“There Ain’t No More” Offers Plenty – Teresa Leggard, Fringe Reviewer

In There Ain’t No More: Death of a Folksinger, Willi Carlisle uses 5 different instruments to tell one interesting story, and he does it all at a dizzying pace.

The small stage at Phosphor Studio was strategically littered with props, set pieces, and instruments. From the moment he walked on, Willi Carlisle expertly darted in, out, and around them, weaving a composite narrative of a particular American experience.

The man is well rehearsed, that’s for sure. He jumps from bawdy joke to protest song to dramatic monologue without missing a beat. Not a moment’s wasted, either, as the audience watches him change scenes and sets, costumes and characters before its eyes. Carlisle and director Joseph Fletcher maximized this hour, filling it to nearly overflowing with 5 years of collected research.

The mix of “high” and low, like the bar humor (if you blush easy, sit in the back) and quoting Philip Larkin, also felt distinctly American. It certainly made the narrator out to be one sly voice from Podunk.

The performance is ambitious and polished. The point of view is clear, well-informed, and unpretentious. Carlisle and Fletcher’s goal is clear. To quote the narrator: “Mostly I’m just a man who needs a audience.” Aren’t we all, brother, aren’t we all?