Al Lafrance: I Think I’m Dead (playing at the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival) feels like it could be a crystallizing show for people with insomnia, depression and suicidal ideation. In this one-man set, delivered with the pace and precision of a military tattoo, he walks us through 15 years of grappling with mental health, and how he uses multiverse theory to understand himself and the world around him.
Continue reading Al Lafrance: I Think I’m Dead (Thunder Blunder) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review
Fallsview to a Kill (part of the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival) is an improvised pastiche of James Bond: six actors play supervillains, mooks, heroes and badgers as S.M.A.S.H Agent Brent (Jon Blair) works to thwart Dr. Thompson’s sinister plan to seize not just Niagara Falls, but the entire greater Golden Horseshoe.
And it works! Concept-oriented Fringe Improv is a field littered with shows that had great concepts and zero follow-through; this company knows their stuff and deliver the goods. It’s polished, it’s beautifully paced, and it all hangs together beautifully.
Continue reading Fallsview to a Kill (Low Fidelity Productions) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review
Geek! (playing at the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival) is a love letter to anime and fandom. Set in the final hours of a convention, our two protagonists encounter obstacle after obstacle on their quest to meet the creator of their favourite series, Dante’s Fire. With fate determined to thwart them, will they succeed, and will their friendship endure?
Continue reading Geek! (Socratic Theatre Collective) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review
In Ashley with a “Y (at the Toronto Fringe Festival), Second City vet Ashley Botting invents around 10 songs on the spot, drawing topics from a punchbowl and then improvising with a live pianist (Scott White).
It’s an ambitious exercise, and the thing about Botting is that she’s so damned charming and #Relatable that I would forgive her almost any sin. Luckily, I don’t have to.
Continue reading Ashley with a “Y” (Botting Productions) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review
This year, Mooney on Theatre is bringing a team of more than 25 correspondents to the Toronto Fringe Festival. With a team this big and diverse, no matter what you’ve got to show us, we have someone who wants to see it — and we will! As always, Mooney on Theatre will post a longform review of every show in the festival (~160 shows in all!) by the end of opening weekend.
But for now, a little buzz: our Hot Tickets are the shows which excited, attracted, intrigued and interested our team more than any others. These are the pieces which turned our heads, tickled our brains, and caused stampedes at scheduling time. Presenting, in no particular order, Mooney on Theatre’s Hot Tickets for Toronto Fringe 2018!
Continue reading Mooney on Theatre’s Hot Tickets for Toronto Fringe 2018