the USA” and “Unscriptured”
Review by Laura Anne Harris
Photos by Vancouver Fringe
As soon as I entered the space of Gerard Harris’ “Banned in the USA”, I was immediately disarmed by the charm of the performer improvising a tune on the piano. The show didn’t start traditionally with lights down or music swelling, rather, Harris (no relation!) began with some light chit chat as we waited for the show to officially start.
The show itself echoed this loose structure, with a blend of stream-of-consciousness-style performance and more thought out stories. The free-flowing nature of the show suited the performer’s strengths. It wasn’t precious. Harris’s charm and quick comedic timing were disarming, bringing the audience in, as if we were in conversation with a close friend. “Banned in the USA” was a pleasant reminder of the limitlessness of theatre. Theatre can be anything. And at its best it is this: a room full of people sharing the experience of an epic, stake-filled story. It doesn’t have to be anything grander than that. Backed by solid work by solo performer Gerard Harris, “Banned in the USA” represents everything I love about Fringe.
The core elements of the show are made up of three main stories along the themes of espionage and intrigue and how these stack up against the realities of working in international relations. The best story was also the final one. Harris recounts the bureaucratic nightmare of going on a work trip to promote a Montreal-based non-profit that helps disenfranchised citizens from all over the world. Rather than focus on the actual conference, Harris paints a vivid portrait of the nightmare of dealing with international travel to and from the United States. Harris parallels his childhood dream of being like James Bond, with the stark and frustrating reality of being an adult working in international relations. Harris loosely plays different characters, and yet despite this raw presentation, the audience was rapt as he sprinted through an NYC airport to make his flight. We were rooting for him at every hurdle. My only note on the show was length. At fifty-five minutes, Harris was struggling to fit in all of his well-crafted tales with rapid-fire delivery, and had to make cuts mid-performance. A bit more time would give Harris more opportunities to emotionally engage the audience, to slow down, and to allow himself, and the audience, some room to breathe.
Next up was “Unscriptured”, a completely improvised church service performed by solo improviser Travis Bernhardt. I followed the Fringe crowd to this nearly sold-out show at the Carousel Theatre. Everyone in the audience wore a name tag and this was so Bernhardt could refer to audience members by name throughout the show. This set up the conceit that everyone at the church service knew one another, which I thought was a strong choice and a great way to avoid the awkwardness of Bernhardt continually asking peoples’ names. Another aspect that Bernhardt incorporated into the pre-show was having audience members fill out prayer requests on little pieces of paper that he would randomly choose out of a bowl during the performance.
While improv is the study of making something out of nothing, this show clearly had a strong structure that Bernhardt could manipulate from show to show. Our suggestion was the church of “cluelessness.” The show was made up of a typical service: singing church hymns in unison and prayer time. Bernhardt searched for scriptures on Google, using the keywords “cluelessness” and “poetry”. Hilariously, he worked in that this religion’s “Amen” was “I don’t know,” which was really fun and had me giggling every time we all chanted it together.
Bernhardt is excellent with crowd work. He makes everyone in the audience feel comfortable and even suggested at the beginning of the performance a way for any audience member to be left alone from public participation by pulling on their own ear. I love that he created a safe space and had the forethought to build that awareness into the performance. The show is pure Fringe fun! It fostered a strong sense of community as audience members shared their personal experiences. One person had a prayer for a friend about to start farrier school. Farrier school, it turns out, is where one learns about the assembling of horse shoes, which another audience member described as, “not a very good job.” Bernhardt riffed off these non-sequitur moments, delighting in the discoveries offered to him by the audience.
While this show is super fun, it’s also super safe. What else could Bernhardt have said about religion in this piece? How else could he have manipulated the audience? Religious ceremonies are ripe for examination from a more satirical lens. Could Bernhardt push his performance to a riskier place? When the power of theatrical vigor hits us as an audience, especially within a fake church service, the possibilities are endless.
Laura Anne Harris is an internationally-renowned solo performer, director and playwright. Her solo show, Pitch Blonde has toured across North America and most recently at the Ware Center in Lancaster, PA, and the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Her first full length play Red/Rouge premiered at the IF Theatre Festival in Bangkok, Thailand. She has contributed as a reviewer/interviewer with The Seventh Row and My Entertainment World. She is currently a Creative Writing Masters Candidate at the University of British Columbia.