Photo Credit:
Original photo by Susan Thompson-Gaines
Graphic design by Jonathan Benham
GABRIEL'S CORNER
Saturday, May 30 at 9:15 PM
Sunday, May 31 at 8:45 PM
Wednesday, June 3 at 7:00 PM
Friday, June 5 at 9:15 PM
Saturday, June 6 at 8:30 PM
Running time: 60 min.
7 (x1) Samurai
David Gaines
From Arlington, VA.
2009-10 ACCLAIM AWARD WINNER, Solo Performance
PREVIOUS FRINGES
Capital Fringe (2008), Phoenix Fringe (2009), Orlando International Fringe Festival (2009)
SHOW DESCRIPTION
Kurosawa's epic tale of victimized peasants, marauding bandits, and samurai warriors - retold at comic breakneck pace, through movement, by one exhausted and ridiculous actor. This piece is performed in an original energetic style with accompanying gibberish and vocal sound effects. What will surprise you: This unusual style of theatre is like Kill Bill meets The Magnificent Seven in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. It is original, different, riveting to watch, and very funny.
"'Samurai' Spoof is a Cut Above the Rest" - The Washington Post
"Mr. Gaines is as deft as anyone I've ever seen" - Washington City Paper
"The house I saw was packed to the gills, laughed throughout the performance, and gave Gaines a standing ovation when it was over." - DCist.com
"This is virtuoso performance above and beyond anything I've seen in years, at the fringe or anywhere else." - TD
"Hands down the most enjoyable show so far." - John B.
ARTIST/COMPANY BIOGRAPHY
David Gaines studied for two years at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France, after which he formed The Moving Picture Mime Show in London - which toured Europe and the world for 10 years. He then accepted M. Lecoq's invitation to join him on the faculty of the Ecole Lecoq as a professor of mask and movement.
Since leaving Paris, he has taught workshops around the U.S. and acted in plays from Waiting for Godot to The Brothers Karamazov. He taught for three years at the UMKC graduate school of Theatre before moving to the DC area.
He is a member of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit, has co-written and directed two shows for YBY Theatre in Salzburg, Austria, and recently has created two new solo pieces: A Little Business At the Big Top, performed at the 2008 NY Clown Festival; and his acclaimed 7 (x 1) Samurai opened (and was voted "Best Solo Performance") in the 2008 Capital Fringe Festival, then ran for 6 weeks and sold out at the Warehouse Theatre in Washington DC.
'AND THE FRINGIEST PART IS ...'
It is unlike anything you will see anywhere else. It is athletic, comical, and riveting to watch. It is mime that is not pretentious; clowning that is not childish; and tells this epic story of poor peasants, brutal bandits, and Samurai warriors, while being completely ridiculous and hysterically funny throughout.