The troubadour of quirky America, Paul Strickland, has returned to the Cincinnati Fringe, and this year the show he has written is a little different. As the author/performer of previous Fringe hits Ain’t True and Uncle False and Papa Squat’s Store of Sorts, he has brought along a new friend to the trailer homes of the Big Fib Cul-De-Sac, his mythical hometown where the denizens work at the pea-punching plant in order to make the peas black-eyed.
That friend is solo performer Erika Kate MacDonald, and she fits right in as she joins Strickland in a storytelling binge to celebrate the birthday of Big Fib’s patriarch, Uncle False. As a duo, the two work well together. Their timing is spot on both as they regale the folks of Big Fib (and us) us with their outlandish tales and as they sing accompanying reflective songs. MacDonald adds lovely harmonies to Strickland’s soothing Southern voice and tosses in some spirited kazoo accompaniment to Strickland’s guitar. Also new this year are some simple but effective theatrical devices including a clothespin keyboard and funny shadow puppetry.
But Strickland’s whimsical stories are the heart of his performances, and they are on full display again. Though this year’s so-strange-they’re-true tall tales are from all over the country rather than just from Big Fib and though the stories are not as connected, they are full of wit and imagination that fly by so fast that you sometimes miss a joke. And the tales still have a poignancy that pops up in unexpected places.
The best story comes near the end of the show, and since it’s one of the most extended tales of the evening, we get the best chance to meet its characters. It involves a boy who is longing for a pet named Peeve. I won’t spoil for you what happens to Peeve. But as Strickland says: “Sometimes things work out, y’all. Sometimes magic occurs.”
On Saturday night the Fringe staff opened the East Court Street performance space early for many of us from the sold-out audience waiting outside in the rain. Strickland entertained us with a beautiful impromptu song about his past that I don’t think was actually part of the show but it certainly could have been, and it was a terrific table-setter.Joe McDonough is a Cincinnati playwright whose plays have been widely staged locally and around the country.
