Anastasia Maywood and Krista Lin in The Birds, AM Choreography at Edmonton Fringe 2025. Photo by Mat Simpson
The Birds (Stage 1, ATB Westbury Theatre)
By Liz Nicholls,
“The wonders of the avian world” can be yours, my friends, via this “flock-umentary,” which trains the bird-watcher opera glasses on the the birth, adolescence, courtship, mating, parenting rituals of a pair of rare Edmonton albino magpies.
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Wait, you’d swear that the bird duo onstage (Anastasia Maywood and Krista Lin) are almost human. The fun and charm of this kooky creation — far from bird-brained — directed by Christine Lesiak, is the inventive cross-species physical comedy of it all. The commitment of the star birds to the premise is, well, intense, and funny. And it’s supplemented by annotations beaked by one of those hushed and solemn documentarians in voice-over.
There they are, “as if choreographed by Nature herself,” in perpetual motion in this birding expedition, all flighty and twitching, with an ingenious lexicon of flurries of movement, lyrical moves, and that weird bird-y neck-forward propulsion thing birds do (OK, it’s true I wasn’t a biology major).
First, though, a pair of bird-watchers with binoculars point at fascinating examples of avian wildlife among us. Look, a bald-headed eagle! OMG, “blond-headed booby. And so far north!”
Then, in reverse binocular action, we see our feathered protagonists in their natural habitat, as they squirm out of their shells and tumble out of the nest. They grow up fast. “Birds must attract a mate.… Or DIE!” says the sepulchral voice as the stars prep for some sexy club action. The haute-fashion show of species-specific models strutting their fancy get-ups on the runway is a hooooot. “Versace for Flamingo … Gap for mallard duck.” There’s a very amusing hatching. And there’s even an inspired Evolution game show.
The ingenuity and physical precision of actor/dancers Maywood and Lin doesn’t stop. Poor Emily Dickinson had it a bit wrong. It’s not hope but comedy that’s a feathered thing.
