Fringe Factory Review #3

Virtual Solitaire

The play, Virtual Solitaire, promised to be a “one-man virtuosic tour de force exploring themes of technology and isolation.”  I should have read this closer before I went to see this play.

When I entered the theatre, I was greeted with a man laying on the stage perfectly still.  This was a full 10 minutes before the performance started.  When it did begin, it took my some time to become accustomed to the language.  The play is set in the future and is in the genre of cyberpunk.  It somewhat reminded me of my old Sega Genesis game Shadowrun.

Anyways, returning to the play… the main character is a “VR junkie” who makes his living by selling his skills and emotions to develop characters in games.  His current task has him fleshing out roles for a crime/mystery game, but something has gone terribly wrong…

There is only one actor who plays all the characters and Darren Boquist does a phenomenal job.  His ability to quickly, and I mean quickly (sometimes from one second to the next), switch from character to character is amazing.

I thought the plot was alright; not great, just alright.  But then again, cyberpunk really wouldn’t be my first choice for a play, book, movie, game, etc.  If cyberpunk is your thing, then I bet you’ll enjoy the play.  Apparently Boquist is in two other Fringe plays this year.  Unfortunately, I forget the names of them, but I plan on looking them up because of his acting abilities.

Here’s my rating:

  3 / 5 factories