Performances: Amnesia Curiosa (Geoff Sobelle and Trey Lyford) (Future performances); The Sea (James Sugg) (Future performances).

One of the things I love about going to the theatre alone is the ability to eavesdrop on other people's conversations, completely uninhibited by conversation with a companion. (To my companions at other shows: I don't love you any less, I'm just stating a fact.) I noticed a man waiting for Amnesia Curiosa who had led me up Front Street when I saw Cell, and I stood near him to see if I could glean any of the "how'd they do that" information I've been wondering about. Nearby, a group of older women discussed the previous night's performance of P's & Q's—the show I'd attended. "All those rules are all coming back to me now," one of the women said. "Yes," said another. "And I don't think I'll feel confident toasting anyone, ever again." People stood around and admired Pennsylvania Hospital's beautiful architecture, and I was proud of myself for knowing my way around the building well enough to direct a few people toward the bathrooms. It was going to be a fun evening.

Amnesia Curiosa
A couple of things you should know before you decide to see one of the remaining performances of Amnesia Curiosa: (1) You do not enter at the main entrance to Pennsylvania Hospital. Go down eighth street and look for the Fringe sandwich board. It's near the gate to the courtyard. (2) Be prepared to climb a lot of stairs. Four flights, before you get to your seat. (3) There is no elevator. (4) There are no bad seats. (5) Actually, they're all bad seats. Wood, straight back (it's a wall), no cushions. Just try not to sit near a column. If you've got luck like mine, you'll end up squished into the corner. (6) You will have approximately four inches of leg room. I'm 5'2", but between the straight backs of the seats and the squishing and the inability to cross my legs, I can't say that I was exactly comfortable at the venue. But I don't think that the performers want you to be. (Oh yeah—there's also no air conditioning.)

All of that being said, I should also tell you that Amnesia Curiosa is quite an impressive piece of performance. It was the first time during the Festival that I found myself moved to tears. Now, it's not hard to move me to tears. I inherited, from my mother, the ability to weep if I see so much as a Hallmark commercial. But this was different. I was suppressing sobs, a feeling so visceral that I thought I might run out of the room at one point, if it wasn't for the fact that would literally mean crowd surfing to the exit. I don't expect everyone to have that reaction to this piece, but a traumatic childhood experience relating to the death of a bird came flooding back to me at three different times during the show. It wasn't pleasant, but it was beautiful.

Amnesia Curiosa was created and performed by Geoff Sobelle and Trey Lyford, whom you might recognize from productions at Pig Iron. Their acting is rooted in physicality; over the hour or so of the show, they take on several different characters who come alive with simple shifts in posture. There are also some fantastic tricks with long lengths of string that seemingly materialize out of nowhere and then hang suspended across the amphitheatre. And then, there's the banana. Arguably the show's most amusing vignette, it made me flash back to all the cognitive neuroscience classes I took on the subject of attention and memory back at Penn. And in their own, unique way, they got it.
Festival Rating: Very good to excellent.

The Sea
I met up with Star at the Wilma, and as much as I'd enjoyed catching Amnesia Curiosa all by my lonesome, it was nice to have company after the personal trauma that accompanied Amnesia Curiosa. Star and I have similar tastes in musical theatre, anyway, so who better than she to accompany me to this one-man rock opera?

Even though I'd seen three songs from The Sea at Canary Promotions' Fifth Anniversary bash, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, and I amused myself (privately—I didn't tell Star) by thinking that this might be a little like The Decemberists' "The Mariner's Revenge Song," or even worse, like Iron Maiden's version of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." I wasn't surprised that it was like neither of these, but there's not exactly a lot of sea-faring rock music to draw inspiration from.

Writer/performer James Sugg (who I think had been growing his hair and beard especially for The Sea—it looked very nautical) has an incredibly versatile voice, shifting between a rough sixty-something fisherman and his younger, clearer self. Each song is unique and has its own interesting sound. Lyrics range from angry to sweet to positively dirty (do you know what a hooker is?), and the accompaniment ranges from Sugg's own acoustic guitar and accordion, to keyboard, drums, electric guitar, and the aforementioned-in-Star's-review bass-trombone combination of one of the band members. I'll also agree with Star's thoughts on the end, which certainly feels abrupt. I felt like I'd missed something in the middle there. The piece is forty-five minutes long and could easily be longer, with a little filler material in the middle to explain how we got from "there" to "here."

There were times I felt more like I was watching a Radiohead concept album being performed than like I was watching a rock opera. That's not a bad thing. I like concept albums. The songs all match each other thematically, but there isn't much of a plot—the audience is given hints as each song is introduced with a chapter and chapter heading, but there's not a lot of story. Maybe because there's nobody else performing with Sugg (his excellent band excluded). I was happy to listen to the music and more than happy to watch Sugg and Co. perform it live, but I struggled with the definition of "rock opera." Doesn't mean that I wouldn't buy the soundtrack. I would, and in a heartbeat.

The Sea is truly Fringe (even though it's technically Live Arts), and well worth seeing if you're into good music and entertaining live musicians. Just don't go expecting Tommy.
Festival rating: Good to very good.

Keep reading through the weekend. I'll be posting reviews as I write them, so you don't miss any limited-run shows!