This Is Not Porn by Face to Face is a short, comedic performance depicting a chance encounter between two young women – Simone (played by Matisse ApSimon-Negens) and Ally (Madeleine Anderson). This Shed show, playing at Toronto Fringe 2015, begins as a drunk Simone emerges from a party to throw up and winds up meeting Ally who is determined to make a strong feminist statement by putting up a ‘boob poster’ (as it’s called on the play’s Facebook page) on the street.

Both the poster (designed by artist Alexa Hawksworth) and the show succeed in making a provocative assertion as the performers put their point across in a light-hearted way throughout the performance.

The conversation between the two protagonists, which makes up the crust of the performance, effectively examines the pitfalls of feminist activism that the play’s blurb refers to.

ApSimon-Negens and Anderson were bold and witty in the leading roles. While the former portrayed the innocent and impressionable Simone well, the latter nicely depicted the confusion peeking through the supposed confidence of budding feminist Ally.

Sam Boer provides adequate support for the two protagonists by playing multiple roles in the performance.

My main issue with the performance was the crammed-up space, which prevented me from appreciating the performance at certain moments. Had there been just one row for the audience instead of two, the performance would still be intimate without being too close for comfort. It may also have helped the performers with voice modulation (which seemed a little off at times), and convincing dialogue delivery.

I recommend catching a stand-up show before this one, like I did with Shootin’ The Shed with Marc Hallworth, in order to set the tone while you wait for the show to start.

All in all, watching This Is Not Porn in the Shed at the Fringe Club was a unique and enjoyable experience. Although the performance had room for improvement, it was thought-provoking and refreshing in its own way.

Details

• This Is Not Porn is playing until July 12 at the Fringe Club.
• All Shed shows are pay what you can.
• This performance is not accessible for non-English speakers
• This production contains nudity and mature language.

Remaining Show Times:

July 10 at 08:30 PM
July 11 at 06:00 PM
July 12 at 02:00 PM

This Is Not Porn Poster provided by the company.