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.
Clitoria: A Sex Positive Superhero! Produced by Laura Bailey Music playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival blends music, puppetry and cartoonish performances to create a fun and enjoyable hour of sexy entertainment.
Continue reading Clitoria: A Sex-Positive Superhero! (Laura Bailey Music) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review
In Spend Your Kids’ Inheritance (playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival), a group of spry seniors, fed up with being warehoused in a pleasant-but-soulless old folks’ home, come up with a plan to escape. But first, they need to overcome obstacles: imperious staff, domineering adult children, and — worst of all — bean loaf Thursdays.
This could very well be the next Summerland, and I’ll tell you why.
Continue reading Spend Your Kids’ Inheritance (Watercourse Theatre) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review
Love Notes, a “medley of live movement and music” on the topic of love, is presented by ZEST Creative (comprised of Zoë Kenneally, Eva Connelly-Miller, and Sarah McLennan) at the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival. The trio, alongside musicians Hannah Barstow, Julien Bradley-Combs, and Emily Steinwall, perform to romantic standards ranging from “Silly Love Songs” to “I’ll Be Seeing You,” celebrating the ups and downs that most often-referenced feeling brings to our lives. Given the dreaded late-night opening-day slot, the song-and-dance show overcame some early jitters to eventually become something quite effervescent and joyous.
Continue reading Love Notes (ZEST Creative) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review
The Toronto Fringe Festival website indicates that every performance of The ADHD Project by Squirrel Suit Productions is a relaxed performance. Technically what that means is that the audience can come and go during the show if they need to, the house lights stay on, and there are no loud sound cues. But more than that, the whole thing feels immediately relaxed and welcoming from the moment writer/performer Carlyn Rhamey walks on stage.
Continue reading The ADHD Project (Squirrel Suit Productions) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review
Reefer Madness is one of the worst films ever made: a depression-era exploitation jaunt which depicted marijuana fiends as barely human, driven to murder, and always puffing away like a factory smokestack.
Reefer Madness: Origins (playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival) re-imagines the film’s creation as a parable about the follies of prohibition, and the lives and communities destroyed in the wake of the anti-reefer movement.
Continue reading Reefer Madness: Origins (D & M Creative) 2019 Toronto Fringe Review