This review was painful for me to write.  So much passion and effort goes into a theatre production; my awareness of this makes it difficult to break the news that a show has failed to satisfy the needs of its target audience.  I wanted to like Skylark Productions’ Stay With Me at the Palmerston Library. M.J. Kang’s play (which she has written and is performing) is part of FringeKids!, and I was very much looking forward to it.

When you walk into the venue, one problem is immediately apparent—the stage is bare.  There is little to attract the attention of the youngest audience members. (The show’s page on the Fringe website suggests that it is suited best for children 4 to 12.) Continue reading Stay With Me (Skylark Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

Good Girl by barking birds theatre is a one woman show playing at the Annex Pawn. The Fringe performance is small, but it carries a hefty weight. The drama is more powerful than it appears.

Tanya Rintoul plays Layla who wishes to be like her mother said she was: “a good girl.” Layla feels a mixture of emotions about a mysterious incident, which she slowly reveals throughout the sixty minute performance. She allows herself and the audience to wonder if her goodness exists or not.

Continue reading Good Girl (barking birds theatre) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

Before the show, standing in line to see Bremen Rock City at the Palmerston Theatre, a number of the kids around me asked “Are we going to see The Wizard of Oz?” Which, I suppose, is the play they had heard of. It struck me on the way out that in ten years, some other Fringe show might be crowded with kids saying “Are we going to see Bremen Rock City?” Yeah, it’s that good.

It’s not perfect, mind you. Not yet. But the bones are so good, I can easily see what it’s going to grow into once it’s got just a little seasoning. The cast is exceptional (more on them in a minute), full of what feels like authentic fun and enthusiasm. It’s not a jazz-hands, imagined performance of what they think children’s theatre should look like, it’s a sincere kind of fun that invites the audience into it. The songs are that magical combination of being kid-friendly while not causing adult ears to bleed.

Continue reading Bremen Rock City (Song Trolley Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

Give Up the Ghost, playing at the Annex Theatre as part of this year’s Fringe, has some great moments. Overall, I wasn’t in love with this production, but I see it as a piece with future potential.

It takes place at a cottage in Northern Ontario and follows a group of uncommunicative siblings/relatives as they try to come to terms with the death of their philandering grandfather.

The Ontario part is pretty cool, references the characters make to places you may have visited like Huntsville or Santa’s Village are gratifyingly localizing – this is supposed to be “an Ontario tale” and many will likely recognize themselves or someone they know in this piece. Continue reading Give Up the Ghost (Slumgum & Quaqua) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →