Blizzard
Michelle Palansky | CBC News | Posted: July 17, 2016 1:33 PM | Last Updated: July 17, 2016
TWO STARS | A promising premise, let down by poor writing and direction
Rating: ★★
Company: Broken Record Productions, Winnipeg
Genre: Play — Dramedy
Venue: 12 — Asper Centre for Theatre and Film, University of Winnipeg
Blizzard, Kevin Longfield's claustrophobic two-hander transports Fringers to the dead of winter, in the middle of a terrible storm. An unlikely pair of travellers find themselves trapped together in a derelict motel, fighting to survive the elements, forging unlikely bonds, and uncovering terrible secrets.
Recounting a Pearly Gates joke, Norman explains that guys who are neither great nor terrible don't end up in hell, they end up in heck. 'Blizzard' is going straight to heck. - Michelle Palansky
The premise really felt like it had some legs but the writing and direction really let this production down. The dialogue was flat, the revelations were clunky, and the pacing was atrocious. Bill Moore brought a certain awkward charm to Norman, and Judy Arnason was suitably spiky as Roxanne, but they would not pick up their lines, and for me that is the cardinal sin.
Recounting a Pearly Gates joke, Norman explains that guys who are neither great nor terrible don't end up in hell, they end up in heck. Blizzard is going straight to heck.