Take a walk through the wild side of carnival life in one of this year's Vancouver International Fringe Festival productions.
Burnaby resident Brian Anderson -a 20-year veteran of Vancouver Theatresports League and director of last year's Fringe hit Gutenberg! The Musical! -takes the title role in his creation Arnie the Carnie's House of Fun.
From nailing hammers up his nose to laying on a bed of nails, and offering up card tricks, the show is a glimpse into the sideshow stunts made famous over the years.
"In a world of YouTube and CGI, it's rare for people to experience wonders in real life," said Anderson in a press release. "We'll be performing some classic stunts of the carnival in front of a live audience and tracing the history of the legendary carnies who created them."
North Vancouver piano player Matt Grinke -who is also currently appearing as lead keyboardist at Theatre Under the Stars' Bye Bye Birdie -provides musical accompaniment and a few stunts of his own.
"When I realized that Matt's talents went beyond the keyboard, we wanted to find a way to showcase his amazing mathematical skills," said Anderson.
During the show, Grinke will unscramble a Rubik's Cube in under a minute, and try to create a magic square -where every row and column adds up to a specific number. In this case, the number will be decided by the audience. Allen Morrison, also of Vancouver TheatreSports, is directing the production.
The show will be on during the festival at Performance Works, 1218 Cartwright St., Granville Island, with shows on Sept. 8, 10, 12, 14, 15 and 18. Tickets are $10 to $12 plus service charges. For times and tickets, see www.vancouverfringe.com.
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