Review: (Vancouver) Kitt and Jane (Fringe)

An insane time
by David C. Jones
@iamdavidcjones

In her last show Little Orange Man, Ingrid Hansen created a highly imaginative and heartbreaking story of a little girl trying to reconnect with her deceased grandfather. This new show has the slightly older girl (I think it's her) joining forces with her friend Jane (Rod Peter Jr.) hijacking a school assembly to lead an interactive survival guide to the apocalyptic future. 

The songs are not only funny but important, the message they have is upsetting but realistic and they are dynamic actors staging many set pieces in creative unique ways. The whole show however does not have forward momentum, instead of a goal they have a deadline (early on they tell us they will be dead in an hour). So the horrors of the destruction of the planet are just laid out. Still powerful and effective but the sense of urgency is not built into the script. There is also no on-stage sense of discovery, both characters are equally informed and are just sharing with us.  That said when they get to the final moments of the harrowing stories there is a wild occurrence with some cake that is silly and cathartic and provoked a tear in me. We are living in an insane time and it's evident as they sing Children Leading The Revolution. So clearly there is something very powerful here.    

Kitt and Jane is at the Vancouver Fringe