After winning stunning reviews this summer at the 2012 Montreal Fringe Festival, the play Let’s Start a Country is back in full force for a four day run at Mainline theater. The play is an interactive experience in which actors Gerard Harris and Shane Adamczak (replacing Asaf Gerchak, who co-created the play with Harris) play off audience suggestions to not only create amusing stand up comedy but, as the title suggests, a whole new country!
One of the sad things about covering a great festival like the Montreal Fringe Festival is that there’s never enough time to see everything you want to see. And while I saw amazing stuff like Kirsten Rasmussen play TOUGH! and Drag Queens ride tricycles, Let’s start a Country was one of the shows I sadly missed, so I was thrilled when Mainline theater invited Forget The Box to come check out the show on opening night. The basic idea of the show is this; with Harris and Adamczak as the founding fathers and the audience as the Parliament, you spend 60 minutes coming up with your new country’s name, national fighting style and even a flag!
I was slightly disappointed not to see the show with Asaf, who I always enjoyed as a co-host at the Edge of the City live podcasts. But Adamczak, who I’ve also seen perform at Edge of the City shows, is an equally energetic and funny man who was more than up for the task of stepping into Asaf’s shoes. Be it with weird history facts about founding countries or demonstrating the way people pray to their gods, the mood of the evening was unbelievably silly. With audience participation crucial to the success of the show, a lot rides on the performances of the actors. Not surprisingly, both Harris and Adamcazk were so charming that as an audience member you can’t help but smile and go along with it every crazy request they throw your way.
The great thing about the show is that every time it’ll be different; while I got to be part of creating the great nation of Beeravoot, who’s national fighting style is snuggling and who’s national flag had an octagon and Rosemary’s baby, you’ll get to experience something completely new!
Let’s Start a Country runs until Saturday. For more information contact Mainline Theater.
