Fringe Festival: "These Old Shoes"

Day: 4

Show: 12

Title: These Old Shoes

By: Transatlantic Love Affair

Created by: Diogo Lopes and the ensemble

Location: Music Box Theatre

Summary: Using their trademark physical theater style, Transatlantic Love Affair tells the story of a man packing up his belongings and memories as he prepares to move into an "old folks home," with the help of his loving granddaughter.

Highlights: Transatlantic Love Affair never fails to make me cry. The pictures that they create and the emotions that those pictures evoke are so beautiful; it's difficult to describe if you haven't seen them. The seven actors are on a completely bare stage with no set or props, dressed simply, but manage to create a rich and varied world in which to tell their stories. With only their bodies, voices, and facial expressions, they represent everything from furniture to trees to the characters in the stories. And they always use music very wisely to enhance, but never distract from, the story (Dustin Tessier on an expressive electric guitar). Without giving away too much, the story they tell here is one of aging, memory, regrets, and second chances. The entire cast is wonderful, but Derek Lee Miller and Peytie McCandless are especially lovely as they portray characters at various times in their lives. There's so much going on, such exquisite attention to detail, that it's impossible to see everything. I wish I had time to see this again* so I could drink it all in. My favorite of the Fringe so far, and I doubt anything else I see will top it.

Read more of my fringe fest reflections…

… including my top 5 shows

*And maybe I will see it again. They're continuing their trend of expanding Fringe shows at Illusion Theater with last year's Ash Land, to be presented at Illusion in February 2014. Dare I hope for These Old Shoes at Illusion in 2015?