Jen Buder is Right On Track
Roller Derby Saved My Soul by Nancy Kenny is a fantastic and tender-hearted script selection for any Fringe Festival—but Theatre Kingston’s Fringe Festival has the unique advantage of also featuring Jen Buder.
A one woman show is an entirely independent spectacle: it is the responsibility of the sole performer to fill the entire theatre space all on her own. In the snug boundaries of the Tett Centre’s TK Studio, Jen Buder not only fills the stage, but outscales it. Conveying the story of meek ultra-geek Amy and her transformative adventure into the world of roller derby, Buder delivers a hand carved performance; every single line was attentively shaped to its own specific significance.
There is an intense emphasis on upholding a story almost entirely through script when little to no blocking action is taking place: it’s only the actor, the space, and the words. I must give the woman her flowers—she is a graceful roller skater, and yes, she skates in the show, following an awkwardly lengthy outfit change onstage. Buder does a wonderful job of adding movement to a piece in which she has no scene partner to interact with. The solo blocking—presumably choreographed by Buder herself—is intuitive and characteristically distinct, making her switches between personas easy to follow. Her physicality is strongly linked to each of the three characters she phases into.
A lack of consideration from the stage management team combined with spatial restrictions from the venue resulted in the unpleasant experience of hearing the stage management conversations mid-show, even from my spot furthest from their booth. It was awkward to hear an audible “Go” before any lighting cue. Light changes were initially easy to follow as they marked the switches from one character to another—Amy being in blue and June in pink—but as the show went on, cues seemingly devolved into either colour at complete random. Now, this show breaks the fourth wall by design, but the stage management made me keenly aware of a fifth wall, which was then broken as well. The stage crew thoroughly abandoned Buder, cementing Roller Derby Saved My Soul as a genuine one woman show.
Sole actress Jen Buder powered through. She was lovely, nerdy, and goofily crushable. I found her completely at home in the role of Amy, freshening up the old “lovable nerd” trope and filling the cups of all true underdog-lovers out there. Buder captured such range in Amy: her seeming innocence, her irrational self-hatred, her lack of girl friends, her issues with identity—her inability to accept success if she is anything less than Wonder Woman. Buder’s great achievement with Roller Derby Saved My Soul is how strongly she believed in its truth: that denying your potential is futile—eventually, you’ve got to call off the jam.
‘Roller Derby Saved My Soul’ runs until August 14 at the Tett Centre as part of the 2026 TK Fringe Festival. For tickets and more information, click here.
