Review: (Ottawa) Innocent When You Dream (Fringe)

A Tale in a Whale
by Jim Murchison
@JimMurchison

Zeb L West combines puppetry, music, sight gags and puns along with some truly good observations on life in general, this is a quirky storytelling charmer, where Jonah gets swallowed by a whale and lives in its belly with only two books and some crackers. The books are Moby Dick and Don Quixote and he assumes the characters of each.

Fixated on lost loves, finding his car …. He takes us from one end of the whale to the other and finally out its spout for a musical sing-along finale. Even when he was telling us that this part is corny or maybe I should cut this bit, I found it entertaining and engaging. 

Far from traditional, it is very good clowning sprinkled with storytelling and it’s what a lot of people at Fringe are looking for.

runtime: approximately 60 minutes with no intermission
Innocent When you Dream runs until June 30