This play is like, really adorable. A most earnest production, it is the kind of teen theatre that is a joy to support.

This Play Is Like ____, playing at Randolph Theatre as part of this year’s Fringe Festival, is all about high school hardships. With a writer, cast, and crew of 17-18 year olds, it’s a giggly coming-of-age tale written while still coming of age.

It’s steeped in high school enlightenment, and I really mean that as a compliment. The subject matter doesn’t rise beyond the immediacy of the concerns of the age group involved, but it does possess a certain wisdom I assume most high schoolers do not exercise about their own situation.

It’s a story we’ve heard before – high school is hard, fitting in is tough, dating is awkward, and parents are confusing – but with a shadow puppet twist!

The real humour and joy comes in the live action bits of the piece, but the shadow puppets add another level, a hint that the writer may grasp the timelessness of her teenage struggle to fit in.

For me this play was like watching a memory – I’ve been here before and at the time I thought I was looking some of life’s hardest trials in the face. I, too, was an awkward teen who felt like the perpetual outside and who saw “the game of school” both socially and institutionally.

Every perspective is valuable and this piece is an excellent example of that. There are insights in here about child/parent relationships that many adults likely haven’t grasped.

At her young age, playwright Glenys Robinson offers some astute observations about human nature, and it’s exciting to see.

Details:

• This Play Is Like ____ plays at Randolph Theatre (736 Bathurst St.)
• Show times:
  July 03 08:45 PM
  July 06 12:00 PM
  July 07 08:45 PM
  July 08 03:00 PM
  July 10 11:00 PM
  July 12 01:45 PM
  July 13 09:15 PM
• All individual Fringe tickets are $10 at the door (cash only). Tickets are available online at www.fringetoronto.com, by phone at 416-966-1062, in person at the Fringe Club, 581 Bloor St. W, July 3rd-14th, noon – 10pm (Advance tickets are $11 – $9+$2 service charge)
• Value packs are available if you plan to see at least 5 shows.