WINNER OF
"GEORGIA STRAIGHT PICK OF THE FRINGE"
EXTRA SHOWS ADDED

AND NOW CURRENTLY BEING HELD-OVER
at the
Heights Performance Centre
Burnaby
To book call:
778 371 9343 or
604 614 8471

Wed-Fri 7pm
Sat 2pm

Check out an interview here

Terminal City

Clearly those New Zealanders have more to export than just drunk sheep-shaggers and lush film settings, as Jonno Katz illustrated Saturday night by stealing his own show (Yes! It's true!!) even before he went down on the audience (Also true!). Unpredictable, witty and a sensitive lover, Katz not only stayed in three different characters but also managed to nurture an erratic plot and a relationship with all present while on a trek through the hot and unforgiving desert. It deserves more exclamation marks than the paper will allow, so thusly, if you can't get tickets, it is imperative that you either steal them or sneak in.
- CN

The Westender (reprinted from Victoria's Monday Mag)

Rubber faced and mesmerizing as a snake charmer, Australian Jonno Katz takes us on a brain-twisting walkabout in CACTUS, a one-man slice of surrealism that transpires during a trudge through the desert. Initially alone, Phil is soon joined by two companions, ambulatory hallucinations that provoke shifting realities, both external and psychological. CACTUS was co-written by Katz and Mark Chavez (one-half of Fringe fave Sabotage), so fans can probably guess that process trumps content, in a Mobius-strip storyline held together by a remarkable, always amusing performance. Call it Beckett goes Bonkers; call it definitely worth seeing.

- RM ****

Vancouver Sun

Jonno Katz is one wacky lad. This cheeky monkey from Melbourne offers an hour of gifted and giddy comedy, skewed in those strange ways we’ve come to love from the antipodes. In bare feet and a bad suit. Katz shambles onstage to start a multi-layered monologue about wandering in the desert. Friendly Phil’s companions are Yuri the limping Russian and a simp named Eric, and Katz conveys all kinds of odd exchanges between them by bouncing back and forth amidst lots of tight lighting cues. Whether breaking into digressions about losing his virginity (or did he?) or wondering if his friends even exist, Katz never stops shifting his focus from one “reality” to the next/ Katz is sublimely skilled despite his tender years, and CACTUS is as good as intricate oddball nonsense gets.

- Peter Birnie

Georgia Straight

Of the shows I saw that didn't quite work, this one is the smartest and most charming. Australian monologist Jonno Katz ambitiously tackles the relationship between performer and audience, specifically the underlying loneliness. His persona is beguiling in an ironic, naughty way, and the piece is layered; Katz addresses us as himself and takes breaks to perform a story about a guy named Phil who's wandering through the desert with a compulsive liar and a sensitive gay guy. The ending, in which the actor directly asks for love, is surprisingly moving but the preceding bits aren't as funny as they want to be, partly because Katz doesn't have the physical precision needed to carry off the creation of quickly overlapping realities.
- Colin Thomas

www.theboards.bc.ca

Very very funny. A bit dirty, but not too. A more or less scripted piece with room for tangents, asides, and audience interactions. The humour and writing are very smart, without being clever for clever’s sake; I am always a big fan of puns and word play. The best part of the show: Jonno Katz crowd surfing to the top row of the theatre. A feat in itself.
- AG *****