Michael Watt and Dayna Lea Hoffmann in Countries Shaped Like Stars, Edmonton Fringe Theatre. Photo by Marc J Chalifoux.

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca

Nearly 15 years ago, in the chaotic excitement of reviewing Fringe shows, I found myself in a nondescript church basement in Strathcona: musty church basement smell, sullen lighting, inauspicious wooden church chairs.

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What happened after that was an hour or so of pure theatrical magic, the kind you don’t forget. With only a ladder, water glasses, a whirly-wind, and a couple of lamps, Emily Pearlman and Nicolas Di Gaetano of Ottawa’s Mi Casa told an enchanting musical love story fairy tale. Like all musical love story fairy tales should, it started with ‘Once Upon a Time’….”

The show was Countries Shaped Like Stars. And I remember it as if it were yesterday.

At a time when countries were shaped like stars and “anticipation grew on trees,” Gwendolyn Magnificent and Bartholomew Spectacular, a dragonfruit seller and a purveyor of popsicles, meet every Sunday at the Intercontinental Market of Pivotal Miscellany. And they fall in love. Then they return to their respective neighbouring peninsulas where they “knit allegories into toques, and run “orphanages for words you wish you’d thought of at the time.”

There was just something about it. It was whimsical, in an unforced way; it was wistful; it touched down lightly — with music performed by the characters. And it had such an imaginative way of prying words off their usual prosaic perches. Irresistible. I fell in love with its oddball charm and its heart. Ah, and so did Fringe’s new (at the time) artistic director Murray Utas.

“They made magic happen. And I think that is a testament to the power of storytelling!” Utas says. “There is nothing more celebratory than getting into a room with people and telling them a !!*!ing good story!”

Michael Watt, Dayna Lea Hoffmann in Countries Shaped Like Stars, Edmonton Fringe Theatre. Photo by Marc J Chalifoux.

That love affair with a show is why a new production of Countries Shaped Like Stars, directed by Utas, opens at the Backstage Theatre Friday, in Fringe Theatre’s off-festival season. It stars Dayna Lea Hoffmann and Michael Watt, two of Edmonton’s most sought-after young actors, as Gwendolyn and Bartholomew.

Partly what captivated him, says Utas, is the way Countries Like Stars captures something of the DIY magic that’s close to the heart of Fringe Theatre. “It invites the kind of resourcefulness that went into the original production,” which was at the country’s festivals, and even returned once to Fringe Theatre here in 2016.

“A skeletal crew with not a lot of budget to make it happen,” Utas says with his usual exuberance, on a Fringe Cafe break from rehearsal. “At the Fringe we don’t have the budget for things and stuff, but we do have the budget for people … the beautiful humans who are with me on this ride!”

Ah, the journey. Utas reached out to creators Pearlman and Di Gaetano. They had a script; they even had the music, from a production four or five years ago. And after their joyful Fringe experience here as a bona fide sleeper hit, they were happy to share. Utas assembled other artists who’d fallen in love with Countries Shaped Like Stars too, among them designer Even Gilchrist.

Dayna Lea Hoffmann in Countries Shaped Like Stars, Edmonton Fringe Theatre. Photo by Marc J Chalifoux.

“It’s an embarrassment of riches!,” says Utas, whose conversation typically happens in a volley of exclamation points. Edmonton directors and audiences have discovered the multi-talented Hoffmann and Watt in a striking variety of starring roles. The former, who has an arsenal of circus skills, is a co-creator and co-star of the hit bouffon show Rat Academy, returning in April, this time to the Theatre Network mainstage. And Watt, who shone in dozens of comic roles in The 39 Steps at Teatro Live! this past fall, has a history of original musical creations with creative partner Jacquelin Walters (Let’s Not Turn On Each Other).

Says Utas “we’re about to showcase these two performers with a little something maybe people haven’t seen…. They imbue a story with whimsical magic and emotional depth.”

Michael Watt in Countries Shaped Like Stars, Edmonton Fringe Theatre. Photo by Marc J Chalifoux.

Perhaps the trickiest part of Countries Shaped Like Stars, he thinks, is the “delicate balance” between narration and dramatic scenes with the characters. And, as Utas points out, a big part of its charm and impact is its simplicity, its theatrical ingenuity. This time, it happens in a real theatre though, with the resources that implies. Utas says that he’s been at pains not to lose its DIY qualities in theatrical over-production. “But it’s going to have a little bit of zhuzh to it.”

It’s a case of judging “what do I need to tell this story,” and resist over-embellishing with technology. The characters do talk to the audience, and then return to each other, says Utas of the easy, unforced  crowd interactions built into Countries Shaped Like Stars.

“Theatre is hard…. So I want to make sure that we’ve enjoyed he experience of making it as much as the experience of sharing it,” he says. “At the end of the day we all love good stories. And this is a good story!”

PREVIEW

Countries Shaped Like Stars

Theatre: Edmonton Fringe Theatre

Created by: Emily Pearlman and Nicholas Di Gaetano

Directed by: Murray Utas

Starring: Dayna Lea Hoffmann and Michael Watt

Where: Backstage Theatre, Fringe Theatre Arts Barns, 10330 84 Ave.

Running: official opening Friday, through Feb. 28

Tickets: fringetheatre.ca.