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.
I am going to get all Marshal McLuhan for a moment and say right now that the medium is the message. I say that because this is playwright Lana Lovell’s debut theatre production after having so much experience writing for television. The best thing I can say about the script of Elbow Room playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival was that it was educational.
Continue reading Elbow Room (Gloria Grethel Productions) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review
Pea Green Theatre Group revisits sure ground in Three Men on a Bike, currently playing at the Tarragon Theatre Mainspace as part of the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival. The show is a fast-paced, witty, fourth-wall breaking repartee adapted from the travel writings of Jerome K. Jerome (adapted for the stage by Mark Brownell).
Continue reading Three Men on a Bike (Pea Green Theatre Group) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review
If you’ve been looking for a show that combines She-Ra, indie rock, Patrick Swayze, and emotional breakdowns — and I know you have — look no further than PUMP! by Cat and the Queen, which plays at the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival.
Continue reading PUMP! (Cat and the Queen) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review
Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand’s classic romantic tragedy of false identity, is given a truncated treatment by The Leslieville Players at the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival. A deeply proud man, with a famously long nose, desires a woman. He’s brilliant in battle and with words, but she falls for a simpler man with a beautiful face. Heartbroken, he agrees to provide the words for the other man’s wooing. The story is probably familiar: the setting is not.
I love site-specific shows that work despite and because of their limitations, and this production of Cyrano is a winning use of the form. This is a relaxed production that doesn’t take itself too seriously, yet still largely delivers a self-assured theatre experience. The audience sits under a small tent on the front lawn of 74 Jones Avenue, near Dundas. Fringe Hot Tip for Hot Days: Sit in the middle row if you can; the sun encroaches on the front row, and the back row has a tent-obscured view of the balcony, which features in a few key scenes. Jumbo freezies are also provided gratis, a very nice touch. Audience members can move, take pictures, or talk if desired, but nobody was distracted enough to speak, other than cheering.
Continue reading Cyrano De Bergerac (The Leslieville Players) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review
This year, the Toronto Fringe Festival presents Lexi and the Flying b’s at the George Ignatieff Theatre, a show that is just as educational as it is charming. The main storyline follows Lexi (Marina Gomez), a fourth grader, who enters a project in the school science fair while brainstorming strategies to deal with her dyslexia. I appreciate how dyslexia was presented as a challenge with opportunities to develop strategies in this way, not as Lexi’s defining characteristic.
Continue reading Lexi and the Flying b’s (Bird Brain Productions) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review