Fringe Reviews
Alphabetical list of 2010 Toronto Fringe Festival Reviews
Toronto Fringe Reviews
If you’re looking for an alphabetical list of all the 2010 Fringe Festival shows we’ve covered then click here.
Clicking on a play title will take you to the review.
Enjoy!
Purely Cabaret (Esby Kabaret) – 2010 Toronto Fringe Review
By Adam Collier
A company called Esby Kabaret mounted a show as part of Fringe (a performing arts festival that ran from Wednesday June 30th to Sunday July 11th at venues throughout the Annex in Toronto). The show – with the title Purely Cabaret – was performed at St. Vladimir’s Theatre.
Purely Cabaret is a two-person show. There’s a singer (her name is Lindsay Sutherland Boal) and a pianist (Elisabeth Scholtz).
To my ear, the timbre was like three things I had heard before – Schubert’s lieder, the blues (in the way that Billie Holliday sings the blues), and tin-pan alley musicals – brought together in varying parts for each song.
The Dentist (Razia Israely) – 2010 Toronto Fringe Review
By Adam Collier
The Dentist is a one-person show that was performed as part of Fringe at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse. A company called Razia Israely produced the show.
There is a level of emotional intensity to some of the events that The Dentist describes – the text of the work (not its delivery) – that made my shoulders hurt and – oddly – feel as though someone were blowing cigarette smoke in my face.
Not more than twenty-minutes into the performance, I felt so much stress that I lost track of what was happening.
Weight Loss World (Theatre Under Pressure) – 2010 Toronto Fringe Review
By Adam Collier
Weight Loss World was performed at St. Vladimir’s Theatre as part of Fringe. A company called Theatre Under Pressure produced the show.
There was a unique enthusiasm in the audience on the night I went to Weight Loss World.
“Let’s sit front row” – I overheard one patron say to another – “that’s like VIP!”
“Pfft – more like VI-Crazy!” was the reply. And then they laughed.
The crowd was buoyant – giggling often, and unexpectedly bursting with laughter at a few moments. One such moment came when four of the characters purge on stage.
Sex, Drugs & the Holy Ghost (www.bourgee-bushwoman.com) – 2010 Toronto Fringe Review
By John Bourke
It’s difficult to put a categorize what kind of a show Sex, Drugs & the Holy Ghost really is, and it’s making it very difficult to write this review. Put simply, the show is a series of three vignettes where Diane Johnstone portrays three different women, each of whom is at a different point in their life, and have very different views on, well, everything.
Sex, Drugs & the Holy Ghost (Hereafter shortened to SDatHG) was performed and written by Diane Johnstone and directed by Winnie Wong. Read the rest of this entry »
Eternal Friendship with a Spotless Smile – 2010 Toronto Fringe Review
By Mira Saraf
I will never for the life of me remember the correct name for this play (because of the Hollywood Movie). That’s probably intentional, but whatever the situation may be, I called it Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Smile, Eternal Friendship of the Spotless Mind and all variations in between before I actually got it right.
The psychiatric ward based comedy is about two patients who are paired together for treatment purposes (one is violent, the other passive) and who both fall for their new nurse after the old ones dies under mysterious circumstances. There is a peppering of things in between to allow us to learn about the backgrounds of these two individuals.
Barfly on the Wall – 2010 Toronto Fringe Review
By Winston Soon
Heat does not for comedy make. This is the lesson I learned as I caught the sweltering Barfly on the Wall. It’s not that the show is flawless – far from it. I’ll get to that.
But c’mon, how in the hell can anyone be funny as they nearly slip on their own sweat and even more importantly, how can an audience find anything funny as they….well…slip on their own sweat?
S&P and Sega Geniuses – 2010 Toronto Fringe Review
By Winston Soon
A double bill of two long form Improv ensembles, S&P and Sega Geniuses, respectively – this show is a testament to the caliber and talent of long form improv in Toronto.
Feeling like a particularly good night at the Comedy Bar or Bad Dog Theatre, the show begins with a stage, some chairs and audience interview in an easy chair with cast member Jimi Shlag. Interestingly, Shlag lets the audience volunteer nominate herself for both sets.
Wanted, If Not Wed – 2010 Toronto Fringe Review
By Mira Saraf
The slip of paper of a program I received as I walked through the doors of the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace contained the usual credits and thank yous, but in addition the definitions of the terms Old Maid and Spinster from the middle ages. This was going to be different from the other shows I’d seen, this much I knew.
Gillespie started the performance wondering why she was always cast as the older single woman or lesbian and spiraled off into questioning why there are so many women choosing to be single.
1/4 Life Crisis (8 Monkeys Productions)- 2010 Toronto Fringe Review
by Lucy Allen
As a girl in her mid-twenties, I can relate to many of the stories told in 1/4 Life Crisis, currently playing at the Fringe. Most people in my age group seem to have gone through it, myself included. The recent phenomena has inspired musicals, movies, novels and now, a one person show. Read the rest of this entry »