Oh existential crises – you are great fodder for excellent theatre! When combined with a ridiculously talented performer like Jessica Moss, you give us comedic gold. Polly Polly is the funniest, most entertaining show I’ve seen this Fringe and the best one-woman show I’ve ever seen.

Polly works a mundane call centre job, lives a nondescript life, choosing instead the escapism and excitement of movies. She wakes up one morning to the sound of a narrator boisterously and forcefully invading her movie-quote filled mind, giving an account  of her every move. Mean, bossy, and obnoxious the narrator delivers some of the most hilarious lines on the show, “You sound like Fran Drescher,” is one such gem.

Continue reading Polly Polly (Theatre Mischief) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

My High-Heeled Life: Or, How I Learned to Keep Worrying and Love My Stilettos is a solo play written by and starring Katharine McLeod. This piece, being put on by Sparking Fuse as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival is being shown at the Tarragon Theatre.

I find I am eyeing her outfit the moment I walk in. It’s hard not to, with her red lips that we notice as she takes a peek at the audience and her beautiful black suede pumps to top off a tight black dress. She has her back towards us, adding a sense of mystery and intrigue.

Continue reading My High-Heeled Life: Or, How I Learned to Keep Worrying and Love My Stilettos (Sparking Fuse Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

Shakespeare BASH’d is back at Fringe this year with another site-specific Shakespeare piece at the Victory Café, this year it’s Much Ado About Nothing.

This incredibly entertaining 90 minute piece is set in a post-war celebration, while maintaining the traditional Shakespearean language people are familiar with. The shortened version doesn’t take away from the original and the changes are barely noticeable.

Many people know the story well. As a child, the film was one of my favourites and I watched it over and over.

If people aren’t familiar with the play, however, they need not worry as they will be able to follow along.  The piece flows very nicely and, other than a few line flubs, it feels comfortable and seems natural.

Continue reading Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare BASH’d) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

You never know what you’re going to see at Fringe. I knew that when I went in to see The Prettiest Little Theatre North of San Francisco and was left wondering throughout the show.

This one woman show, written and performed by Bronwyn Jones, is a bizarre, freaky, ghoulish story about a little girl’s experiences growing up at the Palace Grand Theatre in Dawson, Yukon. Her narration is punctuated by the myriad of ghostly voices who came to the Yukon in search of gold, the original builder of the theatre and many of the quirky performers working at the theatre.

Continue reading Prettiest Little Theatre North of San Francisco (The Wedded Magpie Company) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

My last show to review for the Toronto Fringe Festival and it’s Sunday evening, 10pm at the Tarragon.

Sundays have always been my favourite night of the week. They’re underrated, cool, for they’ve got that post-party, post-weekend daze to them. If I went on dates I would always choose Sundays. Because you want everybody at ease, right? None of that, ‘So, what kind of music do you listen to?’ over steak and muffins kind of awkward.

In lieu of a date: Stop Kiss by gun shy theatre, which, oddly enough, felt like a nice, uncomplicated rendezvous.

So tell me all about it, you beg? Okay.

Continue reading Stop Kiss (gun shy theatre) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →