Fringe Review: Closet Confessions: The Secrets of a Hot Mess

Darren Stewart-Jones

Let me start by saying that I've never been a huge fan of stand up comedy. I prefer to see characters brought to life through the performance of a scripted piece rather than listen to someone telling jokes while standing alone on a stage. I feel personally uncomfortable and embarrassed for a comedian when their jokes fall flat in front of a live audience.

That being said, there is something very disarming and engaging about Patrick Cadegan's performance that made Closet Confessions: The Secrets of a Hot Mess an enjoyable experience for me. I find that there is always a universality to queer coming out stories but that each one obviously has its own set of individual circumstances that make it distinctive. Coming out in the town of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia with a population of less than 20,000 people, as Patrick did, was certainly unique.

Cadegan bundles up all of the angst of coming out as gay under those circumstances and makes his unique story funny for his audience. I am impressed with how comedians can turn some pretty heart wrenching experiences into one liners that make their audiences laugh out loud. And I definitely had some of those laugh out loud moments during Cadegan's performance.

The Fringe program description of the show is very honest. It explains that Closet Confessions "is not your traditional one-man show". With a few random characters interjected in between the stand up and the story telling, the show does have a certain uneven quality to it. There's some good stuff here and I was interested in Cadegan's tales of growing up queer in a small town. I just wish it had been a more traditional scripted show. I wanted to see him experience his stories rather than just hear about them.

 Tickets and info for all Toronto Fringe shows can be found at fringetoronto.com

Fringe Review: Failed

Philip Cairns


Failed is a fast paced, intense and sometimes moving new 90 minute play, written and directed by Frank Trotz. The plot focuses on Xander and his struggles of dealing, using and coming clean from drugs. Five male actors play various aspects of Xander as well as other characters, most of whom are also drug users. The only female in the cast, A.K. Shand, plays various characters as well, such as a teacher, mother and another fellow drug user. Numerous times, we see the characters shooting up and involved in dangerous drug deals. The scenes are short and to the point. I feel the piece may have been more effective as a 60 minute play as the repetition of the drug using scenes becomes a bit tedious for the audience.

Failed is based on the real experiences of Stephan Briones who also acts in the piece. We learn of his trials and tribulations and how hard it is to give up drugs once you are addicted. All the performers give very passionate, heartfelt performances. The script is serious and easy to follow (unlike some of the shows I’ve seen in the last few months). I found Failed to be entertaining, informative and often quite poetic. You really root for the main character, hoping he will get clean and move on with his life. I highly recommend seeing this piece of theatre.

Tickets and info for all Toronto Fringe shows can be found at fringetoronto.com

Fringe Review: Peaches on a Cherry Tree

Philip Cairns

I highly recommend the hilarious play, Peaches on a Cherry Tree, written and directed by Colin Sharpe. The piece concerns a lesbian couple, Viv and Rose, one of whom learns she is dying of a strange and unusual disease. They decide that they will both die because they cannot bear to be separated. There is a very funny scene in which they both attempt to drink arsenic but can’t go through with it. Another lesbian relationship is also revealed, unexpectedly. Other characters in the show include the doctor who is treating the dying woman, a strange man who delivers perplexing yet very humorous monologues and an old lady who doesn’t always comprehend what is going on.

 

The script for Peaches on a Cherry Tree is terrific! The show speeds along like a freight train out of control. The laughs are plentiful, despite the seriousness of the subject matter. The cast of this production (Christy Bruce, Lance Byrd, Kyah Green, Alexandra Hurley) are all wonderful and there’s not a false moment in any of their performances. While the ending is unexpected and a bit sad, I still came away feeling satisfied and very happy. In fact, I was sorry to see the show end. Kudos to everyone involved!

 Tickets and info for all Toronto Fringe shows can be found at fringetoronto.com

Fringe Review: Night Cows

Philip Cairns


Night Cows is a surrealistic, non-linear, poetic play with a very strong performance from Eleonore Lamothe. Parts of it are in French but the text is mostly English. (The author is Jovette Marchessault, translated into English by Yvonne M. Klein.)

It’s about night creatures, cows and things in the dark and how the sole character interacts with and is influenced by them. The stage is bare except for a single chair and some animal skulls hanging from the ceiling. There is no plot, per se, in this solo play. It’s almost like staged poetry. Parts of it are very sexual but I didn’t find the actual content very engaging. 

My mind wandered a fair amount but I was mesmerized by Lamothe! There is not a false note in her performance. Lamothe fully commits to the text both physically and emotionally, incorporating stylized movement with intense emotionalism. She rolls, emotes and twists her body into weird poses, moving around the stage as if it were a modern dance performance, connecting with the audience, looking us in the eye. 

I think the text reads better than it plays but I do recommend seeing it for the excellent performance of the lead who travelled all the way from Montreal for this run of the show. 

Tickets and info for all Toronto Fringe shows can be found at fringetoronto.com

OUT

Reviewed by Darren Stewart-Jones

Watching Greg Campbell's OUT was like looking into one of those fun house mirrors for me. You know, the mirrors that distort your image so that the reflection staring back at you is a skewed version of yourself. Greg, or Glen as he has named the central character in his one man show, had a coming out experience not too dissimilar from my own.

Greg/Glen emigrated from Ireland with his parents as a young child and then came out as a teenager in Montreal during the 1970s, partying with his friends at Lime Light and attending a gay youth group. I emigrated from England with my parents as a young child and then came out as a teenager in Toronto during the 1980s, partying with my friends at Komrads and attending an LGBT youth group. What is most similar in our individual coming of age stories is our desire to be loved and accepted for who we were - by our parents, our friends and the various men that we met along the way.

I am thrilled that I finally got the chance to see OUT in this remounted version at Buddies In Bad Times Theatre. I missed the play at the 2016 Toronto Fringe Festival, where it was one of a handful of shows that year to be awarded the coveted Best of Fringe. The designation seems to be well-deserved. Greg Campbell plays all of the characters in this solo show without missing a beat. He slides effortlessly from mother to father to friends and lovers with a subtle change of body language, vocal tone and accent that bring each different character to life before our eyes. My favourite moments were those where Glen and his two besties were nattering on the dancefloor or arguing on their trip to Pride in New York City.

Whether you came out during the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or noughties, you are bound to see a slice of your own life in this wonderfully written and performed solo show, well-directed by Clinton Walker. OUT holds universal appeal for anyone who has ever struggled with the coming out experience.

OUT runs until May 5 at Buddies In Bad Times Theatre. Tickets at buddiesinbadtimes.com

QUEER THEATRE TORONTO

We are rebranding! - To be more inclusive and to reflect the changing and growing spectrum of the queer community, we have changed our previous name of Gay Theatre Toronto to Queer Theatre Toronto.

We will still review LGBTTIQQ2SA shows - that hasn't changed. But our name has. We wanted our name to sound more inclusive of all of the different individuals who consider themselves part of the queer community as a whole.

We hope you will join us as we continue to review queer theatre across the City of Toronto and beyond!

Darren Stewart-Jones
Editor

Fringe Review: Is That How Clowns Have Sex?

                                                                                                                                 Philip Cairns

The subtitle of this show is A One Woman, Queer Clown Sex-Ed Show. This wild and wacky clown show takes place at Kink BDSM Boutique on Bloor West. There are, maybe, 25 chairs set up in the small space. Before the show, we were asked to write down our questions about sex.

Fiona Ross plays our sex education teacher, Ms. Beatrice Haven, in this delightful piece. She shows us what a penis is, what a vagina is, how to use a condom, how to make a dental dam, how to have straight sex and how to have lesbian sex. Ross is hilarious as she slyly but discretely demonstrates all of these things. She even pulls out a box of sex toys and shows us how to use each one. Then she reads some of our questions and answers them with wit and panache. It’s all very tongue in cheek and silly with lots of hearty laughs. Some audience participation is required but it’s all done in a spirit of fun. Ross will ask for your consent. “Consent” is an important word for her.


This production is rude, funny, explicit but never offensive. Ross’s clown persona is authoritative, cheeky, endearing and tons of fun. The audience loved her. You will, too. Doug Ford could learn a thing or two from her. Director Julie Cohn always keeps the show moving at a frantic pace. Ross is likely to sell out her cross-Canada Fringe tour. Show early or book in advance to get a seat.

Info and tickets to all Toronto Fringe shows can be found at fringetoronto.com