There’s no sure-fire formula for success at Fringe, but the festival’s best plays have at least two things in common: they prize character over plot, and they deliver on whatever promises they’ve made the audience.

Bear Production’s Speare at the Factory Theatre Mainspace is an intelligent, ambitious idea – an interesting thought experiment given life by a talented cast. But it fails on both these counts.  Continue reading Speare – Part II (Bear Productions) 2012 Toronto Fringe Review →

In the back corner of the Fringe Club lies an enchanted crackhouse. Hand the creative reins of Fred Penner’s Place over to Seth Macfarlane, and you’ll get a rough approximation of the Enchanted Collective’s inventive, sometimes cringe-worthy work of genius.

The play stars Virginia (Kristin Mueller-Heaslip), a virtuous young woman with the innocence and vocal chords of a seasoned soprano, on a quest to rescue her sister – “Well, she’s my twin sister, only she’s a prostitute addicted to crack” – from the clutches of the Kralk (Daniel Krolik), a greaseball human-rodent hybrid. Continue reading The Enchanted Crackhouse (the Enchanted Collective) 2012 Toronto Fringe Review →

If you liked the way The Avengers grabbed every Marvel superhero under the sun and thrust him into a two-hour, story-arc-be-damned battle royale, but you felt the film needed a dash of literary pretension, you’re in luck. Bear Productions’ Speare, staged in two parts during Fringe at the Factory Theatre, invites you to dust off your Spark Notes and get your nerd on.

Continue reading Speare – Part I (Bear Productions) 2012 Toronto Fringe Review →

Here’s how to enjoy the Shakespeare Bash’d take on Taming of the Shrew, a site-specific play staged at the legendary Victory Cafe in Mirvish Village as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival:  show up early, stay late, order beer. Continue reading Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare Bash’d) 2012 Toronto Fringe Review →