A collection of everything to do with the Toronto Fringe Festival, including reviews, features, press releases etc.
Roommate Agreements is an improv comedy show produced by Flux in a Box that is playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival. In theory, the show is supposed to feature household stories performed by actual roommates; the show I saw had none of that. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed it.
Continue reading Roommate Agreements (Flux in a Box) 2017 Toronto Fringe Review
At the end of the world, when a devastating plague looms at your door, it’s the relationships at home that will do you in. At least, that’s the idea presented in Plague: a sic love story, produced by Ou est Billy Ou Ou at the Toronto Fringe Festival.
The black comedy examines the dynamics between a couple with an infant who are among the last survivors of a plague. The daily quest for community, food, and purpose is undermined by the quintessential conflicts of a couple in close quarters. The real threat of death brings new gravity to their mind game question: If you had to save me or the baby, who would you pick?
Continue reading Plague: a sic love story (Ou est Billy Ou Ou) 2017 Toronto Fringe Review
Alone In This Together, a show by Not Oasis Productions currently running in the Toronto Fringe Festival at the Tarragon Theatre Extraspace, is a smart and fun show put on by talented performers of great Toronto-centric sketch comedy. Theatre-goers who like their comedy to reflect local themes, and to do it well, will enjoy this show.
Continue reading Alone In This Together (Not Oasis Productions) 2017 Fringe Review
When approaching the ticket desk for Office Hours, playing at this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival, the welcoming volunteer cautions you with a trigger warning — frank and candid discussions of PTSD ahead. The kind of PTSD that often haunts those who have witnessed war first hand.
I was expecting a show like this to be explosive. What I found was that it came just short. And, well, perhaps that’s a good thing.
Continue reading Office Hours (Confirmation Bias Theatre) 2017 Toronto Fringe Review
In The Night Hart Crane Kissed Me (playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival), three artists meditate upon the life — and death — of the titular Jazz Age poet, drawing upon music, movement, monologue, magic, and more than a little Mae West to explore his complex legacy. It’s a deeply personal meditation, and that may be the rub.
Continue reading The Night Hart Crane Kissed Me (Spindrift) 2017 Toronto Fringe Review