Worm-Hole (Victoria Reviews)
ARCHIVE EDITOR'S NOTE --- The following reviews and other material concerning Worm-Hole are in connection with Niki's participation in the 2002 Victoria Fringe Festival which was held from August 23 to September 2 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
THOROUGHLY ENGAGING --- Niki McCretton does a wonderful job of creating and maintaining dramatic tension in Worm-Hole. With minimal speaking, excellent use of music and silence, and many painful Godot-ish moments, this is a poetic piece that challenges. Dressed as a nun, McCretton passes time in a room with a table, a few chairs, a shelf of boxes, a PA speaker and a framed Time cover, moving through a routine of cleaning, waiting, reading, eating, worshipping, sleeping, exercising and washing. Like the best absurdist theatre, Worm-Hole speaks to the passing of time, faith, disillusionment, sensuality, routine, self-consciousness and meaningless repetition. Fortunately, the character does develop as she copes with her small world. This is a thoroughly engaging, intelligent, risk-taking play - exactly the kind of thing expected from the Fringe.
(Andrew MacLeod - Monday Magazine - 29 August 2002)
DON'T MISS IT! --- Niki McCretton enters the stage as a nun, her spirit in a box, her life driven by rituals. Her daily routine, carefully organized in boxes, unfolds. She wakes, exercises, washes, eats, prays, hopes, sleeps. Slowly, the fabric of her life unravels. As she questions her beliefs and turns against her former gods, order turns to chaos. In the end, a woman emerges, clutching her inner child, ready to embrace her freedom. Niki's outstanding performance demonstrates that rituals - whether driven by religion, the factory clock or the demands of family life - stifle the soul. Don't miss her show.
(Fernand Magnin - Victoria Fringe Website Reviews - 26 August 2002)
PERFECT EXECUTION --- A thought-provoking examination of rituals, religion and breaking free told through dance and movement. Perfect execution. Loved the musical score. Definitely put this on your list.
("Suey" - Victoria Fringe Website Reviews - 27 August 2002)
THOUGHT-PROVOKING --- British actor Niki McCretton presents this one-woman show of an eerily repressive life in an Orwellian setting. In a black outfit reminiscent of a nun's habit (or Atwood's Handmaid's Tale), McCretton dances through her daily routine until it becomes drudgery. A talented mime and fluid dancer, McCretton adds layers of humour and drama to this absurdist tale. The elaborate set - complete with boxes of daily activities - lends extra satirical elements to the 70-minute play. The self-discovery at the end, while predictable, is not a completely satisfying finale. Also, adding a second character would give the play more complexity. Nevertheless, the work is well-presented and thought-provoking.
(Susan Down - Victoria Times-Colonist - 3.5/5 Stars - 28 August 2002)
DRAMATIC MOVEMENT REWARDING --- This play was amusing, if a bit confusing. I overheard one conversation on the way out of this production where the person said, "I might like it, if you’d just tell me what it was about." The repetition of the main (and only) character’s life became a bit tedious for me. But I was always interested to see what she would pull out of her next box. The dramatic movement on stage was rewarding and the character’s spiralling resentment of her own life, coupled with strategies to entertain herself, were funny at times.
("I.P." - The Victoria News - 3/5 Stars - 30 August 2002)
SHORT & TO THE POINT --- Worm-Hole: Two words: "Freakin' brilliant".
(John Threlfall - Monday Magazine - Preview Comment from the Buzz out of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival - 22 August 2002)
FRINGEPOSIUM PANEL ON THE CRAFTING OF SOLO PERFORMANCES --- (Archive Editor's Note: Niki participated in a panel discussion on how solo shows are crafted on 29 August 2002 at Solstice Cafe in Victoria's Market Square. In The Craig, the audience-review publication of the Victoria Fringe Festival, audience member Susan "George" Lindsay provided the following evaluation of the Fringeposium:)
"Thank you for a wonderful discussion. The presenters were great about sharing their experiences and ideas. I really enjoyed their obvious desire to make the session meaningful, and every single one of them made helpful suggestions about developing a one-person play and what The Fringe is all about for them. I hope the Fringe audience goes out to support these very keen and generous performers. Thanks go to Dawson Nichols (Jekyll); Edith Tanjus & Tomas Kubinck (Not Yet, At All); Emelia Symington Fedy (Patti Fedy ... "be prepared to fall in love"); Richard Harrington (Saving The Desert Tortoise); T. J. Dawe (Tracks) and Niki McCretton (Worm-Hole) for taking time out of your busy schedule, and being so candid and helpful. Well done!"
HE DIDN'T GET IT --- (Archive Editor's Note: Finally, in keeping with our spirit of recognizing the rights of an extremely minuscule minority (aka Those-Who-Just-Don't-Get-It), here is one who quite simply didn't get it. In fact, the content of this review prompted your loyal Editor to file a rebuttal with the magazine in question in the form of a Letter To The Editor. To read the letter/rebuttal, please visit The Editor's Notebook.)
This solo movement piece could be retitled Beckett for Dummies. Writer and performer Niki McCretton survives on her stage presence for the first few minutes. But when, clad in a nunlike habit, she opens the door to her secret chamber and anticipates a visitor with great expectation that is met by nothing but great disappointment, you'd have to be illiterate not to recognize that she's waiting for Godot - for God, for some external validation or embodiment of meaning. Wordlessly, McCretton's character goes through several days of her vigil, repeating the same cycle of gestures with increasingly intense frustration. As the tide turns to rebellion, we know that sooner or later she's got to doff her habit, and that somehow or other, she herself must come through the door. It happens, but it takes forever. Waiting For Godot is a poetic distillation of an active philosophical quest. Worm-Hole feels like a plodding illustration of a predetermined idea.
(Colin Thomas - Preview for the Vancouver Fringe Festival from the Victoria Fringe Show - The Georgia Straight - 2 September 2002)
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