I was thrilled to see Tracey Erin Smith from Soulo Theatre at long last as her reputation as the Queen of one woman shows goes before her and I was definitely not disappointed. In her new Toronto Fringe Festival show, Memento Mori, she has expanded her repertoire to include talented musicians, masked and mysterious dancers, carefully crafted art pieces and compelling storytelling.
Continue reading Memento Mori (Soulo Theatre) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review
The SNAFU Dance Theatre‘s Toronto Fringe Festival show Kitt & Jane: An Interactive Survival Guide to the Near-Post-Apocalyptic Future is a theatrical mashup of two very different kinds of plays. Some dramas take a serious look at the environmental problems we face in our world now and the challenges we might have to overcome. Other dramas take differently but equally serious looks at the struggles of adolescence. It’s the genius of this show and its performers that it easily combines these two very different kinds of theatre into one zany, oddly serious, and very compelling show.
Continue reading Kitt & Jane: A Guide to the Future (SNAFU Dance Theatre) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review
Real Dead Ghosts (by Shelby Company, playing the Toronto Fringe Festival) begins quietly on the stage of the Robert Gill Theatre. A couple sits on stage, describing a surreal moment of terror. Then, the scene morphs and they are in a cabin in the woods. At this moment, I wonder if the play is going to twist into a horror story or possibly an homage to The Sixth Sense. I was prepared to see some real dead ghosts, but I found something better.
The play is less about ghouls and more about a couple trying to sort out their issues the night before their wedding anniversary. The couple Amber and Graham are haunted by certain aspects of their pasts. They fear that they will be doomed to repeat these scenarios for eternity, much like a ghost with “unfinished business”. The two are haunted by their memories, which can seem as scary as any spectre.
Continue reading Real Dead Ghosts (Shelby Company) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review
It’s Kind of a Love Story – Artamiss production of Naomi Peltz’s play – is at St. Vlad’s Theatre as part of the Toronto Fringe. It’s kind of a boy meets girl, falls in love, girl wants to just be friends story.
Except that the girl is in love with the boy but is afraid that if she tells him then he won’t love her, so she dates someone else. Continue reading It’s Kind of a Love Story (Artamiss) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review
Musical adaptations are far from a new concept. In fact, most musicals these days are adaptations of popular movies, books or plays. The Common Ground: A Musical Dissertation, currently playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival, expands the art into new territory by putting a theatrical spin on – you guessed it – a scientific dissertation.
In this case, Ken McNeilly transformed his 400-page thesis on the struggles faced by the children of LGBT-identified parents into a musical. And it’s the show’s academic roots that both anchor it in powerful truths while restricting it from becoming the rallying cry for children of LGBT-identified parents that it could become.