A decade ago, the last job  had before I quit having proper jobs forever, was as the marketing director for a children’s theatre company. We did nutritional shows, and not fables, but I’ll confess – a great deal of my interest in The Show Must Go On was in understanding to what fates I had been sending those poor jugglers for that miserable period. Jeff Leard, a dynamic and skilled player who must be the envy of all the other children’s theatre companies, has filled me in.

Leard, lithe and energetic, has a variety of tricks up his ruffled purple quilted sleeve and he uses every one of them – his facility with voices and characters, his masculine grace, his well-projected voice, his peculiar ability to make mouth noises – all of them add to this show.

Continue reading The Show Must Go On (Random Samples Collective) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

As I stood in the foyer of The Tarragon Theatre this afternoon waiting for Kin, it was apparent that the rain had not dampened the audience’s turn out. As soon as the play started it was obvious that the actors were not going to let the rain affect their stellar acting either.

I was a bit apprehensive when the cheesy music signalled the start of the show, but my fears were quickly pushed aside when the actors took charge of the scene. Continue reading Kin (Tavistock Arts) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

The idea behind Toronto Fringe Festival entry Innocent When You Dream, a one-man show by Texan performer Zeb West, is certainly interesting. What would a man get up to if he found himself stranded in the innards of a whale with no literature to keep him company but copies of Don Quixote and Moby Dick? What would it reveal?

However, despite an interesting starting point and some great performances by West, Innocent When You Dream doesn’t develop much beyond this premise.

Continue reading Innocent When You Dream (Elephant and Peanut) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

No Permanent Answers consist of two unique contemporary dance performances choreographed by Angela Blumberg and Tracey Norman. This Toronto Fringe Festival dance production boasts some of the finest contemporary dancers in Toronto. The strength and maturity of the dancers was apparent as they danced their hearts out on the Randolph Theatre stage.

Continue reading No Permanent Answers (Human Atoms) 2013 Toronto Fringe Festival →

The Final Trick of a Shoddy Magician (playing the Annex Theatre as part of the Fringe Festival) gets so, so much right. There’s an outstanding show–and an outstanding performance–at the core of this piece.

But by aiming to be something bigger and better, and by completely missing that target, the product ends up being less than the sum of its parts.

Continue reading The Final Trick of a Shoddy Magician (Act 3.6.1 Productions) 2013 Fringe Review →