THEATER REVIEW- Che Guevara on the Fringe - Evonne Keron Strikes Back

“Che Guevera on the Fringe: Evonne Keron strikes back” is a strange brew offering and one of the 320 or so odd shows part of the Free Festival/Fringe movement. Though 90% of the free program is typically composed of start-up-stand-ups, this particular three-man (and one was a woman) variety show is a staple of the fringe. Already in its third year incarnation, it combines adapted musical numbers from Evita, video footage, and sci-fi absurdity to mock the rising costs and commercialization of the Fringe. We, the audience were proudly thrifty (or rather, not so proudly poor, comrade), and most crowded onto the stained bar-room floor with an insider’s glee (Look, look, we’re part of the movement!). What was at best a delivery on the program’s promise of a “half-arsed” plotline, the jokes were enthusiastically flat, though played to people who were already in the mood to laugh at the insane shtick and by those who themselves couldn’t stop cracking up. Wigs, dresses, Darth Vader mask, fake beards, traveling through space by twirling, death by flyering, liberally sprinkled in with Marxist commentary and Ricky Gervais jabs.

The best part of the show was far and away the walking tour that followed the indoor performance, when everyone rowdily piled out of the Green Room, and onto the streets around Cowgate. Led by comedian Kieran Butler on megaphone and Austin Low flanking the back with a red Che flag, the tour included colourful fringe-politics commentary and a series of dance exercise which you can see in the above video; we are practicing sting-like-a-butterfly footwork while expressing the cynical eye-opening disappointment that the Fringe is for some poor tourists and even poorer tourists, “this-is-not-what-I-thought-it-would-be!” Judging by our ragged crew of hippies, it was preaching to the choir.

We actually took the gag to a ticket line in which we united in a chorus of “What do we want? Free tickets! When do we want them? Now” only to be met with unsympathetic blinking and blank expressions (perhaps the clone army stories are true?).

More "undercover" pictures from both the show and the revolution are here.