The Greatest LOVE STORY Ever Forgotten produced by The Boy Who Swallowed a Bullet Collective playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival.
The Greatest Love Story Ever Forgotten is a sixty minute story told over two days about Florence (Brittaney Bennett) who is an elderly woman in a home. She’s visited by a therapy clown (Gungun Deep Singh) who discovers that the picture Florence thinks is her husband, is actually actor Rock Hudson. The clown undertakes to help Florence piece the memories of her life back together.
Bennett’s Florence convincingly shows us how lonely it can be when you are isolated both externally within a community and internally through memory loss. The growth that she brings to Florence was worth seeing. Singh’s therapy clown drove the action of the story, though at times I felt that their interactions were contrived and forced.
Despite my feelings on their interactions, there were some lovely moments in the play. When Singh’s clown presents a piece of jewelry, or a flashback where Bennett recounts some recently recollected stories of her past, I felt an emotional connection to the character. The penultimate scene of the play brought me to tears, which were wiped away with the final scene which I felt was not as impactful.
The Greatest Love Story Ever Forgotten explores the ebb and flow of memory loss and how it effects social interactions. It allows silliness to live with strong emotion, and although it doesn’t always work, there are times of utter sweetness.
Details
- The Greatest Love Story Ever Forgotten plays at the Robert Gill Theatre. (214 College St.)
- Tickets are $13, including a $2 service charge. The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes and discounts for serious Fringers.
- Tickets can be purchased online, by telephone (416-966-1062), from the Festival Box Office at Scadding Court (707 Dundas St. W.), and — if any remain — from the venue’s box office starting one hour before curtain.
- Content Warning: Mature language.
- This venue is wheelchair-accessible through usage of a painfully slow elevator. We recommend making sure you arrive a few minutes early.
- Be aware that Fringe performances always start exactly on time, and that latecomers are never admitted.
Performances
- Wednesday July 4th, 10:30 pm
- Friday July 6th, 3:30 pm
- Sunday July 8th, 7:00 pm
- Monday July 9th, 4:45 pm
- Wednesday July 11th, 2:00 pm
- Friday July 13th, 9:45 pm
- Saturday July 14th, 5:15 pm
Photo of Brittaney Bennett by David Leyes