Mr. Nep?, an entry in the in the Toronto Fringe Festival by KiS Productions currently playing at the St. Vladimir Theatre, is a fun science fiction comedy. What is the measure of a human being in an imaginable future when the brain is interchangeable with technology? In forty minutes of dark comedy, Mr. Nep? gives its audience an idea what it would be like.
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Damn Tank, an entry in the Toronto Fringe Festival currently playing at the Factory Theatre Mainspace, provides an interesting glimpse into a future where death can be as much a blessing as continued life. This show by Another Creature Productions gives its audience a tantalizing taste of the lives of these future people, and leaves us wanting more.
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War Tapes, a show by Cordwainer Productions in the Toronto Fringe Festival currently playing at the Factory Theatre Mainspace, provides its audience with an interesting perspective on the intimacy that is in our high-tech world. This play of ideas does a good job of framing this issue and leaves its audience in a good place to start coming up with conclusions of its own.
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A Minor Mid-Career Retrospective, a Toronto Fringe Festival show by American performer James Judd currently playing at the Factory Theatre Studio, is an excellent example of the art of the humourous monologue done well. For an hour, Judd was able to take amusing stories from his own life and, through his energy and skill, keep his audience enthralled and laughing. Judd’s comedic monologues set the standard for their form.
Silk Bath, mounted by Silk Bath Collective, is a chillingly powerful Toronto Fringe Festival debut with its own original take on things like reality television and futuristic dystopias. Currently playing at the Tarragon Theatre Mainspace, this hour-long show forces its audience to consider the dilemma of four immigrants forced to fight for a place in their new country via a reality show competition.
As Silk Bath‘s four characters try to secure their futures, resigned to accepting crude stereotypes and incomprehensible rules, what will they be forced to do for our benefit? This glimpse into a too-plausible future is excellent theatre: disorienting, unsettling, provocative.
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