Soaring Above Reality (The Illusionist) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review

Poster of The Illusionist Lucas Wilson

Ooohs and aaahs are in no short supply during Soaring Above Reality for illusion after illusion at the George Ignatieff Theatre. This production by Guinness World Record-holders and magicians Lucas Wilson and Kelly Defilla is part of this year’s Fringe Festival in Toronto–FringeKids! to be precise.

Wilson is an excellent story-teller with a compelling stage presence, while Defilla is a crowd-pleaser because of her exaggerated facial expressions and theatrical body language. We were charmed by every act, from the floating table to the coat hanger trick to their human Tetrus. Continue reading Soaring Above Reality (The Illusionist) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review →

A Man Walks into a Bar (Circle Circle) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review

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Photo of Blue Bigwood-Mallin and Rachel Blair - Toronto Fringe

Tonight’s almost full-house bodes well for Rachel Blair’s two-hander, A Man Walks into a Bar, playing at Tarragon Extra Space as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival. Blair has written a true to life, well-paced, feminist show. Don’t let the feminist label scare you. The play is quite funny. Proof that feminists do have a sense of humour. Continue reading A Man Walks into a Bar (Circle Circle) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review →

Fringe for Free! Toronto Fringe ticket giveaways for shows playing on Friday, July 3rd

fringe for free graphicHappy Canada Day! Today we celebrate the birth of our nation and the birth of the 2015 Toronto Fringe Festival which starts today! Being the savvy Fringe Festival-goers I know you all are, I’m sure you’re headed to the festival the first weekend to catch as much new stuff as you can and totally not procrastinating and waiting in the lines for the busier second weekend? Right?

Of course being an early bird is even easier if you won free tickets from our Fringe for Free contest!

For every day of the festival, we’ll be giving out tickets to 5 shows. Exciting, right? What’s even more exciting is how easy it is to enter – you can enter each of the five contests by sending us an email (more details below).

Remember, you need to enter each contest individually. If we pick your name, you’ve got two tickets heading your way.

Check out the list of the 5 shows playing on Friday, July 3rd after the jump.

Continue reading Fringe for Free! Toronto Fringe ticket giveaways for shows playing on Friday, July 3rd →

Fringe for Free! Toronto Fringe ticket giveaways for shows playing on Thursday, July 2

fringe-for-free-graphicWe here at Mooney on Theatre are gearing up for the Toronto Fringe Festival! Our team of theatre hungry reviewers will be hitting the streets and the various Fringe venues gobbling up all the shows that Fringe has to offer before the end of this weekend!

Remember to keep checking back to read our reviews as you make your way around Fringe. We’ll also be live updating our Facebook and Twitter with our Fringe experiences so be sure to Like us on Facebook and follow us @mooneyontheatre.

We’re very excited about this year’s Fringe line up of shows so much that we want you involved! This is your opportunity to see Fringe for Free! Every day of the festival, we’ll be giving away a pair of tickets to 5 upcoming shows. Sending an email is all it takes to enter, but remember – you need to send an individual email for each show you would like to see (details below).

Keep reading for more on the five shows on Thursday July 2.

Continue reading Fringe for Free! Toronto Fringe ticket giveaways for shows playing on Thursday, July 2 →

Fringe 2015: Mooney on Theatre’s Hot Tickets

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The Mooney on Theatre Staff’s Most-Wanted Shows at Fringe 2015

At Mooney on Theatre, we break hearts. Every Fringe, we ask our writers to give us a list of their most-wanted shows — and because we can’t assign the same show to 9 people, most of them go home empty-handed.

But you don’t have to! Gathered here is the wisdom of our crowd: the shows which excited, interested, titillated and drew our staff towards them. We call them our Hot Tickets, and — in no particular order — here they are.

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Let’s start with the lurid: Pretending Things Are A Cock, which reads like the hands-off, multimedia-enhanced successor to global hit Puppetry of the Penis. Described by the company as a “unique” experience which has already thrilled, entertained and subtly aroused audiences on three continents, our writer Jess Gillis can’t wait to “gobble it up”:

The title Pretending Things Are A Cock intrigued me immediately. It’s such a potent symbol for our sex-obsessed culture! The description “…award winning show of over 300 pretend cocks…” sealed it for me. Phalluses, photography, stand-up, and Australian accents always get a rise out of me. I’m eagerly awaiting this show!

Pretending Things are a Cock opens on July 3rd at 5:15 PM and plays its run at the St. Vladimir Institute. (620 Spadina, near Harbord.) See below for ticketing information.

Continue reading Fringe 2015: Mooney on Theatre’s Hot Tickets →