Heartbeat and Other Ways to Say I Love You ranks as one of this year’s finer Toronto Fringe Festival offerings.  Equal parts comedy, myth, and commentary on a hyper-connected, heavily commercial way of life, the play highlights the exceptional acting and writing talents of Tanya Elchuk and Natalie Semotiuk. Continue reading Heartbeat and Other Ways to Say I Love You (Dynamic Triumph) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review →

A Lesson in Gabby is playwright Labe Kagan’s semi-autobiographical comedy about love, an artist’s angst, the Toronto real estate market and new age medicine. It also parodies (for reasons the play does not disclose) the relentless fundraising efforts of 91.1 Jazz FM.  Performed to a packed house on opening night, this comedy may not be for everyone, but it delivers on its promise of laughs, and may be a fan favourite at this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival. Continue reading A Lesson in Gabby (Mark MyWords-Ink) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review →

The Doctor Will See you Now is a site-specific show set in the waiting room of the Royal Care Medical Centre, and perfectly captures and caricatures the awkwardness uniform to every clinic waiting room in Canada.  Karen Parker steals the show as Dijon, the clinic’s receptionist and wannabe rap star, who is more preoccupied with selling her latest CD than keeping the clinic functional.   Continue reading The Doctor Will See You Now (Sorry Goat Productions) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review →

Mumsical is the output of sketch comedy veteran Moniquea Marion‘s furious 2014 writing, producing, and performing efforts (where she created and starred in over half a dozen one-woman shows).  The play follows Marion as she struggles with the decision to become a mother or remain childless.  She embarks on an odyssey of unusual motherly scenarios set against the ominous ticking of her own biological clock.  Continue reading Mumsical (Moniquea Marion) 2015 Fringe Review →

Late last night, a scrappy, sure-footed performance-poet strutted onto the Tarragon Theatre‘s Mainspace, rambling about Hungarian nuclear physicists and a Nazi atomic bomb. With nothing but a few changes in lighting and an effortlessly lyrical monologue, Jem Rolls continued to spin these ramblings into a fascinating one-man show titled The Inventor of All Things.  This is a last-minute, so-late-it’s-not-even-in-the-program entry, and judging by the audience reaction, the Toronto Fringe Festival is lucky to have Rolls on board. Continue reading The Inventor of All Things (Jem Rolls) 2015 Toronto Fringe Review →