Going into Guayoyo Creative Collective’s (GCC) production of Exit for the Toronto Fringe Festival, I was wary of what I was about to see. While I am a fan of almost anything experimental, I’ve also been disappointed enough times to approach self-proclaimed absurdists with caution – caution that is when it concerns my limited finances. Of course, reviewing for Mooney has its merits…

Continue reading Exit (Guayoyo Creative Collective) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

It’s always a win for me when I get to review a play that I think possesses the qualities of a quintessential Fringe festival production. Wolverine Theatre Company’s show, Almost Maine, is exactly that: a simple, well-acted piece that takes place in the frosty chill of St. Vlad’s Theatre, but does a lot to warm the heart.

A series of two-hander vignettes that all take place in a tiny, non-town called Almost, the piece is a straight, to the point exploration of love in all its guises. The scenes work as individual stories, but some make reference to characters from other sections, which rounds out the world of the play in a truly great way. I think there’s something to be said about the strong sense of place this piece has that often gets overlooked in other works.

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I was REALLY excited to see Assassinating Thomson by Bruce Horak. It’s a show about an iconic painter by a legally blind man. Horak bills himself as a blind mind, doing a one man show about Canada’s most celebrated painter. Well that’s cool.

Who doesn’t love those Group of Seven paintings? They’re so ridiculous and clichéd. People look at them and think “yeah, it must be great to ski in July. Canada is a great country.”

Unfortunately I got to the venue a mess, so I wasn’t in the best of moods. I paused as I entered the lobby at St Vlad’s. Then I got a grip.

Continue reading Assassinating Thomson (Monster Theatre) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

My evening out at the Toronto Fringe Festival was characterized by an overwhelming nostalgia.  Walking into the Annex Theatre for the first time in 18 years, I was instantly transported back to 1995, when I performed in two plays there.  I have a great fondness for the intimate venue, which is full of warmth and history, a perfect setting for Laura Anne Harris’ hilarious and heartbreaking one-woman show—The Homemaker.

Continue reading The Homemaker (Convection Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

Boys and girls and mums and dads and grandparents were at Palmerston Library this morning at 11 to see The Happiest Place on Earth playing as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival. It’s such a lovely name for a play.

I was a bit concerned when I arrived. The board outside the library said “A village of Clowns adopts a girl.” I really don’t like clowns and wouldn’t have chosen to see The Happiest Place on Earth if the line about the clowns had been in the Fringe blurb. It was fine. There weren’t any of the kinds of clowns that I don’t like. Continue reading The Happiest Place on Earth (Blue Like an Orange Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →