2012 Next Stage Theatre Festival Review: Modern Love

I was a little concerned about watching two shows, two days in a row, containing the word ‘love’ in the title, but I have to say they couldn’t be more different from each other while being equally fun. Well not equally, I really enjoyed Modern Love a lot more.

The show is about Trish, a girl with 660 friends of Facebook, but none in real life. Written and performed by Jessica Moss this show is smart and funny and the references are current, at least for the twenty-something generation. 

Jessica Moss is a powerhouse of talent. She is just so amazing to watch with her mile-a-minute dialogue delivery filled with sound effects she makes herself all the while putting on different accents and playing different personalities. There is never a dull moment.

There was a multi-media component to the show that kept it interactive. Moss’s energy and her ability to deliver her lines in one breath made it feel like there were three people on stage.

Her emotional range is fantastic and she can go from stand-up comic to emotional actress in a flash. We saw her whole range on stage and on the way out of the performance all I could hear through the audience was people saying, “That was amazing!”

The only annoying part of the show was the child sitting in front of me, in the front row, who wouldn’t stop talking. It’s not a kid-friendly show in my opinion and I would not have brought my twelve-year-old to it.

It was a packed house on opening night so get there early to buy your tickets. You have to see this one-woman show!

Details:
– All Next Stage Theatre Festival performances are being held at Factory Theatre (125 Bathurst)
– Tickets for all shows are $15 for Evening Performances (7:00 and after start time), $12 for Afternoon Performances (6:59 or before start time) and $10 for Ante-chamber performances
– Showtimes for Modern Love are:

JAN 5 / 5:30
JAN 6 / 9:00
JAN 7 / 5:00
JAN 8 / 7:30
JAN 9 / 6:30
JAN 12 / 5:15
JAN 13 / 5:30
JAN 14 / 7:15
JAN 15 / 2:45


3 thoughts on “2012 Next Stage Theatre Festival Review: Modern Love”

  1. I find it a little ridiculous that you would include the anecdote about the twelve-year-old. Unless the company dragged the kid in off of Adelaide and superglued him to his chair, such a comment has no place in a review. Let’s stick to reviewing shows, not audiences (or other peoples’ parenting choices…).

  2. I disagree that the comment has no place in a review and see no issue with it being included. Mooney on Theatre reviews are more experiential than critique-based and sometimes (intentionally or not) the audience factors in to the experience.

    Calling out disruptive and disrespectful audience members as well as commenting on the age-appropriateness of a given production is completely fair game.

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