THE JACKIE SHOW is the latest original theatrical offering from Kingbaby Productions and features the unique talents of performer and writer Jackie Minns. 

Sneak Peek: See photos from THE JACKIE SHOW!

Combining her talents, as both a strong comedic and dramatic actress, honed over a 30-year career, Jackie has crafted a hilarious and poignant one-woman show that tells the stories of five women and one man who find themselves in significant moments of transformation in the middle years of their lives.

Minns shifts between diverse and fully realized characters while the piece always stays rooted in the universal stories that unfold.

The stories are woven together by the eldest character: a wise old street clown, Mad Mabel — the ubiquitous observer.  She watches the world around her and the people, “still living it, stuck in the middle of their lives…just like the creamy inside of an Oreo cookie. Well, the sweet creamy middle of my life got licked up a long time ago.”

For solace and warmth she frequents a store where she watches their big screen TV; there she settles on an episode of The Hour of Empower featuring prime-time new-age goddess, “Angel.”  Angel tearfully confesses to her audience, that though she is at the pinnacle of power and prestige, she suffers from imposter syndrome.  She invites everyone to admit their own worthlessness, performs psychic readings, hawks jewelry and eventually receives a lesson in simple kindness from The 14th Dalai Lama. 

“Joe” is a tour de force mime/movement vignette of a day in the life of a man searching for some meaning while caught in the mundane machine of soulless work.

“Bizzy Lizzy” is too busy to die.  An untimely end is what she faces and all the technology she has embraced cannot fend off the inevitable.  Lizzy moves frantically between her car, her yoga class, her gynecologist, her psychiatrist and her book club, all the while tending to the constant vibration of her iPhone.   A habitual multitasker, she pays bills while making love with her husband and arranges luncheon dates while meditating.  While she longs for a peace and quiet she can only imagine exists, her only source of guidance is Gail, her Global Positioning System who delivers her to her ultimate destination.

The audience becomes an essential part of the fourth story when they find themselves in a fitness class led by Svetlatta Frumbutchik, an Eastern European, Pirogi teacher.  “Pirogi is pilates, aerobics, and yoga, together, battling for supremacy.  If you are afraid, leave now.”  Svetlatta, the chain smoking instructor, brings members of the audience up on stage for a dance party, but finally, in a hilarious and absurd twist, reveals her essential passion for performance poetry, delivered in her native language to a single member of the audience.

The symphony’s final movement is “Shirley.”  A low-rent mom has stalked her upwardly mobile and soon to be out of her life son on Facebook and finds herself at her very first symphony concert:  Mahler’s Symphony #2.  Her “fish out of water” behavior as she crinkles cellophane candy wrappers and shouts out advice to her son during the concert is cringe inspiring, but ultimately the force of the music draws her into a deep examination of her own life and a soulful redemption as her heart and previously stifled imagination is unexpectedly burst open by the power of Mahler.

Though the stories and characters of the Jackie Show are diverse, they resonate together in their shared experience of courage in the face of transformation and in the love, humour and pathos that Minns brings to each piece.

AUDIENCE REVIEWS:

“Last night's show was hysterically funny and thought provoking in 70 minutes of rollercoaster emotions! Brilliant writing and performance! So glad I went and I'd go again in a minute! Thanks Jackie and David! BRAVO!!!”

“Thank you for the entertainment of the year. You are a powerhouse in the expression of stories and emotions.”

“Don't miss this!! Hilarious, witty, heart breaking, thoughtful - but mostly really, really funny. How lucky we are to have you Jackie, performing brilliantly for us on our wee isle.”

“Any sufficiently trained actor can alternate laughter and tears—but producing them both in the same moment?  That’s magic.”

“Thank you for that show, for that performance.”

--Spider Robinson/Author
“OMG!!  Jackie is brilliant in 70 minutes of laughter and tears! She is just stunning and this is not to be missed!  Would go again in a minute.  Amazing show with very little props and perfect music-touching and hysterical.  Thanks Jackie and David!!”

“JACKIE ! LOVED every second of your moving, sweet, creative, bold, hysterical, and poignant show last night. Such a range and depth of work to be so proud of. JACKIE is a must see. Thank you for all you do and to David too.”