The Miserable Worm is a modern reimagining of Anton Chekov’s first untitled play (often called Platonov). It’s being put on by Let Me In Theatre at the Toronto Fringe Festival. That original piece has a runtime of about five hours, is apparently very nuanced, and to be honest I didn’t know anything about it going into this.
The Miserable Worm follows Platonov, played by the show’s creator Justine Christensen, an intellectual who’s gathered her friends for a weekend of debauchery in celebration of her birthday. Christensen gives us an aloof, arrogant, and deeply selfish character who ruthlessly turns her friends against her over the course of the show.
This is a touching show about a woman on a solo road trip at the end of a very long and trying year. It is at times funny and heartbreaking, and Magical Mystery Detour is one of the most impressive Fringe shows I’ve seen.
First times are always scary. And in Weaksauce, an original one man show by actor and writer Sam Mullins at the 2017 Toronto Fringe Festival, we experience some of the most intimate and hilarious first-time stories from Mullins’ past.
When five strangers are huddled around a car for 100 hours, things are bound to get a little weird. In HANDS DOWN by Shoot Good Films at the Toronto Fringe Festival, things get very weird.
HANDS DOWN is written by Warren P. Sonoda, an experienced television comedy director with credits like Trailer Park Boys and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Going into this show, I was excited to see how someone with a high-caliber, albeit slightly different, professional background would tackle the Fringe Festival as writer and director. Continue reading HANDS DOWN (Shoot Good Films) 2017 Toronto Fringe Review→
InspiraTO delivers, both in inspiration and entertainment, on stage in Toronto
From now until June 10, there’s something special going on at the Alumnae Theatre (70 Berkeley St). It’s the annual InspiraTO short-play festival. In the runtime of just one hour, you can see 6 original short plays.
InspiraTO chooses its shows from over two-hundred submissions. With this vast selection, it’s unsurprising that the short plays that make it into the festival are quite good. I was generally impressed by what I saw onstage. These plays are short and to the point; some were a bit too on-the-nose for my liking, but the brevity and variety meant that I was never bored. I really recommend checking out this festival.
