I heard about THIRD FLOOR while waiting in line for a Fringe Show last month. The lady that recommended it was a friend of the playwright, Jason Hall, so I was a little skeptical as her opinion may have been a little biased. I later read the description and decided to give it a shot. I’m so glad I did.

The story is about two young neighbours living in a condo who bond over their mutual annoyance at a neighbour who leaves the trash out. We never learn the names of the actors and they refer to each other by their apartment numbers, 11 and 12. There are lots of references to Alfred Hitchcock films which is quite fitting as there is a surprising twist in the story.

I didn’t expect the show to be funny, but it was hilarious. The interaction between the actors was amusing to watch as we discover how different they are from each other; if they weren’t neighbours, they definitely wouldn’t be friends.

I liked that the dialogue flowed naturally and the conversations were very realistic. The guy living in number 11, Kristian Bruun, was magnificent. He is believable in every scene as we see his character transform from pleasant guy-next-door to a much darker, pyscho-ish character. Kaitlyn Riordan is also fantastic as number 12.

The set was simple and looked like a condo hallway. There were no distracting props or sound effects that detracted from the story or the acting.

I also enjoyed that there was a break between scenes when the lights would go out for a few seconds,  it seemed to effectively mark the passage of time.

I should warn you that there is coarse language, nudity, and adult humour that in my opinion is not at all suitable for children. I only say this because there were two young kids there and I’m not sure this was appropriate.

I thoroughly enjoyed this show and would recommend it to everyone. It was witty, suspenseful and hilarious in parts. It was nice to see a fresh, relatable show with an amazing cast.

Details:

THIRD FLOOR plays at the Lower Ossington Theatre

Performances:

Thursday, August 11th at 7:00pm; Saturday, August 13th at7:00pm; Sunday, August 14th at 2:00pm.

Photo credit to Wojtek Arciszewski. In photo Wilson and Bruun. Please note the actress in the show was Kaitlyn Riordan and not Wilson shown in the photo.