Start Swimming

A beautifully acted, directed, and composed piece that will keep you thinking long after the show. The show demands your attention in all the best ways. Easily one of the best and most inventive shows I've seen this year. ... full review

Abstract, surreal and I didn't expect to like it so much. ... full review

With it's percussive chant-like poetry, Start Swimming is a call for revolution. This piece haunted me into the next day and when I tried to describe it to my mother on the phone, I choked up. This is not your usual Fringe show, nor is it for everyone, but if you can stomach a hard look at what the young people in our culture are facing today, then absolutely see this play. ... full review

It was a great and awesome show. One of the character is my nephew and he did really good job. So proud of you Jeion Aquino ... full review

This is the kind of play I truly value, we need more of them!... full review

I enjoyed the show, it was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was like I saw a revolution. ... full review

I saw this production in February at LACC and was blown away. I had already seen a different production of Start Swimming which I thought was very good and the bar was set high. This production is out of this world. I can’t wait to see it again! If you only see one play at Fringe it must be Start Swimming. You won’t regret it!" sweet... full review

Intense AF... full review

One of the things I dig about theater as a medium is it not only allows artists to go for it in terms of concept and execution, but it encourages it. There's a place for kitchen sink drama or Mamet style biting dialog, but theater can also do away with the hand rails entirely. Instead of an answer, it can reframe the question. Start swimming is an exercise in just that. Through the self described Pavlovian rewards and punishments, answers become meaningless and arbitrary. You are on or off, you will obey or not obey and both choices are part of the plan. The answers are neither wrong nor right, the question is wrong. Not to reduce a complex play down to a trite soundbite, but it invites you to question the question. Every generation goes ... full review

What is the right answer? In a Pavlov-ian exploration of the modern world, Start Swimming asks the question, “Why?” and then attempts to explore all of the answers. In a play that James Fritz (the author) describes as, “something that would articulate how our cast felt about growing up marginalised in a major city during a time of incredible political upheaval” (Introduction, Start Swimming) this is not a resolution to the revolution. It is reason behind it. It is the story of our own minds, our hearts, and how we got to where we are now. The director, Alexandra Fiallos, has taken the text of what could be an abstract exercise in repetition on paper and delivered context in a way that only theatre may provide. It is a theatrical exper... full review