JEM ROLLS: I, IDIOT by Rolls (Jem Rolls). At Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace. July 6 at 8:15 pm, July 7 at 6:45 pm, July 8 at 1 pm, July 9 at 4 pm, July 10 at 10:15 pm, July 11 at 8:15 pm, July 12 at 1 pm, July 15 at 12:30 pm. See listing. Rating: NNN
Festival mainstay Jem Rolls, a late addition to this year’s Fringe, brings another spoken word solo show to town, and it’s a mixed bag about his own, and humankind’s, idiocy.
Lanky, voluble and energetic he’s like a Dickens character come to life Rolls rolls through a number of topics: Canadian politeness interpretive dance post-modernism.
There are nuggets of brilliance, like his depiction of the proliferation of clowns in this city, or his desire to rid himself of useless facts (which he calls a “factectomy”).
But the show lacks a cohesive structure a shame, because a story about a pilgrimage through Spain could have provided one.
