The Proper Way to Beat a Dead Horse :: Minnesota Fringe 2011 :: August 4 - August 14 :: Minneapolis + St. Paul
Five young folks carry off an impressive improv exercise with a number of touching and funny moments. Collin Knopp-Schwyn touches on the directionlessness that so many of us feel these days, even long past college, in an early exchange that I thought was insightful. Maren Knep carries huge stage presence, and in her early exchanges with Jonas Newhouse, they come up with some material on what art does that really impressed me. Jonas shines as the most naturalistic and convincing actor in the crew.
The whole show sort of peters out in the last 20 minutes, or at least it did on Aug 6, when I saw it. There's some kind of energy to the beats, the returns, that is necessary and which just decreased towards the end. Maren Knep's "I'm dying!" didn't seem stir up the rest of the cast towards any interesting lines.
Still, this is what Fringe is all about. Young and inexperienced players step up and create an engaging and often funny exercise in hypermodernist drama. Would we could all do the same!
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