The Toronto Fringe Festival is on its last weekend and it offers 123 choices of shows to choose from this year.
Due to day job commitments and other work, I have seen a limited number of shows this year. Nonetheless, my time at the Fringe has been quite rewarding. Below I share a few thoughts on the shows I have attended thus far.
Fringe Shows Seen
White Man’s Indian
Company Centre for Indigenous Theatre
Playwright Darla Contois
Darla Contois’ powerful solo drama tells the story of a Cree teenager struggling to fit in at a new school. Through this journey, the play explores the social, historical, and systemic challenges that many Indigenous youth face every day.
Songs for Moby Dick
Company Ubuopera
Creator & Solo Performer Peter Thompson
With Erika Reiman on piano
An aging Ishmael staggers onto the stage, haunted by memories of the tragic wreck of the Pequod. He sings a tale about the crew, the whale, and of the obsessive captain Ahab. A movement-based operatic epic about beauty, nature, humanity and destruction, based on the novel by Herman Melville.
Little Eden
Company Charles Ford
Writer & Performer Charles Ford
Gabriel wakes up in the middle of the night, trapped in the house of his deceased grandfather. Stumbling through a series of waking nightmares, he picks away at the walls of his psyche in search of a sense of authenticity. The show is a hopeful exploration of loss and grief; a journey through the mind of a man defined by his past and threatened by his future.
Olivia O Musical
Company Olivia O Musical
Writer/Performer/Producer Diane Currie Sam & Jessica Carmona
This is a coming-of-age story about Olivia Ortiz, a 14-year-old undocumented immigrant who is separated from her mother at the US-Mexican border and her aunt who builds a community of activism in an effort to find her and reunite families separated by cruel immigration policies. The show confronts the emotionally and rhetorically charged issue of migration, immigration policies and the movement of people across borders.
First Kiss
Company Shark ‘n Bake Productions
Cast Josette Jorge
It’s 1985. A socially awkward teenager yearns for her FIRST KISS before she turns sixteen in the suburbs. But life is not a John Hughes rom-com for an Asian girl like her. This nostalgic trip revisiting 80s movies like 16 Candles and Breakfast Club backed by a live band playing 80s hits like Maniac, Wild Thing and Prince’s Kiss on keyboards, harp, violin, cello and drums.
Hye’s Thoughts
Thought I share my thoughts with you in audio format for easier consumption. Curious what some of you think of these shows, if you attended as well.
Fringe Festival Info
The Toronto Fringe continues until Sunday, July 12 at various venues across Toronto. For festival daily discounts, show details, and tickets, please go to fringetoronto.com.
