Reviews of theatre, dance, opera, comedy and festivals. Performances can be in-person or streamed remotely on the web for social-distancing.
I am always excited stepping into the Tarragon Extra Space (30 Bridgman Avenue), as the venue has consistently housed fresh and exciting theatre experiences for me. Tonight I went there to see Evacuate presented by Rhymes with Orange Productions and I left feeling satisfied by a very sensitive piece of theatre.
Continue reading Evacuate (Rhymes with Orange Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review
This play is like, really adorable. A most earnest production, it is the kind of teen theatre that is a joy to support.
This Play Is Like ____, playing at Randolph Theatre as part of this year’s Fringe Festival, is all about high school hardships. With a writer, cast, and crew of 17-18 year olds, it’s a giggly coming-of-age tale written while still coming of age. Continue reading This Play Is Like ______ (Tiny House Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review
I love autobiographical solo performances, or, in the case of Threads, biographical solo performances. Tonya Jone Miller’s play is based on her mother’s experiences in Viet Nam in the late 60s.
It’s a fascinating story. We often hear about ‘GI babies’, the children of Vietnamese women and foreign servicemen but in Tonya’s case her mother is American and her father was Vietnamese, very unusual for the time. Continue reading Threads (Tonya Joan Miller) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review
The Retirement Plan touches on a subject that a lot of will think about, retirement. Playing at St. Valdamir’s Theatre, this is a charming play about a couple deciding how to spend their final years and the consequences of that choice.
The show opened with your typical well tailored overly happy salesman, here dubbed financial planner, about to make a deal with his client. The next step for the plan to work was to convince his wife. Continue reading The Retirement Plan (Certainty Assurance) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review
While sitting in the George Ignatiff Theatre, I was taken through an exploration of mercury’s various forms, from the planet and the element to the Roman God and the rock star. Everyone has a different notion of what exactly it is: I thought about the planet while my show buddy thought of Freddy Mercury. The creators of Mercury, Monster Feelings, played with all of these different interpretations. The show consisted of eight different vignettes each dedicated to a different aspect of mercury. Continue reading Mercury (Monster Feelings) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review