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Sooke mime artist Trent Arterberry to perform at Victoria Fringe Festival

“Most of the work I’ve done over the last 20 years has been for kids, so I wanted to see if I could do a show that could resignate with adults.”

Sooke mime artist Trent Arterberry is preparing to tell the fascinating journey of his career in show-business through a performance at this year’s Victoria Fringe Festival.

“Most of the work I’ve done over the last 20 years has been for kids, so I wanted to see if I could do a show that could resonate with adults,” said Arterberry.

Arterberry’s performance, The Great Pretender: Autobiography of a Faker, will run six different times in the Downtown Activity Center in Victoria from Aug. 25 to Sept. 2.

“It’s a story about trying to make it in show biz and a story about being young and getting old,” said Arterberry. “It’s a story about my life, but I’m hoping a lot of people will see things from their own life reflected in it.”

The show will follow Arterberry through the ups and downs in his career during the 45 years of touring across several continents. His act is diverse as it combines traditional miming with a narrative dialogue, and many sound effects.

“It will be very funny, and hopefully it will be touching at points,” he said.

Arterberry first started miming at the age of 18 while in his first year of studying pre-med in college. He found his passion by watching mime artists such Marcel Marceau and was so intrigued, he decided to pursue it as a career.

“I remember watching these famous mimes and being amazed at how much could be communicated without saying anything,” he explained. “Someone like Marceau elevated it to such a beautiful art form that it was really inspiring.”

From then on Arterberry has spent his life performing anywhere from college campuses, schools, special events, to opening for major recording stars such as Julio Iglasias, BB King and the Kinks.

“I am a very visual person so I relate to the movement and I enjoy the illusion of miming,” said Arterberry. “The body illusion really tickles me. There’s just an eloquence about movement and charm about acting something out.”

Arterberry explained that he got involved with the Victoria Fringe Festival because he enjoys performing in a theatre setting. He has also performed at other fringe festivals in Vancouver and Toronto.

“So many of my gigs are just a one time thing. You go in, set up, do the show, tear it down and leave, and half of your energy will go in to the travelling, set up and tear down. But when you can park in a theatre and run the show, you have so much extra energy to put in to the performance, and between shows I have time to work on things and make them better.”

Tickets to the performance cost $11 for adults and $9 for students and can be purchased at the door, or in advance online at ticketrocket.co, or at the Intrepid Theatre Box Office on Blanshard Street. For more information on the Victoria Fringe Festival, please go online to intrepidtheatre.com.

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