Fringe Festival

A collection of everything to do with the Toronto Fringe Festival, including reviews, features, press releases etc.

A Totally Sick Online Show (Looe Box Media) 2021 Toronto Fringe Review

Benjamin Liddell and Lucas Carravetta in a promo image from A Totally Sick Online Show

In A Totally Sick Online Show (playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival), co-creators Benjamin Liddell and Lucas Carravetta explore a specific idea: an awful lot of pop culture is just white guys jerking around, often without even the pretense that anything entertaining is going to happen. Podcasts where nobodies discuss nothing; vapid late-nite TV; YouTube content built for an algorithm instead of an audience; Jordan Peterson. Continue reading A Totally Sick Online Show (Looe Box Media) 2021 Toronto Fringe Review

ComMUTE (Deaf Spirit Theatre) 2021 Toronto Fringe Review

Promotional photo for ComMUTE featuring Alexandra Hickox, Juan Jaramillo, Theresa Upton, Jose Gaspar Sanabria, Hayley Hudson, Elizabeth Morris, and Robert Bhola

Deaf Spirit Theatre’s ComMUTE (playing in this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival) is a highly enjoyable series of short plays written by Deaf playwrights about Deaf characters played by Deaf actors. This collection of plays embodies everything I love about theatre. Over the course of the hour-long runtime, there are plenty of moments of laugh-out-loud hilarity, thought-provoking social commentary, and poignant human storytelling. Something for everyone!

Continue reading ComMUTE (Deaf Spirit Theatre) 2021 Toronto Fringe Review

Circle Back (Good Idea Bad Show) 2021 Toronto Fringe Review

Circle Back logo

Circle Back (Good Idea Bad Show) is a romantic comedy that takes place entirely on Zoom and is part of this year’s digital Fringe Festival. Gwyneth (Lauren Maykut) is a graphic designer working out of Melbourne, and Jamie (Tabia Lau, also the writer and director) is a brand manager overseeing tobacco products. As their careers, lives and goals change over the course of several years, Jamie and Gwyneth’s paths keep intersecting as freelancer and employer. Continue reading Circle Back (Good Idea Bad Show) 2021 Toronto Fringe Review

Balance (Pickles Digital Theatre Co.) 2021 Toronto Fringe Review

Picture of promotional poster for the play BalanceI wasn’t sure what to expect from Christopher Elizabeth Boyd’s Balance, from Pickles Digital Theatre Co. playing at this year’s digital Fringe Festival. What I got was a heartfelt examination of life, mental health, and living within society as Boyd delves into their own anxieties, fears, and memories. Continue reading Balance (Pickles Digital Theatre Co.) 2021 Toronto Fringe Review