Ill-advised Philly Fringe 2015

For the last month at WNWN, we’ve been helping you decipher this year’s Festival. But I think it’s important to also cast a weather eye on those shows that your doctor, your priest, your mom, or your common sense might want you to steer clear of.

We’re not shrinking violets when it comes to the arts, but sometimes, before buying tickets, we must ask ourselves: is this really a good idea?

Claustrophobic? Afraid of the dark?

Take Dissever My Soul ($15) from Widener University’s Lone Brick Theatre Company. It’s happening in Germantown, at Historic Rittenhouse Town, 208 Lincoln Drive. The 90-minute show about the real-life Edgar Allan Poe has only 15 tickets available per performance and claims to start with “a draught of laudanum” for everyone, so the audience can fall into a kind of netherworld full of Poe’s own characters.

It’s an interactive show that takes place partly outside, and it’ll have you standing, walking, and climbing stairs in addition to the gentle threat of being scared to death: “Members of the audience may also be left alone, in the dark, or in confined spaces for brief periods.” Also, the actors will offer food and drink: “should audience members have allergy concerns, they are strongly encouraged to decline when food is offered.”

No gluten- and peanut-free macrobiotic paleo snacks here, I guess. Consult with your doctor and therapist. Dissever My Soul is coming September 4-19.

‘Watch the show or be the show’

At least the Poe show won’t tamper too much with your mind. But if you want to risk that, there’s always Reimagine Your Reality: Comedy Hypnosis Show ($24) from “local hypnotist” Frank Perri. Speaking of questionable actions, According to FringeArts, we should know that he “once hugged a wild cheetah.” The catalog promises “an unforgettable exhibition of the mind that you and your friends will be laughing about for a long time to come.” But there’s also what I’d call a pretty big caveat: “Watch the show or be the show! 100% audience participation.” It’s coming to the Skybox at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom Street, 3rd Floor, September 3-6.

If you don’t like surprises, it’s probably also best to steer clear of Soledad Ensemble’s Here At Home ($15), running September 7-19. “Once upon a time there was a woman. Once upon a time there was a house. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Oh, welcome! So glad you’re home!”

Who the hell is home? Why are they knocking if they live there? Where is this even happening? Does this sound like the trailer of a horror movie to anyone else? The venue (“A Special Space”) isn’t given until after you buy your ticket.

The Pope (and beer)

I should also probably include Pope Up from Philadelphia Sculptors, at Globe Dye Works, 4500 Worth Street, September 5-19. The experience is free, which is good, but artists are offering “offbeat, humorous, and maybe even sacrilegious interpretations of all things ‘Popish.’” They “spare no brushstroke, chisel, or technology as they skewer, applaud, and perhaps make us question what we believe in.” With our city expecting hundreds upon thousands of devout Catholics to put us on the map in September, maybe (for those of us who aren’t just getting the hell out of town) it’s not the best time to question faith?

Finally, not buying a ticket (or buying one, whatever) may be a no-brainer for Happy Hour Live’s Bye Bye Liver: The Philadelphia Drinking Play ($20), “because your favorite part in any play is the bar at intermission.”

Ooookay.

It’s “two parts sketch comedy, one part drinking games: Mixed and served.” There will be interactive drinking games like “Would You Rather” in between comedy sketches. Drinking Play launched in Philly over three years ago, and we’re all presumably still standing. It’s happening every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the Fest at 8pm at Urban Saloon, 2120 Fairmount Avenue.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you about any of this.

For details and the full lineup of this year’s Festival, visit FringeArts online.

At right: Laudanum, anyone? Image from Dissever My Soul courtesy of FringeArts.