My overall impression
The idea behind The Video Games was really brilliant and the execution of it, using the audience interaction to vote on the outcome, created a great atmosphere of fun and creativity. The four hosts were excellent, especially Amber Lawson, in their animated performance and they really livened the stage. The background pianist creating the ambient music was great but I felt the constant playing of it competed with a lot of the dialogue and I couldn’t hear some of the punch lines.
As a fight choreographer, I have to applaud the effort of the entire cast for the work they put in having to study every fight. This was necessary, especially since the outcome could change on any given night. Kudos to everyone on that. Although some fights were funny it could have been a lot funnier by utilizing the projections established early on to highlight some of the powers of the characters. If using video affects were not an option then the big cast were certainly at their disposal. For example, characters who were not in a fight yet or killed off could have thrown on a black hoodie and come back to do some lifts giving the characters on stage more flying abilities or help with animating the life a weapon that was thrown. I say if you’re gonna go goofy then go balls to the wall.
The audience really enjoyed it though and the cast looked like they had fun. And that is the most important thing.
Go see The Video Games. It is in the spirit of the Fringe: Outrageous. And it is a lot of fun.
