Gadzooks! Totally Biased and Slightly Random (Yet Thoughtful) List of Plays You Should See At the Fringe This Year
It’s the 20th anniversary for the Toronto Fringe Festival (July 2-13). Gadzooks! took the time to go through the program to select some possible gems in the sea of Everything-The-Musical! and It’s The End Of The World: The Play!
Below are 7 plays we have selected - and why we chose them. Of course, you can go make your own selections by visiting fringetoronto.com
ANOTHER PROBLEM WITH H-THEOREM
By Cam Cobb
WHAT: Time is a funny thing.
GADZOOKS SAYS: We agree. Time is a very funny thing. And these guys are really old and dead and stuff. And that always makes for good comedy.
Director: Cam Cobb, Rupauk Sircar
Cast: Cam Cobb, Rupauk Sircar
Bloor Street United Church
300 Bloor St. West
45 min
Wed, July 2, 7PM
Thu, July 3, 8PM
Fri, July 4, 1:30 PM
Sat, July 5, 7PM and 9:15PM
Tue, July 8, 5PM
Thu, July 10, 7PM and 9:15PM
Fri, July 11, 1:30 PM
Sat, July 12, 7PM and 9:15PM
BLUEBEARD
By Pericles Snowdon
WHAT: Four women have been locked in an abandoned church for many years.
GADZOOKS SAYS: Why?
Director: David Matheson
Cast: Christine Horne, Kat Lanteigne, Catherine McGregor, Andrea Runge, Rae Ellen Bodie, Melee Hutton
Tarragon Mainspace
80 min
Wed, July 2, 10:30 PM
Sat, July 5, 5:15 PM
Mon, July 7, 8PM
Tue, July 8, 3PM
Thu, July 10, Noon
Fri, July 11, 8:45 PM
Sun, July 13, 5:15 PM
HOW TO BUILD AN EMPIRE: A BOY-SCOUT’S GUIDE
By Stacy Douglas
WHAT: A one-woman show about what it means to be a Canadian, boy-scout style.
GADZOOKS SAYS: We’re always trying to figure out what it means to be Canadian.
Director: James Burrows
Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace
16 Ryerson Avenue
50 min
Thu, July 3, 6PM
Sat, July 5, 1:30 PM
Sun, July 6, 8PM
Mon, July 7, 7:30 PM
Wed, July 9, 8:15 PM
Thu, July 10, 1PM
Fri, July 11, 8:45 PM
Sat, July 12, 4:30 PM
GUESTS WHO HARANGUE: TWO PLAYS BY DURANG
By Christopher Durang
WHAT: Comically oblivious and socially backward guests inadvertently rock the worlds of their unsuspecting hosts.
GADZOOKS SAYS: Obliviousness and social backwardness are always good for a laugh.
Director: Barbara Larose
Assistant Director: Ellen Green
Cast: John Healy, Tricia Brioux, Andy Fraser, James Doria, Tina McCulloch and Paul Hardy.
Tarragon Mainspace
60 min
Fri, July 4, 7PM
Sat, July 5, 11PM
Mon, July 7, 2:45 PM
Tues, July 8, 5:15 PM
Thu, July 10, 9:45 PM
Fri, July 11, 1:45 PM
Sun, July 13, 3:30 PM
JOHNNY JACKSON AND HIS HEAVENLY PASSION
Written and performed by Robert Gontier
WHAT: An eleven-year-old boy asking many of life's most important questions.
GADZOOKS SAYS: Forget the everyman, we all have a little of the curious 11 year-old in us, don’t we?
Robert Gill
214 College, 3rd Floor (St. George St.)
60 min
Wed, July 2, 8:45 PM
Fri, July 4, 11PM
Sat, July 5, 1:45 PM
Wed, July 9, 7:30 PM
Thu, July 10, 10:30 PM
Sat, July 12, 3:30 PM
Sun, July 13, Noon
SILVER AND STINKY
By Greg Dunham
WHAT: Inside look at the life of a Toronto bike courier.
GADZOOKS SAYS: Greg Dunham was in the first theatrical piece we ever saw, way back in the 1980s on PEI. He is a veteran Fringer critically acclaimed for his role portraying Charles Bukowski. Need we say more?
Director: Alan Powell
Cast: Carly Chamberlain and Greg Dunham
Tarragon Mainspace
55 min
Sat, July 5, 9:15 PM
Sun, July 6, 4:45 PM
Wed, July 9, 7:30 PM
Thu, July 10, 5:45 PM
Fri, July 11, 5:15 PM
Sat, July 12, 11:30 PM
Sun, July 13, Noon
THICK-SKINNED
By Laura Ross
WHAT: Love takes work but it’s especially hard when you are fighting a rare skin condition.
GADZOOKS SAYS: Not enough plays are written about Scleroderma. Thankfully not a musical, we’re curious to see how Ross is able to tackle the story and this little known condition without it being an infomercial.
Director: Jay Whitehead
Cast: Ayrin Mackie, Patrick Brown, James Quigley, Laura Ross and Kaarina Rennie
St. Vladimir's
620 Spadina (South of Harbord)
60 min
Wed, July 2, 10:30 PM
Sat, July 5, 5:45 PM
Sun, July 6, 1:45 PM
Tues, July 8, 3:15 PM
Wed, July 9, 9:45 PM
Fri, July 11, 8PM
Sat, July 12, Noon
For more information about any of the plays, you can visit the website. The Fringe also has an advance ticket office at 292 Brunswick that will be open during the festival (by the Tranzac) where there will be all sorts of shenanigans happening throughout the days of the festival.