All posts by Chris Klippenstein

Promise and Promiscuity: A New Musical by Jane Austen and Penny Ashton (Penash Productions) 2016 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of performer Penny Ashton

Ten minutes into Penash Productions’ Promise and Promiscuity: A New Musical by Jane Austen and Penny Ashton at the Toronto Fringe Festival, I knew I had to see it again. It was just that good — brilliantly performed, absolutely hilarious, and by far the best one-person show I’ve ever seen.

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Shakespeare Crackpot (Doctor Keir Co.) 2016 Toronto Fringe Review

Performer Keir Cutler stands near a bust of Shakespeare

 

Doctor Keir Co.’s production of Shakespeare Crackpot at the Toronto Fringe Festival was an entertaining and thought-provoking scamper through the history of Shakespeare. Bolstered by stories of Keir Cutler’s personal experience with academia, it emphasized the importance of thinking for yourself. If you’re interested in both Shakespeare and academia, as I am, there is certainly something here for you.

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Get Yourself Home Skyler James (Binocular Theatre) 2016 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of performer Natasha Ramondino

Binocular Theatre’s production of Jordan Tannahill’s Get Yourself Home Skyler James, directed by Ali Joy Richardson at the Toronto Fringe Festival is surely Fringe theatre at its best — bold, brilliantly performed, and centred around an urgent, timely story of love and resilience in the face of homophobia.

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A Thousand Kindnesses (conFAB) 2016 Toronto Fringe Review

 

Photo of performer Rachel Jury

Although conFAB’s production of A Thousand Kindnesses at the Toronto Fringe Festival contains a heartfelt and timely message about the plight of refugees and the power of kindness in everyday life, the way this message was delivered — through uncontextualized first-person accounts collected from real refugees — left me feeling profoundly uneasy.

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Inch of Your Life: Episode 1 (the theatre dept.) 2016 Toronto Fringe Review

Poster for Inch of Your Life

There are many treats to choose from in the theatre dept’s comic production of Inch of Your Life: Episode 1 at the Toronto Fringe Festival — take your pick between the feel-good piano music, lively banter between characters, and winking celebration of family in all its awkward, heartwarming chaos.

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