My positive experience of seeing St. Francis Talks To the Birds playing at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse actually begins with the venue and front of house staff. They stick out as a great pairing to host plays at this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival. Front of house members got us pumped for the show, and there isn’t a bad seat in the house. Upon entry, the creative and playful set, (spray paint and saturated colours are used!) set a particular tone. I wait in excitement to what see story will take place here.
I’ve had a love-adore relationship with Bouffon since I first experienced it at the Toronto Festival of Clowns in 2010. I’ve had a love-adore relationship with feminism since I’ve been able to comprehend the abstract notion of gender and gender roles. Therefore, it is fair to say that I absolutely adored Play It Again Productions’ Death Married My Daughter playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival.
I will admit I was not looking forward to Trip by MCM Productions, which is playing at the Annex Theatre. After seeing this one man show the old proverb “don’t judge a book by its cover” immediately comes to mind.
Trip is composed of three short plays: Eris by Colin Mercer; B.Q. by Maureen Gualtieri; and A Very Long Obituary, by Leah Jane Esau. Each one is quite different from the other but all are connect through the element of death and the performer Colin Mercer. Continue reading Trip (MCM Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review→
The best way for me to describe my experience in watching DABDA is by comparing it to watching a powerful choreographed contemporary dance routine by legends such as Mia Michaels or Sonya Tayeh from the show So You Think You Can Dance. The routines tend to be so captivating that by the end of the routine I catch myself taking a deep breath and tapping into emotions I didn’t even know I had. DABDA did exactly that for me and more.
Generally, I can be fidgety in theatres after sitting down for a long period of time, but not in this show. This Fringe Festival dance drama, choreographed by the outstanding choreographers Alvin Collantes and Hayley Paone, had me sitting still for the entire fifty-five minutes! The only time I did move from my cozy seat at the cool Factory Theatre was right at the end during the well deserved standing ovation.
