The Women of Tu-Na House (Mad Cat Productions) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review

Tuna_1

I generally don’t like one-person shows. Because the onus is on one actor to relate a story, often without much more than narration, I find myself wishing I could just read the play. Thus, I headed to the St. Vladimir Theatre to see the Toronto Fringe premier of The Women of Tu-Na House with some trepidation.

The one thing that gave me hope going in was that writer/actor Nancy Eng had created a show in which she played a half-dozen characters. Thus, I hoped, there would likely be one or several characters I could latch onto. Sadly, it didn’t work out that way.

The Women of Tu-Na House practice a traditional Chinese massage technique at a New York massage parlour. As we learn through a series of vignettes, each woman ended up here under very different circumstances, and several of the women decided there was money to be made by offering additional services.

Interestingly, in the show’s program, Eng is quick to state that the women made their choices willingly and feel no shame in their actions. And yet, despite asserting that these women aren’t victims, at least half of the monologues tell stories of victimization, whether by husbands, home towns or customers.

But that aside, for me, the biggest challenge of the performance was Eng’s inability to inhabit the characters she portrayed. Although she told each character’s story—with some difficulty, as she routinely stumbled her lines—it never felt like she became those women. Try as she might, it was always Nancy Eng on stage and a bad French accent, for example, wasn’t about to change that.

The performance was also let down by a faulty sound system. Every time Eng changed character, the lights would go down and she would change costume. While this happened, the next character would explain her origin story in voice over. Unfortunately, the sound system kept garbling the voice over so that by the time the lights came up, I had no idea who Eng was portraying.

Seemingly recognizing the premiere’s challenges, she apologized to the audience during the curtain call for her rough voice and allergy issues. Even she, it seemed, felt that tonight’s performance wasn’t up to code.

The show has played to raves at other festivals; for example, it won Best of Solo at Hollywood Fringe. And I definitely thought there were some poignant and funny moments during the performance. I can only hope that the theatre and Eng manage to pull things together for the rest of the Toronto Fringe run.

Details

  • The Women of Tu-Na House is playing until July 12 at the St. VladimirTheatre. (620 Spadina Avenue)
  • Tickets are $12 in advance, $10 at the door. The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes for serious Fringers.
  • Tickets can be purchased online, by phone (416-966-1062), from the festival box office down Honest Ed’s Alley (581 Bloor West), or from the venue box office starting one hour before the performance. Venue sales are cash-only.
  • Be advised that Fringe performances always start exactly on time, and latecomers are never admitted. Set your watch to CBC time, and arrive a few minutes early to avoid disappointment.
  • Warnings: Sexual Content, Mature Language
Remaining Showtimes
July 05 at 07:30 PM
July 06 at 06:30 PM
July 08 at 04:15 PM
July 09 at 12:00 PM

July 10 at 12:30 PM

July 12 at 02:45 PM

Photos of Nancy Eng by John Quincy Lee and Richard Clark.

One thought on “The Women of Tu-Na House (Mad Cat Productions) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review”

  1. I thank you for coming & apologize for not being on point due to an extremely hoarse voice which led to your disappointment & mine. However I’ve been O.D.ing on local raw unpasteurized honey since & it does seem be lessening the effect of Toronto’s pollen on this NYer’s throat but that’s not an excuse for my poor performance and once again you have my apologies for letting you down. I should’ve know better than to allow that to bother me & made adjustments sooner which is what I did for the 2nd show which turned out way better than the first! Please feel free to attend another showing as my guest using the password “Madison Meow-Meow” if you’d like to judge for yourself but sincerely hope none of the other shows you may watch ever do as I did regardless. Take care & all the best, Nancy Eng

Comments are closed.