THEATRE | Vancouver Fringe Fest offers up Sara Bynoe’s Sparkle Bunny: The Last Raver Dancing

Sara Bynoe, creative genius behind “Sparkle Bunny”.

Sigh. Rave culture was fun. And Sarah Bynoe’s one woman Fringe Fest show, Sparkle Bunny: The Last Raver Dancing, manages to capture its magic.

The show, which was originally performed (in a very different form) in 2004, has obviously benefited from being workshopped. Bynoe’s turn as the eponymous Sparkle Bunny, though deliberately ridiculous, is both funny and touching. And particularly among her Fringe contemporaries (many of whom are untrained teens), Bynoe’s tight performance stands out.

As with any one-person show, Sparkle Bunny is faced with the daunting task of keeping the audience sufficiently interested.

Bynoe works hard to make that happen, without the aid of other actors or distractions. Though there were a few technical glitches (exceedingly normal for any fringe show), she rolled with the punches well, and her smooth-improv proved that, though young, Bynoe’s no mere new comer.

Despite the fact that much of the play could be condensed (many of its points and gags are repeated multiple times) and though we could all see the ending coming from well over a mile away (you’ll likely suspect where the show is going a mere five minutes in), the journey is no less entertaining as a result.

Bynoe’s already a local favourite who hosts regular Teen Angst Poetry nights that link to her book, Teen Angst: A Celebration of Really Bad Poetry, which came out earlier this year, and Sparkle Bunny: The Last Raver Dancing is similarly ingenious.

It both makes fun of, and gets nostalgic about, our embarrassing cultural past, and if you’re old enough to have raved in the 90s, you’ll appreciate it.

A version of this review published in Dose on September 12, 2005. See clipping below. Sara remains a super cool person, doing super cool things.

Published in Dose, September 12, 2005.