Uno Fest - All the world's a stage

And one man in his time plays many parts

By Penny Pitcher

Shakespeare could have been writing about Uno Fest, a curated festival of one-person theatre held in Victoria every May since 1988. Now in its 19 season, Intrepid Theatre first launched Uno Fest as a showcase for solo performers from around the world. 

The 14 shows this year run the gamut from the top of a tightrope to a final phone conversation, from life behind bars to a support group for Elizabethan literary figures. Some of these plays were selected through an application process, while other performers are invited, perhaps because the selection committee is familiar with the artist or the piece, or wishes to support a particular artist in the development of new work. However, the work must be finished, recently performed, and 45-90 minutes in length.

Early Bird tickets to all shows at both The Metro Studio and Intrepid Theatre Club are $17 and available until April 15. The opening night performance of every show is Pay-What-You-Can for tickets at the door.

Uno Fest, North America’s longest running festival of solo performance, runs May 19 to May 29. Intrepid Theatre has presented more than 300 live solo performances: comedy, drama, theatre for young audiences, cabaret, musical theatre, physical theatre, puppetry, clown, spoken word, multimedia, storytelling and stand up.

Artists usually perform two or three times at either Intrepid Theatre or Metro Studio with technical, promotion, and box office support. Uno Fest also provides hotel accommodation and travel expenses for the performer, performance fees being negotiated individually before the festival.

And YOU can help. Select the online volunteer application for Uno Fest or phone 250-383-2663. Volunteers help to sell tickets, answer questions, bartend, host artists, distribute posters and programmes, collect surveys, set up and run special events, and make deliveries by bike and car.

One-person shows give the performer power, control, and total responsibility over the performance. The relief for the solo actor is that he or she has no one depending upon him or her, but the challenge lies in the fact that he or she has no one else upon whom to depend—it is just the actor and the audience, a risky, albeit exhilarating, endeavour.