Sean Power - Reviews & Interviews

Stuck
12 Jul 1996 - The Globe and Mail:
"At the Fringe" (by Kate Taylor)

At the Fringe

Stuck ****

If Stuck rises well above the usual one-man Fringe show about an unemplyed actor having a bad day, it is because writer David Rubinoff's spiralling text and actor Sean Power's manic performance. Power delivers a monologue as Jacob, an unemployed actor who os having a bad day - but what a day. It is filled with weird encounters on Toronto streets - a violent robber, a kind-hearted bum, two lesbians in a laundromat, a damsel in distress, a Mormon in the closet - that build into a dreamlike world of bizarre coincidences and surreal events. Jacob is broke, stoned and gay; the world he inhabits is grim, including both small acts of charity and larger acts of violence. Lots of Fringe shows carry little warnings about their content, but Stuck, which includes a graphic demonstration of a homosexual rape and a lot of references to drugs, is one where the faint-hearted or easily offended really should think twice before they enter. Nonetheless, it's easy to see why an earlier version was well received at the Rhubarb! festival at Buddies in Bad Times this year: Neither writing nor acting ever lets up.