The Stage Manager’s Guide to Dating Assholes ticks all my boxes: this Fringe satire about gender and power dynamics is hilarious, biting, political, and uncomfortably prescient. But coming into it, I was worried: what if it’s too theatrical? I am a stage manager; I know what to expect; will the public connect with it?
So I brought a friend who’d never worn a headset in her life — and she laughed, and laughed, and squirmed, and laughed. She got it, and she loved it — and you will, too.
Every Fringe, we ask our contributors to prepare a personal shortlist of the shows which interest, excite, titillate and intrigue them the most. And between our 24 Fringe writers, we’ve got a broad range of ages, tastes, expectations and interests: we’ve got retirees and college students, working theatre professionals and moms with “real jobs”, academics and burlesque performers.
Because of that breadth, we figure that, when a show appears on multiple shortlists, it’s probably gonna do pretty well — and if it appears on 8 or 9 or 12, it must have something truly special going on. Our Hot Tickets are those shows: the Fringe productions which attracted the most interest and attention from our staff.
Of interest: 8 out of our top 9 this year are #FringeFemmeTO, and most of them deal specifically with female characters, female experiences and female-focused stories. We aren’t the first to report it, but this is shaping up to be a banner year for women at Fringe!
Presented in no particular order:
When Sarah Marchand turned 13, she threw a party — and nobody came. In Birthday Cake, she revisits this moment in her childhood, telling the story and mining the experience for comedy, drama and pathos. There’s something deliciously askew about this production, like a Chuck E Cheese house band playing Helter Skelter. Our writer Catherine Jan is ready for her slice:
I got excited about seeing Birthday Cake because of the first line of the play description:
“On my 13th birthday, no one showed up.”
I knew this was the play for me because I’ve had my share of feeling left out. I’m ready to hear the character out. It’s hard being a 13-year-old girl, given our changing bodies, our need for friends’ approval on everything, our desire to be treated like adults.
Birthday Cake plays at the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace (16 Ryerson Ave.) between June 30 and July 10th. See bottom of article for ticketing information. Continue reading Fringe 2016: Mooney on Theatre’s Hot Tickets
Who, and what, does our culture include and accept? Who decides? And who gets left out?From press release:
Silk Bath is a ruthless, satirical, physical exploration of what it means to be accepted by society, after the citizenship paperwork is signed. Set under the lights of a live reality TV show taping, four immigrants battle it out for a place in their new home. Can we ever shed the label of the outsider?
Performed in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English (with Chinese and English surtitles), Silk Bath is accessible to a community that is often excluded from Canadian stages. The play explores the existing contradiction in Western Media which deems Asians as “safe” for Western consumption, yet continually whitewashes Asian stories and roles. As one of three Culturally Diverse Artist Projects in the Toronto Fringe this year, Silk Bath Collective is thrilled to be presenting this necessary and relevant story. Who has the power to decide the fate of immigrants in today’s society? And who gets to deem someone as “safe”?
Silk Bath Collective is comprised of three Chinese Canadian theatre-makers (Bessie Cheng, Aaron Jan and Gloria Mok) who first met as members of fu-GEN Theatre’s K12 Playwriting Unit. They collaboratively wrote Stuck, seven intersecting stories that explored the dynamics of race, power, and politics which was presented as part of fu-GEN’s annual Potluck Festival in 2015.
Director Aaron Jan was the youngest person to win “Best of Hamilton Fringe” at 20 years old for his play Drafts presented by Fulcrum Theatre in 2012. Jan was selected as one of Factory Theatre’s 2015-2016 Foremen – a new training program led by Nina Lee Aquino for mentoring directors of colour in staging new work. Performer En Lai Mah has been praised for his roles in Served (NNNN) at the 2015 Toronto Fringe, and Van Groovy (NNNN) at the 2013 Toronto Fringe. Performer Amanda Zhou appeared in Madame Mao (NNNN) at the 2014 Summerworks Festival. Zhou is the granddaughter of Zhou Xuan, the Golden Voice of China’s Seven Singing Stars.
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From press release:
THAT’S HOW I REMEMBER IT is a full movie theatre experience. Ushers will guide you to your seats, you’ll laugh out loud at ridiculous movie trivia before the show, see hilarious coming attractions, then settle in to enjoy your favourite movie. All in all, celebrated Toronto comedy troupe The Nice Guys think they’ve found a foolproof way to make The Toronto Fringe Festival easy on themselves…until their film projector breaks.
Faced with an audience to whom they’ve promised a famous film, The Nice Guys find themselves armed with nothing but their wits and creativity. Luckily they also have microphones, sound effects, and the help of famous comedian friends. Together they’ll turn their loose recollections of what MIGHT have happened in the movie into the silliest radio-play you can imagine.
Voted one of the top 10 podcasts of 2015 by Blog.to, the hit internet radio-play THAT’S HOW I REMEMBER IT is now a Fringe show! Join veteran improvisers and comedians as they re-imagine and probably ruin your favourite film.
They’ll turn the movie you suggest into a made-up comedy radio-play on the spot. Every show is a different movie and every show they’re joined by a different comedy legend as their guest!
Special guests include Colin Mochrie (Whose Line is it Anyway?), Ken Hall (2-MAN NO-SHOW), Marty Adams (The Second City Project), Paloma Nuñez (Toronto, I Love You), Ashley Botting (One Night Only), Paul Bates (Dan for Mayor), and Kayla Lorette (The Second City Project)
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That Joyce GirlFrom press release:
Postcard Theatre is coming to the Toronto Fringe Festival with a bold one-woman show that follows the life of Lucia Joyce, daughter to the famous author James Joyce. But before Lucia can find her own artistic voice, she has to fight her way out from behind her up-and-coming father as well as societal expectations of women and her battle with mental illness.
The creative team includes director/producer Brittany Miranda who returns to the Toronto Fringe Festival after her 2015 performance in Rukmini’s Gold (winner – Best New Play).
Writer/performer Kate Cattell-Daniels has been working on the script and concept for That Joyce Girl for nearly two years and is thrilled to be able to share this play as part of the Toronto Fringe.
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