Paul Strickland’s Balls of Yarns is a little tough to characterize. The publicity calls it a “weird-larious one-man musical adventure,” and I suppose a show that includes an actor singing duets with a squeaky door (in harmony, no less) certainly qualifies. But Balls of Yarns is much more than that and, by the end, I found myself feeling that Strickland had pulled a fast one on the audience, sneaking in a fairly profound message by dressing it up in a comic package.
So much of this piece is unexpected. Strickland frames everything in a traditional storytelling style, peppered with Folk music (which he sings to his own guitar accompaniment). But with an absurd comment here and a strange image there, he manages to weave in metaphors about life and the importance of having perspective in the living of it.
The comedy is always there (I particularly liked his not-so-subtle hints to the audience about applause), and his storytelling is observational with loads of colorful creations (such as “Three-Tooth Tony” and the “lie-brary,” where stories/yarns about life lessons are stored). But the surprise to me was how cleverly Strickland connected everything at the end, when it felt like a modernist Our Town seen from one man’s perspective.
The show works because Strickland has such complete confidence in himself and the material. He never tries too hard; he lets us like and ultimately care about him, so the audience buys in. It certainly is funny and even ‘weird-larious’ in dozens of places. But I’ve rarely seen a show, Fringe or otherwise, which balances its humor so well with its heart. Don’t miss it.
The CINCINNATI FRINGE FESTIVAL continues through June 11. Find CityBeat reviews of 41 early performances here. For a full schedule and more info about Fringe, visit cincyfringe.com.
This article appears in May 31 – Jun 7, 2017.
