Ah, the staple of fringe festivals: the one-man show. A solo show gives audiences the chance to spend an hour or so with one character, learning the deep, dark secrets of a life. If done well, this can be entertaining and enlightening. But in the wrong hands, a one-man show is as much fun as having coffee with an acquaintance whom you find mildly annoying, slightly boring, and who never lets you talk. Unfortunately, Beyond the Road Less Gravelled is closer to the second description. Wanda Carroll has an easy-going manner and a conversational style, but the content of her show about leaving her tiny Newfoundland town for a bigger life and higher learning in Halifax seems unfocused, unpolished and under-rehearsed. At times Carroll shows the spark of a really good storyteller, leading me to believe that with time and editing this might become a less bumpy ride.
All current Atlantic Fringe Festival Reviews can be read here.
This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2009.