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REVIEW: Celebrity Exception @ Ottawa Fringe 2015

June 23, 2015 by Allan Mackey

Everyone gets one celebrity who, if given the opportunity, you’re allowed to have sex with and it’s not really cheating. When Kayla’s pick, movie star Xander Lucas, is filming in town, things suddenly get… interesting.

Should you see it?


A three-rated show is a good one. A three covers everything from "all right" to "really really good".A celebrity exception is a celebrity that, if the circumstances ever arose for you to have sex with them, you could do so guilt free and without repercussions from your partner.

In the play Celebrity Exception, shortly after learning that this celebrity exception rule exists, Mark learns that his long-term girlfriend Kayla’s celebrity exception, the macho Xander Lucas, is filming a movie in town. Complications ensue.

Celebrity Exception is very well-written. Knowing the company and the actors involved, and seeing the poster, I expected a much campier, sillier play (that isn’t usually my cup of tea). I was pleased to be wrong about a show that succeeds both as a drama and a funny comedy and that continually subverts what you’re expecting to happen by having the story veer left.

The actors, too, do wonderful work. Robin Hodge and Alexis Scott do fine work with a fun passive aggressive rivalry. Jonah Lerner couldn’t be a better choice for the macho action hero with a secret. And Mike Kosowon does some of the best dramatic acting I’ve seen him do while he navigates around all three of them.

Unfortunately, as much as I had come to enjoy Celebrity Exception, it made the ending a more serious disappointment. It quite honestly felt like an intermission before a second act that would never happen, leaving a lot of story threads wide open and unsatisfactorily resolved.


 

For full show times and how to buy tickets, visit ottawafringe.com 

But that’s just my opinion and I’d love to know what you think? Who is your celebrity exception? Is this a dumb rule? Could you actually go through with it? How did you find the ending to this particular Celebrity Exception? Join the discussion in the comments below. 

Filed Under: Fringe 2015 Tagged With: alexis scott, dave dawson, jonah lerner, mike kosowon, robin hodge

About Allan Mackey

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