Almost a week behind with my very last Fringe review. I managed to get ahold of two hold over tickets to "Jake's Gift" which was this year's run away show. Not even scheduled to be part of the Fringe, it got a place when another show pulled out at the last minute.
Steve and I got a babysitter. After a hurried dinner at our favorite "adult only" place, Dadeo's on Whyte Avenue, we walked over to the Telus Arts Barn. It wouldn't have mattered if I went alone or with someone else, I held my breath almost the entire show and sobbed when I wasn't holding my breath. Not exactly a social activity.
Jake's Gift
This one woman show was nothing short of amazing. The two main characters, a ten year old French girl, Isabel, living in Normandy on Juno Beach and Jake, a Canadian War Veteran returning to Juno Beach for his first visit since the town was liberated by Canadians sixty years ago. Isabel starts the show by declaring that she has the most important job in the world to take care of the soldiers by weeding their gardens and clearing their windows. When she mets Jake, she asks him the bold questions that only a ten year old could get away with, understanding much of the world but naive enough to not concern herself with niceties. Jake is profoundly affected by this child who is so interested in him and his two brothers, one who died in the war and the other recently deceased. He is grateful for her remembering and she is happy to remember. The gift? Some graveyard dirt and an old trumpet, but truly so much more than that.
Wow and wow again. This is the reason why I Fringe.
And now? Back to my "real" life!
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