Comprehensive coverage of Ottawa’s Fringe Festival
Motley hails from Melbourne, Australia; for one reason or another, Australians tend to do really well at the Ottawa Fringe. It seems to be because they’re especially friendly and they tour great shows. Good thing, too: we make it worth their while to travel halfway around the world to present a one-hour show, and it’s certainly worth our while to be able to see them. Dirk Darrow is no exception to this rule. It’s pretty much a guaranteed good time.
McCullagh states from the outset that this is not a show that has a beginning, middle and end. Instead, it is a series of gags linked together by the momentum that McCullagh himself provides. Yet as an audience member it is difficult not to expect some kind of resolution, some denouement to the show. This is likely the reason that McCullagh included the game show aspect, which pits the performer against the audience and assigns fairly arbitrary points according to how “smart” they are. And this is really the best part of the show. It encourages audience participation beautifully and creates a truly interesting dynamic. Sadly, though, it receives the least attention out of all the parts, and in the end is shown to matter fairly little.
