With a tagline as gaudy as, “You are not going to believe what happened at The Oak Room”, The Oak Room is a play that is so much smarter than advertised.
The foreboding ‘description’ of the performance by Fracas Theatre for the Toronto Fringe Festival sets both the eerie tone and the precision of writer Peter Genoway’s style that is apparent in The Oak Room. Genoway’s fascination with narrative underlies the sneaky plot of his play, in which a single story line has been broken up and pieced together very elegantly with a bright cast of five men.
Theatre of the Beat borrows its name from the Beatniks. It is a theatre company that looks to deliver the kind of nervous energy that fueled the polemical practices of the Beat writers – a loose group who I’ll identify here by its common dissatisfaction with the times, people who could no longer stand the passivity of citizenship. This is the appeal of This Prison Or: He Came Through the Floor, Theatre of the Beat’s contribution to the Toronto Fringe Festival this year.
Comedy is not just about timing. Y’know what’s an equally important ingredient?—energy! Tales of Whoa! presented by Not Bad Abe Productions at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse is all about perfect energy, and it never falters—not once! If high energy sketch comedy is your thing, this is one show not to miss at Toronto Fringe 2013!
The set-up is fairly sophomoric, but that’s really not the point. Sketch comedy needs to be framed—it’s just a structural thing. The frame is just a necessary evil, much like the prep-work required before a big party; it must be done so that you can then relax and have a good time with your friends, knowing your house won’t fall apart while you’re acting like crazy people. Continue reading Tales of Whoa! (Not Bad Abe Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review→
Charming Monsters is a play presented by Afterglow Theatre at Toronto Fringe 2013. The drama claims it is a “play about the monster in us all”, using six characters to demonstrate the lust, greed, and violence. The drama takes place in a small town where a too-charming man, Henry, stirs up trouble with the surrounding women.
Even after having watched the play, it is hard to understand what Charming Monsters is about. Is it about the seductions and affairs of Henry, who tries to get into the beds of the whole female cast? Is it about magic and mythology, since Catherine finds herself connected with a mysterious beast? Is it about the trials of sisterhood and the troubles of the more neglected Cassandra?
A physical absurdist show that provides plenty of laughs
The opening night of I Hired a Contract Killer, a production by Randolph Academy, was sold out more than an hour before it started. 10 minutes into the show I understood why. This show is unique, comical, cute and so much fun!
The story, originally a film released in 1990 by Finnish writer/director Aki Kaurismäki is simple: Frenchman Henri Boulanger (Matt Raffy) works a boring desk job for the government. He has no social life to speak of and, when fired, killing himself seems to be a good idea. Unable to do so, he meets shady characters in the back room of a bar who tell him they’ll get it done. The next few days he makes it as easy as possible for the hitman to locate him, until he falls in love with the beautiful Margaret (played by Brittani Byrne) and finds a reason to live. Trouble is, how do you stop yourself from being killed by people you’ve paid to do just that? Continue reading I Hired a Contract Killer (Randolph Academy) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review→
