Victoria Fringe Festival '12: Visit the "Temple of Khaos:" A Satire on Civilization

Just what kind of sacrifice is needed when going to see "Temple of Khaos: A Mythic Comedy?" Perhaps a feather is required to tickle the funny bone. Or better yet, a bell, book, and candle is required to cast a spell upon the audience. One theme this Fringe play explores is in its look at how progressive civilizations are paradoxically doomed. Fortunately, all that is needed to understand this product is spending time to understand the underlying message this satire makes.

At the Victoria Fringe Festival, this show tells the tale of a Traveller (Daniel Nimmo) leaving one world and crash landing upon another. Supposedly, he’s from this planet’s future, but more story cues are needed to tell audiences if this assumption is such the case.

The Traveller has landed on a planet Gaia, and the creatures he finds crowns him ruler. As a result, he has to fight with the local gods in terms of who is in control here. Is it KHAOS or is it mankind? He tries to build a tower akin to the Tower of Babel, and the big question is when will it fall? And who is more spiteful, man or the elemental spirits that surround him?

The biblical allusions this play offers are great for those looking for a creation myth. Although the Adam and Eve story is not pivotal of the tale, the spitting of the apple reference cannot go unnoticed. It was played up more for laughs, but a deeper meaning must exist in that moment when the Traveller meets the local gods, like the mild-mannered Mishka (Nicole Ratjen).

But when he tries to civilize this alien society, the only result seems to come out of a Superman comic book. This individual takes on the traits of Bizzaro hopelessly out of his element. In one level, this production has a few characteristics of a Japanese Kabuki play with the partial makeup used, and in another, it borrows from classic Greek theatre.

To see Kristian Reimer play the blind Oracle is amusing and surreal. Both he and the costumes the performers wear suggest a study in both comedy and tragedy. And these elements are at the core of what this show is trying to project.

At the same time, the two female leads in this show, Nicole Ratjer and Amy Lester play polar opposites – perhaps deities of fortune and fate. They torment him in a myriad of ways that are both adoring and dispassionate. The actresses’ rapport is sometimes like Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance from "I Love Lucy." Sometimes that is good, but other times it is bad. To see them actually have more of a rapport would have helped but they are more often apart than together.

And instead of a straight-up plot, the show feels like a free-for-all of inter-related moments in time. The tangents this story takes are fast and furious. And with this play, to call it chaotic is an understatement. This mysterious allegorical figure known as Chaos is the ultimate controller here.

Overall: 7 out of 10.

To visit the Temple, check out their facebook at

Temple on Facebook

To learn more about the Victoria Fringe Festival, please visit:

The Victoria Fringe Festival Homepage

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Posted in: 2012,film festival,theatre,victoria,victoria film festival