All posts by Christopher Douglas

Review: Helen’s Necklace (Canadian Rep Theatre)

Canadian Rep Theatre presents Helen’s Necklace in Toronto that feels hazy and unanchored

Canadian Rep Theatre has chosen to produce Carole Fréchette’s Helen’s Necklace in a unique way.  Typically performed by one actress as Helen and one male portraying the other characters, director Ken Gass casts three female actors in the two-hander.
The eponymous character narrates her journey through an unnamed country after she loses her “lighter-than-air” pearl necklace. The necklace is described as using invisible thread, making the pearls appear as if just scattered around Helen’s clavicle – it is an elusive and ethereal ornament. And this production follows the necklace’s lead.

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The Queen’s Eulogy (the orchid beauty shop) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of Joella Crichton in The Queen's Eulogy

Staged in a loading dock behind a dormitory, the orchid beauty shop ‘s production of Rachel Ganz’s The Queen’s Eulogy is without a doubt one of the strangest plays at the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival. An absurdist piece set in a futuristic world of garbage, there is a faint whiff of its inspiration Pygmalion amid the manic dialogue and bizarrely naïve characters as red wine simply rains down from the sky.

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Women of the Fur Trade (Vault Projects) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of Erica Wilson, Frances Koncan, Erin Meagan Schwartz in Women of the Fur Trade

Normally I’m skeptical of shows where the writer is also the director, the stage manager and the designer. But Frances Koncan proves no trepidation is necessary. Women of the Fur Trade is a bold ironic piece presented by Winnipeg-based Vault Projects.

Then again, it is also the winner of the Toronto Fringe Festival‘s Best New Play Contest, so it shouldn’t really surprise me that it’s a wickedly subversive comedy about feminism and Louis Riel.

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Prank (Thundermind Theatre and DutchGirl Productions) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of Cydney Penner and Christel Bartelse in Prank

Funny though this play is, if you know nothing about the internet and the celebrities it creates, Prank might not be the show for you at the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival. However, if you’re reading this review now, you have probably figured out something about the internet already.

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