The Clergy Project, produced by SOULO Theatre, playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival, tells us religion is theatre. Most familiar with both would probably agree. Both have narrative, thematic importance, and the whole range of human drama and emotion. Because truth can be stranger and more compelling than fiction, having a range of religious leaders tell us stories from their life’s work is rife with dramatic possibility. The project’s three clergy, Reform Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, Unitarian Reverend Shawn Newton, and Anglican Father Daniel Brereton, all trailblazers in their own right, share what calls them to the pulpit. As a very lapsed Jew, I wasn’t expecting this show to strike a major chord with me, let alone wreck me emotionally. Call me a convert, because it did.

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If someone asked you to go with them to see a  musical about plastic surgery, you’d be forgiven for thinking “Huh?! Sounds pretty weird but what the heck, it’s Fringe, I’ll go.” And that would be the right decision! “Am I Pretty Now?”: A musical romp through plastic surgery (Stephanie Herrera), playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival, is wonderful. At the end of the show the man sitting next to me turned to the woman he was with and said “Wow! That was great.” which pretty much summed up what I was thinking. Continue reading “Am I Pretty Now?”: A musical romp through plastic surgery (Stephanie Herrera) 2017 Toronto Fringe Review →

How Did You Find Me Here?  is a play by Alchemistic Theatre Company in the 2017 Toronto Fringe Festival. It is an intriguing piece of visual theatre about an Aboriginal male who confronts his cultural heritage for the first time in 25 years. Brendan Chandler, as Bear, and Jessica Bowmer, as Shadow, create a striking presence in this performance, and seem to be personifications of something much larger than themselves. Continue reading How Did You Find Me Here? (Alchemistic Theatre Company) 2017 Fringe Review →

A site-specific show, Rise/Fall produced by Malcontent Theatre Company is playing at the 2017 Toronto Fringe. A small and inexperienced military group come face to face with their morality as they defend the wall from those on the other side. The audience, split by a wall, witnesses the effects of segregation in a Toronto dystopia.  Continue reading Rise/Fall (Malcontent Theatre Company) 2017 Toronto Fringe Review →