All posts by Lin Young

Lin Young is a PhD candidate in the English Department at Queen’s University by day, an insatiable theatre-goer by night. She truly loves seeing innovative indie theatre, the strange sort of hole-in-the-wall shows that big companies would never take a risk on. She’s seen plays in basements, gardens, bars, and in old dilapidated houses, to name a few. She’s always on the lookout for the next theatrical experiment in the city, and loves seeing shows that have some quality of fantasy, historicity, or strangeness to them – especially if they involve puppets! She tweets about theatre, comics and the 19th century at @linkeepsitreal.

Feature: Spotlight on Queer Theatre at the 2018 Toronto Fringe

There are certain genres of theatre that show up again and again at the Fringe, be they solo shows, puppet shows, or improv. For me, personally, one of the highlights of the Fringe is the sheer number and quality of shows that feature queer characters or story lines, and particularly those on offer from queer creators. From musicals to burlesque to one-woman shows, here are five randomly selected queer-themed shows for you to check out this season, and what we had to say about them! Continue reading Feature: Spotlight on Queer Theatre at the 2018 Toronto Fringe →

Moonstruck (Paloma Nuñez and Sarah Hillier) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of Moonstruck company from Moonstruck.Moonstruck, an improv show playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival, has a fairly simple premise: the company listens to one audience member’s dream and then builds a show around it. The cast–Jess Bryson, Ken Hall, Sarah Hillier, Sean Tabares, Jess Grant, Andy Hull, Paloma Nunez, and Kevin Whalen –not all of whom were present on opening night, then got to work building scenes designed to interpret it. Continue reading Moonstruck (Paloma Nuñez and Sarah Hillier) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review →

Paradise Lost (Rabbit in a Hat Productions) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of Paul Van Dyck and puppets from Paradise Lost at the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival.While Rabbit in a Hat Productions’ Paradise Lost serves as an adaptation of John Milton’s epic poem about the Fall of Man, this is unmistakably a stage show rather than a poetry reading. What I mean by that is yes, the words are all Milton’s (and they are beautiful words), but the production also uses projections, puppetry, and poetry to enhance and interpret them for the stage, bringing a unique and powerful version of the story to the Toronto Fringe Festival.

Continue reading Paradise Lost (Rabbit in a Hat Productions) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review →

Entrances and Exits (The Howland Company) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review

Photo of Liz Johnston and Ruth Goodwin doing a spit-take from Entrances and ExitsThe Howland Company‘s Entrances and Exits, currently playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival, has a simple premise. Act one takes place in a living room, and involves characters coming in and out of doors at random intervals. Act two flips the scene to the other side of the door, and in classic farce style, lets the audience in on what’s been happening in the other room during the first act. The twist? It’s entirely improvised by the cast. Continue reading Entrances and Exits (The Howland Company) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review →

A Perfect Romance (ArtworldStudioProductions) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review

The main conceit of ArtworldStudioProduction‘s A Perfect Romance, currently playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival, is this: two statues of Mars and Venus–also known as  Marte (Aldo Milea) and Venere (Ilaria Passeri)–come to life and reminisce about their past together through the decades, lamenting the fate of the world but also looking forward to the future. This time-transcending meeting between two lovers is told through live music, dance, and poetry.

Continue reading A Perfect Romance (ArtworldStudioProductions) 2018 Toronto Fringe Review →