The Ride Along: An Immersive Theatre Adventure for Two
The Ride Along: An Immersive Theatre Adventure for Two
By Josè Peréz IV
Fight Theatre
Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival, Bring Your Own Venue</strong>
This is the first Fringe show I had to sign a waiver to attend. The concept is clever if economically dicey, two lucky ticket holders sit in the back seat of a stolen car and chase cross dressing drug dealers around the Loch Haven Park area. My partner in training (Matt Palm) and I rode with Agent D and Agent Lopez. She’s the tough Riot Grrrl, he’s the doofus that get locked in the trunk. Instructions come to us from a mysterious man in a tablet computer as we careen down the brick streets of Loch Haven sounding like a tire is about to go flat. While the story line is a bit goofy, the fights are amazing; it really looks like we ran over some random drug dealer on the sidewalk. Off in the night we run into other bad guys in various parking lots and back alleys, climaxing with a samurai battle between Lopez and two very tough drag queens. I never understand why Japanese’s style sword fighters are so polite to each other, but eventually good triumphs and we return to the Festival parking lot complete with certificates of achievement. What really stuck me was the fight choreography and its sound effects, sitting in the back of the car we heard swishes, thuds and all those other batman SFX action movies have taught us to expect. And these fighters really nailed them; I don’t think I heard one effect that wasn’t perfectly on beat with a fist thrown or an arm broken. Jump on this ticket fast, only 46 people will take this ride, and 6 of them have already gone.
This production is part of the 2014 Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival. Information on tickets and show times may be found at http://OrlandoFringe.org/
