Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Review: 2017 Toronto Fringe - so far...

The Toronto Fringe is sliding into the back half and it's time to take a look at this year's proceedings, just past the mid-point.

The site moved to Dundas and Bathurst Street to the hockey rink pad beside the skateboard park at Scadding Court. The festival staff and volunteers have made a concerted effort to tart the place up:  there's fairy lights around the bar, a big, raised stage with a good sound system at one end, green umbrellas and colorful table cloths dot the floor.  The stage has been inventively programmed. The  DJs on Saturday night gave the place a great vibe and lots of people were up dancing. There's a tented area on one side to provide shade:all good.

Posters are  mounted at the front of the site and in the Jon Kaplan Tent at the path leading into the tent, beside the community centre. Jimmy's has a coffee stall out there. The ticket booth is also outside, at the front. Don't get me started on the ticketing system which the staff is struggling heroically to deal with.

The downside: the concrete pad is unbearably hot (and therefore pretty empty) during the day. When I arrived at 6:00 PM on Tuesday night to grab dinner before a 7:15PM show, the one lonely food vendor on the inside was just setting up. He had a few cold bowls available, but his grill was going to take 45 minutes to heat up. Cold tofu wasn't going to cut it. I wandered over to Dundas Street West and had a great, cheap Asian dinner at Chop Chop.

There are a lot of nice bars and restaurants in that stretch of Dundas, just west of Bathurst, but I would rather have given my money to the festival and its vendors.

After my 7:15 show I went back for a drink with friends:  the bar filled up as the sun went down, the food stall inside was operationalby then and it was a fun night.  I have to say however, that I approached my stroll out of the bar at 10:00 PM with some trepidation.

The park and the community centre at the corner of Queen and Sherbourne is possibly the only sketchier public space than Scadding Court on a major intersection in the downtown core. There are signs in the planters leading into the community centre asking patrons not to leave syringes in the flower beds.

The festival has placed a strong and very visible security presence at the entrance to the beer tent (as usual) and also has a security person at the entrance to the site.  I've locked my bike out there
(a few more racks at the front would be fantastic) because then I can unlock and know my bike and I are safe under his watchful gaze.

An exit from the rink that doesn't involve a stroll down an alley behind the rink would go a long way to making the site feel safer for this woman after dark. 

Meanwhile Honest Ed's is tagged and abandoned.  As I biked past it on the way home from the Tarragon the other night, I couldn't help but wonder why the festival couldn't have been allowed to use the site until construction actually started. An entire, once vibrant block of the city is now a dead zone of chain-link fence and vacant properties. There's another block of tagged hoarding and chain-link fence on the walk from the Factory to the site, along Bathurst Street between Adelaide and Queen, where some scammy developer has only managed to acquire half the houses he's hoping to raze for yet another condo project.

The festival has made the best of a bad business - a site move in downtown Toronto: a city with exploding land values and massive intensification in the core. It's too bad the festival can't just take over half the CNE for 2 weeks - or relocate there permanently and have a permanent location like Edmonton has with theatres on-site.  The Queen Elizabeth is certainly under-utilized.

The art:  the festival is huge this year:  160 shows. I'm about half-way through my viewing. I've missed the Robert Gill as a venue. I also stupidly missed Delirium the other night because I under-calculated the length of time it would take me to bike to the Tarragon. Sorry, Martin.

There's been a great pool of acting talent on display this year. A few stand-out performances:Jakob Ehman in 10 Creative Ways to Dispose of Your Cremains, Adam Bailey in The Life of Henri and Penny Ashton in Olive Copperbottom who sings, dances and acts her way through a panoply of Dickensian characters with great verve and wit.She also wins hands-down for best costume of the festival. Vanessa Quesnelle in Moonlight After Midnight gives a star turn in beautiful and very affecting performance. She co-stars with her husband Martin Dockery who penned the script: there's real magic in their chemistry onstage.

In other dynamic duos: Pete N' Chris killed it on Monday night before a packed throng of adoring fans in their utterly ridiculous romp through a series of holiday classics, A Peter n' Christ-mas Carol.  Similarly, Jessica Gabriel and Chloe Ziner (Mind of a Snail) created a saucy, feminist, mad and unique look at love sex and relationships in Multiple Organism. They got a big standing O from the crowd who howled with laughter (and recognition) throughout the show.

Finally, I saw two solo shows that featured that rare combination of a great story and a terrific performance:  Sam Mullins in Weaksauce and Joanne O'Sullivan in She Grew Funny.

All the shows above are well worth a visit.

This weekend, I'm going to see quite a few shows created by women: more on that later. See you in the  line-ups and at the beer tent.




The Toronto Fringe continues at various sites across the West end of Toronto.  For schedules and tickets go to www.fringetoronto.com









Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Preview: TORONTO FRINGE 2017 - because I LIKE to watch...

 How do you know your Fringe billet is soon to arrive?

The rubber vomit in the mail should have been my first clue:  SHOULD is the operative word in this sentence.

Two weeks ago, a plain brown envelope arrived at my office containing a back-page -of the comics slab of rubber vomit.  Who the hell would gift me with a 10 year old boy's idea of a joke? No sender except for Amazon and some random gag supplier in Las Vegas.   A weekend of paranoid speculation ensued as well as a number of long, deep conversations about strategies for dealing with harassment.

A week later, I'm on Messenger with Penny Ashton.  She's my billet/Fringe guest this year.  Her promo materials arrived ahead of her - at my office as we arranged.  "Did you get my small package?"  she asked.  Oh no. I expected the posters, fliers and magnets but had totally forgotten about the parcel.  "Was it rubber vomit?"  I asked?  "Yes!"  I needed fake gruel and I thought - vomit - perfect!"  I sheepishly confessed to having returned it to sender with no note.  "Did they not put my name on it?"  No, because if they had, I would have known it was a prop.

I should have known:  as those of us who have been hanging around these festivals for a few years can tell you:  anything can happen at the Fringe.

Ms. Ashton and her petticoats are now ensconced in my domicile.  Kidding Awound in Yorkville had replacement ersatz gruel.  I'm feeling a bit less stupid now. Penny's new show opens tomorrow:  and the 29th annual Toronto Fringe Festival opens tonight.

What to see at a festival that now offers 160 shows over eleven days?

Here's a few thoughts, organized in order of venue.

Venue #1 Tarragon Theatre Mainspace

A PETE N' CHRIS-TMAS CAROL
 The beloved Fringe faves are back with a Dickens send-up.  I'm interested to see what the lads do with the literary great's most popular tale.

DELIRIUM
The lanky American storyteller returns with a tale he says is "search for meaning."  He five-stars and sells out a cross the country.  A number of people have told me they think this is one of his best shows. He also co-stars with his wife Vanessa Quesnelle in a thriller MOONLIGHT AFTER MIDNIGHT,  which is billed as both a mystery and a romance.

Venue #3 TARRAGON THEATRE SOLO ROOM

MAGICAL MYSTERY DETOUR
Gemma Wilcox is a physical performer of astonishing dexterity and precision, well worth watching.
She regularly sells out in Winnipeg and Edmonton.

Venue #4  Al GREEN THEATRE

OLIVE COPPERBOTTOM: A NEW MUSICAL by Charles Dickens and Penny Ashton
Ms. Ashton is not only my room-mate for the duration of the festival, she that rare combo platter of talented writer and skilled performer.  I can't wait to see her sing, dance and act her way through this parody of Dickens.

JAMES &JAMESEY IN THE DARK
The admired British comedy duo are back with more high-stepping ridiculousness. I find them very charming.

Venue #5 THE RANDOLPH THEATRE

ROUGH MAGIC
My friends, apt 613 reviewers Barb Popel and Brian Carroll told me this was a favourite show at the Ottawa Fringe this year.  I quite enjoyed WEIRD this company's take on the Scottish play and I look forward to seeing what they do with a fanciful tale about the relationship between Ariel and Caliban.

6 QUICK DICK TRICKS: A DIRK DARROW INVESTIGATION
Magic meets comedy meets noir:  how much Fringier can you get?

VENUE #6 ANNEX THEATRE

BAD BABY PRESENTS: RULES CONTROL THE FUN
I always enjoy Janelle Hanna and she's working with Briana Brown who is a fine director.  I look forward to seeing her clown turn.

IN SEARCH OF CRUISE CONTROL
James Gangl teams up with Chris Gibbs.  Gangl is an excellent comedian and a terrific writer.  this will be well-worth seeing.

VENUE #7 ST VLADIMIR'S

WEIRDER THOU ART
Stephen Flett is in this:  it's hardly the Toronto Fringe until you've seen a show with Stephen Flett in it.

Venue #8 HELEN GARDINER PHELAN PLAYHOUSE

WEAKSAUCE
Storyteller extraordinaire Sam Mullins returns with a show I hope I finally get to see this festival.

Venue #9 THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE MAINSPACE

THE SEAT NEXT TO THE KING
I always check out the winner of the Best New Play competition.

TEN CREATIVE WAYS TO DISPOSE OF YOUR CREMAINS
Playwright Rose Napoli is a good enough reason for me to be there.

GRAHAM CLARK'S NOT HERE
Graham Clarke made a show out of a phone book.  This time he's apparently not even showing up.
I guess we'll have to go and see.


VENUE #10 FACTORY THEATRE MAINSPACE

MULTIPLE ORGANISM
Mind of Snail Puppet Company is beyond fabulous.  If you've never seen them, here's your chance.  If you have, well, you've probably already got a ticket.

PINEAPPLE CLUB
So last year, I took a flier and went, on my sister's recommendation  to see DANCE ANIMAL.
It was fabulous and I stayed awake through the whole thing after 11:00 PM on a school night.  At my age, that means it's a great bloody show.

VENUE #12   FACTORY STUDIO THEATRE

SHE GREW FUNNY
Chris Earle (Radio 30) directs Joanne O'Sullivan in a story that intrigued me.

As the survivor of a broken engagement myself, I'm thinking about DISENGAGED, also at this venue.  I'll see.

SITE SPECIFIC SHOWS

VENUE #15 THE LIFE HENRI

Adam Bailey (ADAM BAILEY IS ON FIRE!) and Laura Anne Harris ( PITCH BLONDE, THE HOME-MAKER) team up to tell the story of  French painter, Henri Rousseau.  I'm an art history buff and - full confession - Harris directed me the last time I toured - so I'll be seeing this.

VENUE #21 SCADDING COURT

SNAP!
A bunch of terrific Toronto actors team up to do a dark comedy.  Hey, it's next to the beer tent, so you don't tell me you can't find the venue.

VENUE #24  MONARCH TAVERN

MADDIE'S KARAOKE BIRTHDAY PARTY
Byron Laviolette  (Morro and Jasp) directs this 1/4 life crisis musical.

VENUE #32  FALLING ANGEL
Bruce Hunter is in this and that's a good enough reason for me to recommend that you check it out. Carolyn Azar directs this show which takes place al fresco - in Shaw Park - CAMH.

VENUE #33 LYSISTRATA
The ladies of Greece put the booty thang on lock-down until the men-folk stop being at war.
My Fringe experience is never complete without seeing some bunch of young things take on Greeks.

OK,  I need to order tickets and work out my schedule.  I'll see you in the beer tent - which is now at the south-east corner of Dundas and Bathurst, behind the Scadding Court Community Centre.

For show schedules and tickets go to: www.fringetoronto.com

Happy Fringing everybody!