Judy Merril, pioneering female science fiction writer of the 1950s, anthologist, and dissident, seems like a fascinating thinker who is unfairly being forgotten after her death in 1997. Unfortunately, I felt I learned more about her from the attractively-designed program than I did from  I Love You, Judy Merril (House of James) Jim Smith’s one-man Toronto Fringe Festival show, which is well-intentioned, but only orbits its subject. Continue reading I Love You, Judy Merril (House of James) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review →

The theme of writer/performer Vanessa Smythe’s In Case We Disappear (Hopscotch on the Rocks), playing at the 2015 Toronto Fringe Festival, is the fear of disappearing and the stories we tell ourselves to help us fall asleep at night despite that fear.

Continue reading In Case We Disappear (Hopscotch on the Rocks) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review →

God’s Beard! (The Only Sketch Show That Has Ever Happened) presented by award-winning sketch troupe Falcon Powder, isn’t really the only sketch comedy show in existence (as you may have guessed), or even the only one at the Toronto Fringe Festival. It is, however, a very good example of the form.

Continue reading God’s Beard! (Brain Fraud Productions) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review →

In Morro and Jasp do Puberty, presented as part of the 2015 Toronto Fringe Festival, clown sisters Morro (Heather Marie Annis) and Jasp (Amy Lee) are going through puberty, a time when everything is awkward and nothing is certain. Puberty might be unsure of itself, but this duo is anything but; having toured their shows at Fringe for almost a decade, they are masters of the craft. They have exquisite timing, hilarious dialogue, and a stubborn streak of empathy and melancholy that makes this show more than just a good time. Continue reading Morro and Jasp do Puberty (Up Your Nose and In Your Toes Productions) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review →