{"id":18377,"date":"2019-10-10T10:05:47","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T17:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=18377"},"modified":"2019-10-10T10:05:47","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T17:05:47","slug":"weaksauce-earns-its-name-several-times-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2019\/10\/10\/weaksauce-earns-its-name-several-times-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Weaksauce<\/em> earns its name several times over"},"content":{"rendered":"

I expected Sam Mullins\u2019 Weaksauce and Other Stories<\/em>\u00a0would be a show where one man takes possession of a small stage, bringing it alive with story.<\/p>\n

This came partly true.\u00a0At some points, Mullins (a UVic alumnus and two-time Canadian Comedy Award-winner who has contributed to This American Life<\/em>, Definitely Not the Opera<\/em>, and more) owns the stage, but never once does he tell a story.<\/p>\n

His anecdotes start out strong: he begins by describing his early life as an awkward, bumbling teenager.\u00a0His movements are sweeping and skilful, and he energetically tells a tale of a classic love triangle, leaving the audience howling with laughter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

His characters are cute and charming but don\u2019t evolve beyond that\u2014this can also be said of the writing overall. Any particular tale is clich\u00e9d, cute, and safe. It doesn\u2019t push any boundaries or step outside of its comfort zone.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0fine, but that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n

Then, he tells another tale, and it\u2019s all over the place\u2014it jumps from one character to the next, then, before we get to know any of them, it abruptly ends on a dark note that completely takes the audience by surprise\u2026 but not the good kind of surprise. The characters are mentioned so briefly they barely exist, so when an unexpected emotional event happens, intended to make a visceral connection with the audience, it falls flat.<\/p>\n

The trouble is that Mullins tells anecdotes, not stories. A story has characters with deliberate development, intertwining plot threads, a cohesive resolution.\u00a0An anecdote is a series of happenings with nothing binding them together: no structure, progression, or cohesive conclusion. It will never truly engage a listener, because it does not have the substance to.<\/p>\n

Tonight was content-rich but story-poor.\u00a0Although there was a lot told, very little of it had substantive meaning or impact.<\/p>\n

It was, definitively, Weaksauce<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Weaksauce and Other Stories
\n<\/em>Various times, until Saturday, October 19
\nVarious prices, Phoenix Theatre, UVic
\n($16 student rush tickets available 30 minutes before every show)
\nphoenixtheatres.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I expected Sam Mullins\u2019 Weaksauce and Other Stories\u00a0would be a show where one man takes possession of a small stage, bringing it alive with story. This came partly true.\u00a0At some points, Mullins (a UVic alumnus and two-time Canadian Comedy Award-winner who has contributed to This American Life, Definitely Not the Opera, and more) owns the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t