Four Years Later, He’s Still Carrying Emotional Wounds

Baggage 2 – the long awaited sequel to playwright and performer Shaun McCarthy’s 2009 Fringe Patron’s Pick entitled, “Baggage: A Non-musical Romp through One Catholic Gay Man’s Dating History” is a deeply personal yet facetious account of the lessons we all should learn from our past romances.

“Relationships are a lot like airplane rides,” explains McCarthy, “Most of us simply don’t know how they stay afloat.”

Strap in your seatbelts. It’s going to be a hilarious ride.

Continue reading Baggage 2 (SAMBO Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

I just can’t get behind Surviving Speares. I want to, because Charlatan Remedies has done a good job of putting it together, and it’s more polished than many of the other Fringe Festival plays I’ve seen so far. But I can’t.

I’m always a fan of interactive theatre that borders on improvisation. I like that this play makes use of its surroundings and its changing audience, and it does so quite well. It’s staged in Magpie Taproom, and it’s immersive from the moment you enter the bar. The actors are wandering about in their full Shakespearean dress slinging beers and giggles.

The play is about Shakespeare hanging out in a 21^st century bar with a number of his more famous characters: Hamlet, Juliet, Romeo, Lear. He’s sort of writing this play as it goes along, but he’s a participating character as well. He knows he’s invented half of the English language but he’s worried because he hasn’t written anything new in several centuries.

Continue reading Surviving Speares (Charlatan Remedies) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

“Life is too short to be with shitty people”. This line was hit extremely hard during the production of Bitch. A cathartic purge based on a true story  put on by Beer In A Glass Productions at the 2013 Toronto Fringe Festival. The first thing I thoroughly enjoyed about this production was its venue, St. Vladimir’s Theatre, and its highly pumped air conditioning which was just lovely. The play however, although it had its moments, was not an overall success in my opinion.

Written by and starring Erin Thompson who plays Angela, someone we assume to be a true supportive friend, and Tracey Beltrano who plays Lucy, a girl who has recently broken up with her boyfriend and has gone to her friend Angela for guidance and comfort.

Continue reading Bitch. a cathartic purge based on a true story (Beer In A Glass Productions) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →

I am a huge fan of period dramas, obsessively so. When I got a chance to review an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, one of the most renowned and well-loved period novels of all time, at Toronto Fringe I dove into it like an Olympic gold medallist.

Hallie Burt and Kate Werneburg’s play,  Elizabeth – Darcy, is high-energy, charming and a delight for admirers of the novel and its numerous TV adaptations. All of our favourite characters, scenes and quotes are there in this production.

Continue reading Elizabeth – Darcy: An Adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (Burt and Werneburg) 2013 Toronto Fringe Reviews →

The premise of Vangroovy (playing at the Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival) is best explained as the setup for a joke.

A jogger, a gorilla, a male prostitute and Santa Claus walk into Stanley Park. One of them looks like Placido Domingo.

There. That’s the joke. Did you laugh? Then Vangroovy is right up your alley.

I don’t mind telling you that I didn’t.

Continue reading Vangroovy (Theatre Ocean) 2013 Toronto Fringe Review →