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.
A late-Victorian week on the Thames isn’t my idea of a good time, but luckily I’ve got Pea Green Theatre Group’s Three Men in a Boat to keep me company, and what a ride it becomes. Easily one of the finest pieces you’ll see in this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival, it surprised and delighted its opening-night audience (a sell-out crowd, I might add), blending clever movement, innovative text and language, and a deep knack for physical comedy into one of the best things I’ve seen on stage in a good long while.
This show tells a tale of a young boy who tries to help his family heal from a tragedy by creating a brother from scraps found on their farm. It cleverly riffs on the familiar Frankenstein’s monster but this story’s intentions are quite different and the echoes from Shelley’s classic are light and airy.
If I had to sum up Great Battles in History by Mark Shyzer at the Toronto Fringe Festival in one word, I would call it an experience. This touching, hilarious, one-man show tells the story of a failed collaborative project that examined great historical battles from a futuristic perspective. Without giving much away, the story of the steadily declining production crew coupled with historical tidbits about past warlords reveals the significance of individual losses.
