Fringe 2010: Fringe-For-All #2—Two familiar faces take center stage

What can I say? I've been looking forward to finally seeing Pommelhorse on stage since I heard they made the Fringe cut, long before their hilariously odd Fringe-For-All preview. I'm still bummed I missed "Feelgood Hits of the '70s" (which Quinton Skinner called "one of the funniest scripts in recent memory") but at least the Fringe makes it easy to make sure I don't miss "Sad Carousel."

A Sad Carousel

Pommelhorse

"Punchlines can't stop bullets. Herschel Douscheburg (America's #7 insult comic) will learn that the hard way, as he and his nephew Saul battle blood-thirsty hit men and cutthroat talent agents in a comedic battle royale."

My first Fringe encounter with Sam Landman (one half of Pommelhorse) came in 2006 with Baggage, though I first saw him on the Penumbra stage earlier the same year in Sex Diary of an Infidel. In between Fringes, I've seen him in things as varied as Walking Shadow's The American Pilot and Girl Friday's The Skin of Our Teeth. Of course, last year Sam was back in front of Fringe audiences in the encore slot-winning show at Mixed Blood - the darkly funny Buyer's Remorse, which also had "blood-thirsty hit men" prominent in the cast of characters. In fact, Sam was one of them, a sad lonely hit man named Parker. Now he's a Douscheburg.

His fellow Pommelhorse (-ian?), and Douscheburg, Matthew Glover is also no stranger to the Fringe, as he was part of the ensemble of Sandbox Theatre's Fringe hit last year, June of Arc, which got selected for a remount in an emerging artists showcase at the Guthrie black box space not too long ago.

I get the feeling that A Sad Carousel is nothing like either of their 2009 Fringe outings, but you know you're in good hands with these guys.

The characters of Herschel & Saul Douscheburg have "loser" written all over them ("I wish I'd been a Scrimshaw" cried out Saul on his kind of not really deathbed). When Saul screwed up and "gave away" the ending to the play (Tawny Kitaen - I think it's kind of sad that I knew how to spell her name correctly on the first try), they doubled back to try Saul's death scene again. Herschel was just marking time, trying to speed through his lines, hilariously unlike his first emotional outpouring. Oh, just watch. Here's their Fringe-For-All preview

They're foul-mouthed and strange, but I already like the Douscheburgs a lot, and am very much looking forward to hanging out with them for an hour of Fringing. Not sure how Mom will take to them, but they're on her schedule, too. I can't quite explain why, but I'm almost giddy with anticipation on this one.

Check out their website - www.pommelhorseproductions.com - which says they've been "straddling the line between husky and cadet since 2007"

Their Fringe page

Ritz Theater

345 13th Ave. N.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55413

Details

Phone: 

612-623-7660

http://www.ritzdolls.com

Twitter: 

TheRitzTheater

Tags:

• Music,
• Theater

Matthew A. Everett

Matthew A. Everett is a playwright and three-time recipient of support from the Minnesota State Arts Board.