Reviews of productions based in Toronto – theatre includes traditional definitions of theatre, as well as dance, opera, comedy, performance art, spoken word performances, and more. Productions may be in-person, or remote productions streamed online on the Internet.
Everything Is Fine… brings together a cast of eight-count’-em-eight Second City alumni, under the direction of Fringe royalty Ken Hall, to make funny. This young company go after the targets they know best: hipsters, gentrification, annoying coworkers and early-thirtysomething angst. The laughs fill the room, and they’re well-deserved.
Continue reading Everything Is Fine… (Haggard Bitch Productions) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review
A modern adaptation of the popular Japanese folktale Issun-Boshi, Mochinosha Puppet Company’s Oni at the the Toronto Fringe Festival delivers a visual delight with Japanese shadow lantern puppets that inspires.
The entire play is narrated by storytellers Daniel Wishes and Seri Yanai, who simultaneously work a variety of paper puppets, control their lighting, and occasionally accompany dancing puppets with recorder renditions of popular theme songs.
Continue reading Oni (Mochinosha Puppet Company) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review
Classical Guitar Concert, performed by Jonathan Prag, pretty much gives it all away in the title. The show is a 45-minute concert of classical acoustic guitar pieces, and it makes for a nice complement to some of the other Toronto Fringe offerings. Continue reading Classical Guitar Concert (Jonathan Prag) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review
Einstein! is Jack Fry’s tribute to Albert Einstein—the scientist, the father, the husband. It has stopped here at the Toronto Fringe Festival on its current tour. The material is well researched and the production competently executed… and yet the whole thing rang false to me. Continue reading Einstein! (Jack Fry) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review
Imagine Star Wars, but if it took place inside human reproductive organs. Now imagine that novel concept, performed in a one-man-show by a combination of Neil Patrick Harris and Eddie Izzard, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what Sperm Wars, put on by Active Salad Productions as a part of this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival, is.
Continue reading Sperm Wars (Active Salad Productions) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review