The idea behind Toronto Fringe Festival entry Innocent When You Dream, a one-man show by Texan performer Zeb West, is certainly interesting. What would a man get up to if he found himself stranded in the innards of a whale with no literature to keep him company but copies of Don Quixote and Moby Dick? What would it reveal?
However, despite an interesting starting point and some great performances by West, Innocent When You Dream doesn’t develop much beyond this premise.
No Permanent Answers consist of two unique contemporary dance performances choreographed by Angela Blumberg and Tracey Norman. This Toronto Fringe Festival dance production boasts some of the finest contemporary dancers in Toronto. The strength and maturity of the dancers was apparent as they danced their hearts out on the Randolph Theatre stage.
Having been previously trained in the Indian classical dance form, Bharatanatyam, I was intrigued to see Paromita Kar dance to a similar dance form called Odissi. Dressed in a beautiful traditional attire, Paromita graced the Theatre Passé Muraille stage with delicate hand gestures and strong foot work.
The most interesting part of Corpus Matris was Paromita’s expressions! Have you ever seen someone make funny faces to a baby? Where the eyes seem to expand and the mouth takes on a whole new shape. Similarly, in laughter yoga, facial muscles are used to create a variety of different expressions. And that is exactly what Paromita did in her performance. From showing us her big bold eyes, to showing her passionate rage, it was entertaining to watch this classically trained dancer.
Play Actually–a non rom com from Idiot Presents, playing at Fringe, is a collaboration by a real life straight couple, Tim Monley and Katy Houska. They explain that they came up with the show as an anathema to Disneyesque saccharine romantic comedies.
It features a series of sketches that mostly involve Suzy, a woman with social difficulties who relies on advice from a dating book in her desperate attempts to get a man, and Gavin, who spends most of his time in a virtual world called Better Life where he has a girlfriend named Trinity who may not actually be female IRL (in real life).
