One Good Marriage — Toronto Fringe 2015 Press Release

“[A] darkly funny journey navigating life post-tragedy”

One Good Marriage

Excerpted from Press Release:

TORONTO, ON: Staircase Theatre presents One Good Marriage, by Sean Reycraft. What do you do when you return from your honeymoon to find disaster has struck in your absence? Critically acclaimed Fringe veterans, Staircase Theatre, bring this newly revised Toronto favourite, which takes the audience on a darkly funny journey navigating life and grief post-tragedy. Join Steph and Stewart for a 1 year anniversary celebration you won’t soon forget. Directed by Jessica Rose, and starring Becky Shrimpton and Matthew Gin, One Good Marriage runs as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival July 2-12, 2015 at the Trinity St. Paul’s United Church.

One Good Marriage, winner of the NOW Magazine award for Outstanding New Play at the 2002 Summerworks Festival, is the grimly funny tale of Steph and Stewart, who have gathered their friends (the audience) together to celebrate their first anniversary. The couple, while finishing each other’s sentences and awkwardly walking the line of socially appropriate/not appropriate, plaintively fill us in on the terrible tragedy that took place shortly after they left their wedding reception, one year ago.

“This wonderfully dark comedy is fringe-style theatre at its finest. It’s too quirky for a main stage, yet gloriously at home on the edge.”-Wendy Burke, Winnipeg Free Press

Sean Reycraft is a Toronto playwright/screenwriter currently living in Los Angeles. His first play, Pop Song, won the 2001 Chalmers Canadian Play Award and One Good Marriage has enjoyed numerous productions across Canada and the United States. TV credits include ‘Switched at Birth’, ‘The Vampire Diaries’, ”Rookie Blue’, ‘Slings & Arrows’ and ‘Degrassi: The Next Generation’. He also adapted the novel ‘Breakfast With Scot’ into feature film of the same name.

“Mr. Reycraft, (…) has a distinctively spare, darkly ironic style; call it Canadian Gothic.” – Jason Zinoman, NY Times

Staircase Theatre is a Vancouver-based, independent theatre company focused on the idea that theatre should stimulate the mind and the soul- with class, charm and polish. They provide intelligent, contemporary theatre and are committed to bringing emerging and established artists together for opportunities to learn and grow. Past shows include AR Gurney’s Love Letters, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s Hunter Gatherers, Stewart Lemoine’s Cocktails at Pam’s, Lanford Wilson’s Home Free, Stewart Lemoine’s Evelyn Strange, and Will Eno’s Oh the Humanity! (which will be remounted at the 2015 Vancouver Fringe Festival.)

[…]

Showtimes:

  • July 02 at 07:30 PM
  • July 03 at 07:30 PM
  • July 04 at 07:30 PM
  • July 05 at 07:30 PM
  • July 08 at 07:30 PM
  • July 09 at 07:30 PM
  • July 10 at 07:30 PM
  • July 11 at 02:00 PM
  • July 11 at 07:30 PM
  • July 12 at 02:00 PM
  • July 12 at 07:30 PM

Venue: Trinity St. Paul’s United Church at 427 Bloor West.

Tickets for all Fringe productions are $10, $12 in advance. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone (416-966-1062, business hours only), in-person from the festival box office located in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s, (481 Bloor West), or — if any remain — from the venue box office, starting one hour before showtime. (Cash-only.)

The festival offers a range of money-saving passes for committed Fringers; see website for details.

Be advised that Fringe shows always start exactly on time, and latecomers are never admitted.

Photograph of Becky Shrimpton and Matthew Gin by Jessica Rose.