CULTURE GECKO
The Day the Beanstalk Market Crashed is a Technical Triumph of Ingenuity, Satirical Marvel of a Modern Day Fairytale
By Ezekiel McAdams
August 4 2025
Vancouver’s Mind of a Snail Company's The Day The Beanstalk Market Crashed should be studied and revered for the technical prowess it so effortlessly displays.
This production stars Mind of Snail co-creators Chloe Ziner (Jack Von Beansprout) and Jessica Gabriel as the goose.
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This as a masterful production that executes projectors, projection screens, the use of camera angles, hand puppets with expert precision. Using the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk as a blueprint and launching pad,
The Beanstalk Market is able to capture biting satire, themes of environmentalism and capitalism with a humorous bent that never feels heavy handed or forced instead it launches into a realm of absurdity, avant-garde that transforms high concept spectacle into a brilliant piece of art and theatre.
Ziner perfectly uses facial expressions, physical comedy and heightened by the inventive use of a camera to capture their character’s downward spiral. Their affectations help create a strong character personality that allows the juxtaposition of the absurd and experimental piece to truly shine.
Gabriel as the goose provides the foil to Ziner’s Beansprout with her sullen, vacant or nonchalant expressions to truly differentiate the two characters and allowing the absurdity to delve into David Lynch territory.
Simply put, The Day the Beanstalk Market Crashed is an exquisite, exemplary feast for not just lovers of theatre, the Fringe but anyone who appreciates art.
The Day the Beanstalk Market Crashed by Mind of a Snail Company is running at the Broadway Theatre at the Saskatoon Fringe Festival July 31-August 9th in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Tickets can be bought online here, the box office or the venue itself.