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The fringe is often at its best when it throws you something you weren’t expecting, and Blip Blarp: An Alien Love Story does exactly that. Alicia Queen’s solo show is an inventive blend of physical theatre, clowning, dance, burlesque and multimedia that manages to be very funny while also exploring some very human feelings.
The set-up is delightfully absurd. Blip Blarp lands on Earth intending to conquer it by producing a thousand offspring, only to find that modern dating is far tougher than intergalactic conquest. What follows is a comic but unexpectedly touching scramble for love, acceptance, and connection.
One of the production’s greatest strengths is its imaginative use of technology, which creates a convincing sense of interaction beyond the solo performer. Queen’s physical performance is outstanding, comic, graceful, and unashamedly sensual when the story calls for it. I loved the music too!
There’s room for the humour to stretch into stranger or sharper territory, given how bold the premise already is. Much of the humour has a deliberately dry edge, which suits the character, but a broader range of comic styles could widen its appeal. The audience when I attended was smaller than the show deserved, but this is one that warrants a much bigger crowd.
Cleverly conceived, technically inventive and anchored by a terrific central performance, Blip Blarp is bold and quintessentially Fringe.
Reviewed by Pat Harrington
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