Thursday, March 28, 2024

Fringe Review: Sunny Days Ahead

Who: Pondside Media
What: Sunny Days Ahead
Length: 40 Minutes
WhereHamilton Fringe Festival Digital Exclusives Series
When: July 15-25, 2021
Tickets: From $5 -$20 via the Hamilton Fringe Festival Box Office

Sunny Days Ahead may be a bit of a misleading title for this show. Thanks to the irresistible charm of best friends Walt (Josh Loewen) and Pete (Alex Sykes), the sunshine is already here.

Walt and Pete have teamed up to make a film about Walt’s life, beginning to end, for a high school project. By the end of the first minute it’s hard not to wish for Walt’s immortality so you could watch his antics forever.

This is an exploration of life, both Walt’s and life in general. Loewen and Sykes successfully utilize everything from stop-motion animation to rap to an inexplicable but very wise giraffe to tell their multimedia tale. We start at the very beginning of time and get to know all of the most important aspects of Walt’s history, including his family tree and an asparagus-heavy puberty. Walt’s future is more uncertain, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing, as the boys (and the wise giraffe) learn. This is a story about joy, about fear, and about what roles they play in our lives. While these questions are often without definitive answers, one place you’re certain to find joy is within Sunny Days Ahead.

Bursting with wit, imagination, and the courage to unselfconsciously create, this piece is sure to leave your cheeks aching from the smile it elicits throughout. Both Loewen, who also wrote Sunny Days Ahead, and Sykes, who co-directed with Loewen, are absolute delights onscreen and brilliantly creative behind the camera. Their characters’ friendship is refreshingly wholesome and unguarded. Everything from the cinematography and script to the acting and soundtrack are without fault.

Every once in a while a show comes along that hits every mark so perfectly it sets a new standard. This is that show.

Maxie Dara
Maxie Dara
Maxie is a freelance writer, journalist and award-winning playwright based in Hamilton with a love of theatre and decidedly too many cats.

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