Into (Theatre Gridlock) 2016 Toronto Fringe Review

Into - Toronto Fringe 2016

Into, playing at Tarragon Theatre Mainspace as part of the 2016 Toronto Fringe Festival Festival was a hit at Fringe twenty years ago. My bet is that it’s going to be a hit this year too. It’s still fresh and funny, the best kind of dystopian comedy.  I loved Dave Carley’s script. I admire someone who can imagine nuns skinny dipping and a traffic jam that lasts for months.

DeAnn deGruijter plays Urban Nun. She hates being outside of the city but has gone to a rural retreat with the rest of the world’s remaining 200 nuns. That’s how we know the play’s set in the future. 200 nuns.

On the way back she gets stuck in a huge traffic jam alongside three other cars. As the jam (in the future they just call them jams) continues they get to know each other. There is the philandering Businessman (Walter Rinaldi), the Disaffected White Youth (Randy Baumer), and Lucy (Jane Luk), a despairing beauty.

They’re a very talented cast and director Sue Miner brings out the best in all of them. Their timing and delivery is fabulous. Sometimes tiny things make a big impression. Rinaldi’s delivery of the line ” Lazarus Cody is right” was deadpan perfection. The man sitting next to me thought so too.

I doubt that Carley had to update the script. There aren’t any overtly topical references – at least none that weren’t also topical 20 years ago. It’s actually kind of depressing to think that some things haven’t changed in 20 years.

This is a wonderful play. It’s very funny and sometimes quite touching. I loved it. So did the rest of the audience. So will you, I bet.

Details

  • INTO plays at the Tarragon Theatre Mainspace. (30 Bridgman Ave)
  • Tickets are $12 at the door and in advance, and can be bought online, by telephone (416-966-1062), from the Fringe Club at Honest Ed’s Alley, and — if any remain — from the venue’s box office starting one hour before curtain. The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes for serious Fringers.
  • Be aware that Fringe performances always start exactly on time, and that latecomers are never admitted.
  • Content Warnings: Mature Language, Sexual Content.
  • This venue is wheelchair-accessible.

Performances

  • Saturday July 2nd, 01:45 pm
  • Sunday July 3rd, 07:00 pm
  • Tuesday July 5th, 10:00 pm
  • Thursday July 7th, 03:30 pm
  • Friday July 8th, 02:00 pm
  • Sunday July 10th, 07:30 pm

Photo of DeAnn deGruijter, Walter Rinaldi, Randy Baumer, Jane Luk by Hilary Unger

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