Reviews - Fringe 2014

Fringe Review: Prince Charming: Missing Person

By Mackenzie Kristjon Jenkyns
Published July 25, 2014

One thing I really like about the Fringe Festival is that one minute, you can be in a Russian kitchen talking about very serious things and then 20 minutes later, you can be in a warped version of Disneyland where nothing goes quite right.

One thought I had is that while I could tell that women always identify with the Princess characters, I never identified with Prince Charming as a child, and I don't think anyone could really identify with this particular one, who was dashingly portrayed by Matthew Krist. He was hilarious as the "Prince Charming Gone Wrong".

Our star Princess, played by Laura Kyswaty, lives in the Swedish land of IKEA where you can imagine couples that walk in happy-go-lucky and leave murderous and confused, lurching for the knives. Her Prince Charming has decided he doesn't love her "in that way" and is off to sow his wild oats.

Meanwhile, the Princess drinks and grumbles and complains in the most cute and adorable possible way about love gone sour sometimes complaining to the affable barkeep and occasionally to her hilarious handmaiden (Jennifer Wren) who seems to be enjoying less "fairy tale" romantic liaisons that are perhaps unprintable!

The anachronistic nature of the whole thing created its own humour and made me think of Kate & Leopold. Just try to imagine this sweet pink princess in a land of online dating and raunchy unspeakable acts!

There were some clever devices like emails intermingling with carrier pigeons and the like, which was in keeping with the fun and light-heartedness of the play.

I was imagining my teenage daughter would have loved this. To be fair, this might have been a little too saccharine for my dad but I really go for these kinds of silly and fun romantic comedies. Call your fairy godmother and bring her along with you!

Mackenzie Kristjon is an Icelandic-Canadian singer-songwriter and all around creative force. He has published numerous books including the award-winning Culinary Saga of New Iceland. He also has roots in community radio at CFRU 93.3 FM in Guelph. To hear/see/download his music, you can visit thismaddesire.bandcamp.com.

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By BobbyR35 (anonymous) | Posted July 28, 2014 at 16:00:28

I had to give this production two thumbs down.
If corny puns aren't enough to win you over, I'm afraid the only other way one could appreciate this show is in experiencing a sense of community and understanding if one share's the writer's own perspective; if you are lamenting the loss of your 'Prince Charming' but would rather accept a fairy tale life without the fairy tale ending instead of breaking the silly paradigm altogether, you might like this show. Otherwise, steer clear.

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