Series 6.2: Paint on Canvas

Description
**** [FOUR STARS] Performance. Art: Those two words, in that order, are enough to strike fear into my heart in the context of the Fringe Festival. (I have been burned in the past.) So I must admit that I walked into Series 6.2: Paint on Canvas cautiously. All I knew about the show in advance was that it featured two women expressing themselves in paint and talking about being human; my friends and I had been mocking this idea all week. Could it possibly be any good? And the answer, surprisingly, is an emphatic yes. In this creative, dramatic and funny show, Becca Hackett and Katherine Randle communicate with paint as well as words—throwing, splattering and dripping colors onto a large square of canvas beneath their feet as three large reflective surfaces above them show the audience what's being created. The two women share ideas about love, marriage, death, weight loss and self-acceptance with the audience, like best friends exchanging deep secrets. When the piece ended, after barely half an hour, I found myself wanting to see them make another work of art, and another. Better than that, Hackett and Randle made me want to paint as well—and even, yes, to be more human.—Lucy Quintanilla, designer