Forest of Truth, Theatre Group GUMBO, Edmonton Fringe 2023. Photo supplied.

Forest of Truth (Stage 28, Nancy Power Theatre at the Roxy)

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca

Hello, depressives out there. For those of you done with the solemn, the quietly understated, the mild-mannered, minimalist or monochromatic, in life and in art, the Fringe has an antidote for you.

To call Forest of Trees high-spirited or zany is to fall way short of describing the maniacal energy of this lunatic clown fairy tale creation by Theatre Group GUMBO from Osaka Japan.

It’s a veritable hallucinogenic of a show. And the morning after, I’m wondering if I just dreamed it. Dizzying colours, giant sparkly apples, metallic butterflies on spikes, a dancing sperm with a light-up end that danced into the crowd in search of an egg…. Let’s just say the props department chez GUMBO doesn’t think small.

Forest of Truth, Theatre Group GUMBO, Edmonton Fringe 2023. Photo supplied

Everything about the reactions of the agile, rubber-faced four-performer cast is outsized: mugging on speed. Smiles are madly ear-to-ear; Frowns are full-face crumples. Laughter is a full-body workout: mouth wide open like a scream, shoulders up and down like pistons. When the characters are delighted, the stage nearly shakes. Flirtation? well, I could tell you about the giant sequined nipples for the audience to twirl, but then there are some things you have to see for yourself, in person.  Polite? Don’t make me laugh (even harder). And there isn’t one inside-voice in the show.

Did I forget to tell you the plot? Oops. In the Forest of Truth, which is pretty much the conceptual opposite of the Hundred Acre Woods, all will be revealed about the true nature of love. The queen of the forest, who (I think) is a relative of Snow White’s evil stepmother, is hot after some “true love essence” to keep her #1 in beauty. And her minion, the fairy of the forest, is her procurer. The scenes are announced on placards; the fairy shrieks with laughter every time at this vaudevillian device.

There’s a manly warrior with anger management issues who brandishes a sabre and falls in love with a demure maiden awaiting her Prince Charming. A veritable earthquake of passion instantly happens, with (temporarily) romantic music. Later in the show, since they’re in the Forest of Truth, we’ll discover their secret thoughts about each other. The fairy of the forest will ride across the stage on a stick horse for reasons that are not revealed in the forest of truth. Why on earth am I telling you the story?

It’s crazy (or as they’d say in the show crrrrrrrrazy!). It’s fringe-y. Sit back and let it come at you.