On the Fringe: It's Hard Times at the Camera Blanca, reviewed, twice

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On the Fringe: It's Hard Times at the Camera Blanca, reviewed, twice

POSTED: Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 7:17 PM

Filed Under: Arts | On the Fringe Theater

You know about our Fringe review site, right? Where we send out an army of critics to as many Fringe and Live Arts shows as is humanly possible? And they write hungover-after-the-bar reviews the next morning? Or sometimes drunk-at-the-bar reviews that very night? Good.

livearts-fringe.org

But it's all so hard to keep track of what's what when there are 200 shows floating around. For It's Hard Times at the Camera Blanca, we double-booked ourselves ' sent Shaun Brady on Saturday, then Ptah Gabrie. Oops! Here's what our dueling critics had to say: Ptah: The actors, dressed in 1920s circus attire, carry on with each other as if they were patrons of the bar. The action takes place in three areas, with everyone coming together for a couple of big moments. The actors never converse with the audience; instead you follow them around and eavesdrop. Since multiple scenes occur simultaneously, it's tough to hear everything going on. But the ambient music, lights and eccentric characters make this a unique theatrical experience. Shaun: If the circus-train wreck in DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth had stranded its cargo at Rick's Caf' Americain, the result would have been something like Applied Mechanics' immersive show. Taking over Murph's Bar in Fishtown, the company rewrites Casablanca with circus folk suffering from an economic collapse. The audience is free to navigate the crowded saloon as multiple scenes play out simultaneously, although it lacks the scope and resultant ambiguity of the similarly-designed Fatebook. The seedy big-top atmosphere is well-designed, though it needs to edge further into surreality in order to pull off its sad-clown conceit. It's Hard Times at the Camera Blanca has one show left, so hop to it. And in the meantime, check citypaper.net/fringe to read reviews and comment on the stuff you've seen. RELATED: Read a review with director Rebecca Wright about her other Fringe show, Being Julia Child.

Wed., Sept. 16, 8 p.m., $10, Murph's Bar, 202 E. Girard Ave., 215-413-1318, livearts-fringe.org.

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