NOW_FRINGE_2014-07-03

Fringe preview 25

o d o t d e e n u o y thi ngs t s e f s ’ r a e y s i h at t #22

Witness the two-timing Mark Shyzer

fringe preview venue map Welcome to the 26th annual Toronto Fringe Festival!

T

his year we encourage you to be brave and bold when choosing your Fringe adventure. Take a risk, step outside of your comfort zone and make this your most memorable Fringe to date.

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Fringe Club & Festival Box Office 7

ST GEORGE

BATHURST

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26

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RYERSON

DUNDAS

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UNIVERSITY 6

16

23

10/11 17

20 15

QUEEN

RICHMOND ADELAIDE KING

FRINGE CLUB & Festival box office FRINGE CLUB AT HONEST ED’S 581 Bloor W (at Bathurst) Patio Seats: 150, Outdoor, wheelchair access

FK FringeKids

Palmerston Library Theatre 560 Palmerston (north of Bloor)

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Tarragon Theatre Mainspace

15. Influx Creative Space – Studio 7

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Tarragon Theatre Extra Space

16. University College Junior Common Room

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Tarragon Solo Room

17. Epicure Cafe

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Randolph Theatre

18. Citizenery

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Annex Theatre

19. Frankel Lambert Park

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George Ignatieff Theatre

20. The Campbell House

St. Vladimir’s Theatre

21. The Monarch Tavern

Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse

22. Trinity St. Paul’s - Chapel

Robert Gill Theatre

23. St. George The Martyr Church

30 Bridgman Ave

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30 Bridgman Ave 30 Bridgman Ave 736 Bathurst St 736 Bathurst St

15 Devonshire Place 620 Spadina Ave

79A Saint George St

214 College St, 3rd floor

141 Spadina Ave

15 King’s College Circle

160 Queen St W 12 Clinton St

427 Bloor StW 197 John St

25. Kiever Synagogue

12. Al Green Theatre

26. Rochelle Rubinstein’s Studio

13. FRINGEKIDS!

27. 106 Albany Ave

14. Victory Cafe

28. THE FRINGE CLUB

Palmerston Library, 560 Palmerston Ave 581 Markham St

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3.

Tarragon Solo Room

17. Epicure Cafe

4.

Randolph Theatre

18. Citizenery

5.

Annex Theatre

19. Frankel Lambert Park

6.

George Ignatieff Theatre

20. The Campbell House

7.

St. Vladimir’s Theatre

21. The Monarch Tavern

8.

Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse

22. Trinity St. Paul’s - Chapel

9.

Robert Gill Theatre

23. St. George The Martyr Church

30 Bridgman Ave 736 Bathurst St 736 Bathurst St

15 Devonshire Place 620 Spadina Ave

79A Saint George St

141 Spadina Ave

15 King’s College Circle 502 Queen St W

982 Queen St W 340 Christie St

160 Queen St W 12 Clinton St

427 Bloor StW

We have over 136 productions in 27 venues throughout the TrinitySpadina neighbourhood covering every style and genre of theatre. Some are in traditional venues but many are in unsual and unexpected locations.

The Fringe is a playground for the artistically curious, where over 1,100 artists come together to bring you indie theatre at its best.

214 College St, 3rd floor

197 John St

10. Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace

24. Labyrinth Lounge

11. Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace

25. Kiever Synagogue

12. Al Green Theatre

26. Rochelle Rubinstein’s Studio

13. FRINGEKIDS!

27. 106 Albany Ave

14. Victory Cafe

28. THE FRINGE CLUB

16 Ryerson Ave

750 Spadina Ave

Palmerston Library, 560 Palmerston Ave

298 Brunswick Ave 25 Bellevue Ave 402 College St

106 Albany Ave 581 Bloor St W

Not sure what to see? Join us at the The Fringe Club behind Honest Ed’s for a cold McAuslan beer and strike up a conversation with a fellow Fringer. With nightly food service, a licensed bar, a pop-up art market and live street theatre, you can start and end your Fringe days in the middle of all the action.

It’s also easier than ever to navigate the Fringe. For the first time ever, we’re offering 100% of tickets in advance, both over the phone and through our new and improved online box office. And with our recently launched smartphone app, the festival is quite literally in the palm of your hand.

Now don’t just stand there…See Some Theatre!

See you at the Fringe,

Kelly Straughan Executive Director Find us at the Fringe Club

340 Christie St

11. Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace 750 Spadina Ave

16. University College Junior Common Room

30 Bridgman Ave

982 Queen St W

24. Labyrinth Lounge

16 Ryerson Ave

Tarragon Theatre Extra Space

502 Queen St W

10. Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace 16 Ryerson Ave

15. Influx Creative Space – Studio 7

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30 Bridgman Ave

581 Markham St

COLLEGE

21

BEVERLEY

MARKHAM

PALMERSTON

CLINTON

SHAW

OSSINGTON

HARBORD

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Tarragon Theatre Mainspace

16 Ryerson Ave

CHURCH

4/5

YONGE

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12

BAY

BLOOR

24

DEVONSHIRE

28

LOWTHER

HART HOUSE

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MCCAUL

13

SPADINA

CHRISTIE

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BRUNSWICK

BRIDGMAN

DUPONT

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298 Brunswick Ave 25 Bellevue Ave 402 College St

106 Albany Ave 581 Bloor St W

Hey you!

Don’t just stand there ...

behind Honest Ed’s – Toronto’s hottest pop-up patio!

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Fringe / 25 things you need to do

Tackling the city’s biggest theatre ­festival – some 150 productions at 27 venues – is overwhelming.

So we’ve made it easy for you. Here are 25 things you need to do over the next 11 days.

Be sure to check out our daily reviews and updates at now­toronto.com/ fringe, and our massive review package in next week’s paper.

See you in line. and international companies at 27 venues.

Runs to July 13. $10 at the door, $2 surcharge on advance tickets, discount passes; FringeKids! $5 for those 12 and under.

All tickets are available up to three hours before showtime, online, by phone or at the festival box office at the Fringe Club (581 Bloor West). If available, remaining tickets go on sale at the venue an hour before showtime (cash only). No latecomers. See complete Fringe listings at nowtoronto.com/fringe. 416-966-1062, fringetoronto.com.

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Michael Watier

THE TORONTO FRINGE THEATRE FESTIVAL f eaturing 150 local, national

#1

up-to-the-minute reviews and reports at nowtoronto.com/fringe

Let KAT SANDLER rope you in with her fast-paced comedy, Punch Up

T.O.’S MOST PROLIFIC PLAYWRIGHT/DIRECTOR LETS LOOSE ABOUT MAMET, MARKETING AND MAKING THEATRE FOR THE HBO GENERATION BY GLENN SUMI A week before Kat Sandler’s new play, Punch Up, debuts and then, along with the actors, the director side of her at the Fringe, the writer/director is sporting a tensortakes over and tweaks it. bandaged wrist and a big, nasty cut on her thigh.

“I want the best possible experience for the audiClearly, life as one of the hottest young playwrights ence,” she says. “If someone else’s joke is funnier than is dangerous. mine, I don’t care – let’s put that in, as long as they’re This morning, on her way to a writing workshop for okay with using it. Rehearsals can have a writers’-room another play, Sandler had a bike accident and landed in feel.” the hospital. The night before, she’d eschewed the Dora The play, about a man (Sandler regular Tim Walker) Awards for Red Bull-fuelled rewrites and the first runwho kidnaps a comic (Colin Munch) in order to make a through of Punch Up. Then there was the recent opensuicidal woman (Caitlin Driscoll, from We Are The ing night of another new play, the hit comedy CockBomb) laugh, also features lots of old-fashioned screwfight, which she also wrote and ball humour.

PUNCH UP written and directed by directed.

Critics have compared SandKat Sandler, with Colin Munch, Tim Maybe the accident is a sign ler’s rapid-fire dialogue to the Walker and Caitlin Driscoll. Presented that she’s taking on too much? work of David Mamet, but she

by Theatre Brouhaha and the Toronto “Nope,” she says, smiling, sitsays she’s also influenced by Fringe at the George Ignatieff (15 ting at a rickety table at the Viclegendary comic Mel Brooks.

Devonshire). July 4 at 7 pm, July 5 at 11 tory Café in the Annex. “It’s a sign “Carpooling with my dad, I pm, July 7 at 5 pm, July 8 at 3 pm, July that I should concentrate more, wanted to listen to Ace of Bass, 9 at 7:30 pm, July 11 at 2:15 pm, July 13 and maybe not listen to Beyoncé but he would have on things like at 3:30 pm. so loud on my earphones while The 2000 Year Old Man routine I’m riding my bike.” with Carl Reiner and Brooks,” she She lets the joke settle, and when the waiter comes, says, laughing. “That really changed the way I think asks for a whisky, because, she admits, “I’ve had quite a about comedy, jokes and pacing. day.”

“Punch Up is a cross between a Mel Brooks movie She’s also had quite the past couple of years. and The Princess Bride. It has to have heart; it’s all Fringe audiences know her for high-energy shows about love, another theme that goes way back to silent like Help Yourself, a dark comedy about murder and a movies – the guy saving the girl on the train tracks.” motivational guru (it won the fest’s New Play Award in Mel Brooks meets The Princess Bride? Sandler clear2012) and We Are The Bomb, last year’s anarchic show ly understands the power of succinct, effective marperformed at the Paddock, about a bunch of drinkers keting in a city saturated with information. She and staging an Occupy-like protest on the eve of a modernher company, Theatre Brouhaha – which she runs with day reinstatement of prohibition. dramaturge Tom McGee and producer Chris DePaul – But she’s also mounted two productions of Delicacy, have branded themselves, a satiric take on swingers, class and condo dwellers, using a consistent photoand Rock, a modern morality tale about a man who grapher, design and font for hears voices asking him to stone people to death. their posters.

She’s written, directed and co-produced eight shows Sandler wants people who don’t since 2012. Which must be some sort of record. It’s a normally go to theatre to see her wonder she didn’t end up in the hospital earlier. shows. And it’s working. The pace, “It sounds less insane when you consider that these tone and entertainment quotient of her plays excite are really workshop productions,” she says. “We just audiences who might just as easily be at a club or condon’t call them that. If I spent two years developing cert. She feels that a lot of younger artists – among one of these scripts, it would absolutely be better. It them directors like Mitchell Cushman and Jordan Tanwould have to be. nahill and the people behind Red One Theatre, who co“But things happen so quickly. It becomes a race produced Cockfight – are making theatre to reflect against the clock. That means you can’t be precious this new generation’s changing lives. about the work, you can’t be wishy-washy with deciOne of the catchphrases she’s used since graduating sions.” from Queen’s and moving back to T.O. has been “writNo one would ever call a Sandler play wishy-washy ing plays for the HBO generation.” But how do you or precious. Punch Up takes its title from the comedy compete with the budgets and complex character arcs expression about taking a line of dialogue and enhanof some of the best cable TV writing? cing it so the laughs are stronger. A pretty apt meta“I don’t know if you can,” she says. “Most Fringe phor, by the way, for her process. shows are an hour. We just did a run [of Punch Up] and “I’m fascinated with the idea of ownership of ideas it was an hour and 18, so I sat down and sliced it. Fringe – where they come from,” she says. With most of her asks you to give it the best hour you have. shows, she comes into rehearsal with a working script, “But,” she continues, “what’s beautiful about a play

is that it exists in that immediate time and place. I can’t compete with Breaking Bad. I wouldn’t try.”

She would also never write a three-hour play.

“I don’t enjoy watching a three-hour play, unless it’s really well done. A play or theatre should enhance your evening, not be your evening.”

From the start, Sandler seemed to have emerged onto the local theatre scene fully formed, like Athena from the head of Zeus. There were no sensitive solo shows full of poignant insights. In fact, few of her plays have monologues, another crutch the novice writer uses.

“I know that dialogue is my strength,” she says. “I’ve written one-person shows, but I’ve never shown them to anyone. They’re tragic – not just in theme, but straight-up bad.”

One of the secrets to her prolific output, she says, is that she doesn’t rely on outlines. She finds the story through conversations.

“I’m excited to see what will happen at the end,” she says. “It’s like being engrossed in a book and staying up all night to finish it. That’s part of why I can write so quickly.”

She still has a job as a restaurant server, which she’d like to give up eventually, but says she gets great material from it. A play or character can come from anywhere. For instance, in her neighbourhood she regularly passes a man who has devil horns tattooed onto his forehead, and that inspired a character named Scarman Devilman in Cockfight.

And since she writes such strong dialogue, does she want to write for TV some day?

“Absolutely,” she says. “My mother [Ann MacNaughton] wrote for Traders and E.N.G., so I came up in that

“ A play should enhance your evening, not be your evening.”

The ultra-busy Kat Sandler is all tied up for the Fringe.

world. But I’m not quite done playing around in this world yet. Not to say that you can’t do both, but I need a little more time here.

“Right now, from the moment you get an idea to opening night to rewrites and remount, I control every decision – along with my friends and theatre family. In TV there’s so much more money involved, so there’s much less freedom.”

She knows that when she eventually makes the move, she’ll want to be a show runner.

“And I don’t know how to do that yet,” she says. “I need more time to play and more time to learn how to jump into TV. Jump – because I don’t really step.” 3 glenns@nowtoronto.com | @glennsumi

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Interview clips at nowtoronto.com

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Fringe / 25 things you need to do

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Listen to Templeton Philharmonic get big lauhghs

Briana Templeton (left) and Gwynne Phillips want you to party hearty at An ­Evening In July.

Since 2011, Briana Templeton and Gwynne Phillips – together known as Templeton Philharmonic – have been developing a serious and surreal brand of sketch comedy based on deadpan highsociety caricatures.

Already winners of various festival accolades (best comedy duo at the L.A. Comedy Festival, producer’s pick at this year’s Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival – to name a few), Templeton and Phillips just finished a year-long residency at Canadian Stage, where they developed the new site-specific show that promises to be a unique festival experience.

The 90-minute show, An Evening In July, transforms St. George the Martyr Church into a once-opulent mansion where two oddball sisters are hosting what they hope will be the most

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extravagant party of their lives. Set in the 1970s, the show casts the audience as guests who are encouraged to freely roam the space and, with the help of “guides,” glean fragments of the story along the way.

“We’ve always had this fascination with decaying decadence,” says Phillips, who cites the famous 1972 Rothschild Surrealist Ball, and Grey Gardens, the doc about declining Long Island socialites, as inspiration.

“The scenes have the format of sketches, but the overall feel we’re going for is an immersive experience rather than just a play. We want the party to feel like a bizarre dream world with a voyeuristic quality. We love the idea that people will walk around the sisters’ personal space, absorbing the atmosphere, and that

audience members will pick up on different details.”

Phillips explains that their refined approach to sketch comedy is both a product of and a reaction against the training they received in the University of Toronto’s drama program.

“At U of T our whole drama program was very German and very intense, so in sketch we take that seriousness and push it to the extreme until it becomes funny. We’re always trying to meld those two worlds.”

To make the zany mansion party seem extra-real, they’ve secured a liquor licence for the venue and will be setting up a 70s-era cocktail bar that will be serving throughout the show. UnfortunateJORDAN BIMM ly, this means it’s an exclusively 19+ affair.

From July 3 at St. George the Martyr Anglican Church (205 John).

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up-to-the-minute reviews and reports at nowtoronto.com/fringe Arabian Nights brings belly dancing to the classic tales.

Schmooze, cruise, drink some booze at the Fringe Club

When news broke that Honest Ed’s would be no more, one of our first thoughts was, What’s going to happen to the Fringe Club? Tucked behind the mammoth department store, it’s still there (for now) and remains the hub of the festival, a place where you can eat (food vendors change daily), take drunken selfies and learn about the biz in one of the Tent Talks.

This year’s Talk topics include everything from dwindling audiences (July 3) to how to put on shows without government funding (July 4). The latenight entertainment includes a Dolly Parton Bingo Night – hosted by droves of Dolly look-alikes (July 4) and a night devoted to bad writing where you can bring your fave piece of dreck and read it aloud (July 8).

And stick around for July 10’s awards ceremony and the announcement of the Patron’s Pick, Best of Fringe and 24-Hour Playwriting Contest.

Through July 13 at 581 Bloor West (­behind Honest Ed’s)

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Celebrate marriage, Russian style

Playwright Michael Ross Albert has had an impressive career, beginning when he wrote for the Paprika Festival as a teenager.

Since then, he’s spent much of his time working and being produced in New York City.

He returned home last winter for the reading of a fine work, Tough Jews, set in Kensington Market during Prohibition, about a family of not-so-nice bootleggers fighting to stay together when the Market was a Jewish ghetto filled with crime.

His Fringe show, Karenin’s Anna, features an unlikely relationship that’s sure to end unhappily. A Brooklyn wo­man named Anna weds a Russian lit prof, Karenin, so he can get his green card. She’s lonely and wants to talk; he doesn’t speak a word of English: dramatic chemistry is almost guaranteed.

Caitlin Robson (pictured) and Danny Pagett star, with direction by Luke Marty.

From July 4 at St. Vladimir’s.

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Get your groove on The profile of dance shows at the Fringe got a huge boost last year with crowd-pleasers like O(h) and Jack Your Body, which made it into the Next Stage Festival.

This year’s batch of movement-based performances promises to be just as strong.

One breakout show could be When All Is Said & Get Served (from July 4 at the Al Green), a double bill from Winnipeg’s Alexandra Elliott Dance. When All Is Said gives physical form to a forgotten species, while Get Served is a solo about something we’ve all experienced: a restaurant’s clientele.

Arabian Nights: A Belly Dance Spectacular (from July 3 at Tarragon Mainspace) adapts the classic fairy tales

with music that ranges from Arab tunes to electronic choral music and dubstep.

Off Canvas (Remounted) (from July 4 at the Randolph) features dance inspired by some of the world’s most famous artists, while Return (from July 4 at the Robert Gill) is a physical theatre work about how society tries to shape people to go against their true nature.

And in Out To Lunch (now playing at the Tarragon Mainspace), choreo­graphers and recent York U grads Irvin Chow, Jesse Dell, Monika Davis and Denise Solleza combine their talents for a full-length show. Here’s your chance to be able to say, “I saw them when.”

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Fringe / 25 things you need to do

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Bard Fiction puts a ­Tarantino twist on ­Shakespeare.

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See bold takes on the Bard

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Deal with falling in love

The saying is “Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.”

TJ Dawe and Rita Bozie’s two-hander, 52 Pick-Up, plays out that idea in spades in 52 scenes that recreate a relationship with all its ups and downs, from first meeting to severed ties.

But instead of presenting the story in linear fashion, the actors shuffle and throw a deck of scene titles into the air, then pick up one card at a time to determine the order in which episodes are performed.

“The show’s relationship is one we all, both audiences and actors, are familiar with,” says Paolo Santalucia, who with Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster co-directs four different casts in the Fringe production. (Both directors are part of the cast.) “The eight actors are in some sort of significant moment in their relationship or are establishing, coming out of or actively searching for one.

Every time we rehearse a scene, we realize we’ve had a similar

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Ruth Goodwin (left) and Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster play 52 Pick-Up.

conversation with someone in our lives.”

The show is presented by the Howland Company, established a year ago by recent graduates of theatre programs who wanted to use and share their skills. They’ve been getting tog­ether for play readings since then, but 52 Pick-Up is their first production.

The Howland group give a new spin to the script, which until now has most­ly been performed by its authors, Bozie and Fringe star Dawe. The rotating casts include male-female and same-sex pairings, with the two directors part of the mix.

“So not only is the order of the scenes different each night, but the nature of the relationship changes each time, too. The script supports the same-sex idea, and all we had to do was change the occasional pronoun.

“What’s written is absolutely about all of us and who we are as people in our 20s, but it will resonate with audiences no matter what their age. The characters are two people going through their past, reliving it and trying to get back into its memories, fig­uring out what went right and what went wrong between them.”

Of course, it plays differently each performance, and that’s what Santa­lucia and the others find challenging and exciting every time they step onstage.

“We have to give over control to whatever happens from one minute to the next, with moments of surprise and dealing with variables that are never determined. We’ve learned to embrace all the possibilities.”

JON KAPLAN From July 3 at Tarragon Extra Space.

Nearly every Fringe Festival includes a few shows inspired by William Shakespeare, either straight-ahead (though cut-down) versions of his plays or riffs on his material. This year’s no exception.

Bard Fiction (from July 4 at Tarragon Mainspace) gives Quentin Tarantino’s smash film Pulp Fiction a Shakespearian twist, setting its characters in Elizabethan London’s underworld in a quartet of disparate tales eventually woven together.

Julius Caesar Project (from July 3 at George Ignatieff) sets Shakespeare’s tale of power, corruption and honour in ancient Rome in a modern-day women’s prison. Following its run at the Fringe, the show tours local women’s shelters and facilities, in association with the Adelaide Resource Centre for Women.

Shakespeare BASH’d is a veteran Fringe company, having scored with The Taming Of The Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing in the past two festivals; the troupe also mounted Romeo And Juliet last winter.

This year’s show is Love’s Labour’s Lost (from July 3 at an appropriate venue, the Victory Café), a comedy of language and love in which four men swear off the company of women for three years. Of course, a quartet of women immediately enter their world. This version by director James Wallis sets the action in a frat house bar, so the beer will be flowing.

Get insight into Rosa Laborde’s Criminal mind

#8

Rosa Laborde is one of our best playwrights, having penned the acclaimed play Léo, Hush and former summer fest hits Sugar and Marine Life.

Lately she’s spent time working as an actor and writer in TV and film; she’s currently adapting Alison Pick’s novel Far To Go for the big screen.

But she’s back at the Fringe with a site-specific show, Criminal, a take on the King Lear story starring Layne Coleman, Shannon Taylor, Sabrina Grdevich, Ingrid ­Doucet and Scott McCord.

With that strong cast and the 30-seat capacity of Queen West café ­Citizenry, tickets will be at a premium.

Now playing at Citizenry (982 Queen West).

T:4.833”

reviews and reports at nowtoronto.com/fringe

#9

So what happens when the file of your life is lost just as you’re about to enter heaven? You’re sent down below. That’s what happens to John, the ini­tially unhappy protagonist in the mu­si­cal No Chance In Hell, where he meets Dee, a downright devilishly seductive woman

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See a burning hot musical

with whom he falls in love. Can they survive Hades together, especially when John’s file reappears?

The production, with book and lyrics

by Chris John and music by Kevin Fox, sounds full of potential, especially with a cast that includes Jonathan Whittaker (Les Mis), Joel Gomez (Elegies) and Dana Jean Phoenix (The Musical Of Musicals, The Musical!) and direction by Lezlie Wade (Elegies).

From July 3 at the Helen Gardiner.

ONLINE, IN CLASS, ON THE GO. ADVANCE YOUR EDUCATION THE WAY YOU WANT.

#10 Take a walk in the park and think Greek

Jacob Zimmer’s (pictured) Small Wooden Shoe has always been a quirky company, staging intellectual revolutions that changed the world, holding unconferences and presenting a ghost-filled version of Antigone.

They go outdoors for their latest, Summer Spectacular, which blends the myth of Daedalus and Icarus with the life of internet activist Aaron Swartz and a kind of sci-fi story, along with bits of history, science and politics. Oh, and there are giant puppets. (Betcha didn’t know the multi-talented Zimmer has a background in puppetry.)

You’ll be wandering through a park in one of several small groups as you piece together the story with the help of actors both live and animated.

Now playing at Frankel Lambert Park (340 Christie).

REGISTRATION BEGINS TUESDAY, JULY 29TH humber.ca/continuingeducation

NOW fringe preview 2014

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Fringe / 25 things you need to do

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See Alexander Offord ’s winning play

in te rv ie w

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Craig Thomas (left), Sean Sullivan and Nicole Wilson add punch to political play.

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Alexander Offord is as moved by poli­tical concerns as by theatrical ones.

The winner of this year’s New Play Contest, sponsored by Exclamation Foundation, is an activist with the Ca­nadian Civil Liberties Association and the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network.

The latter inspired his Fringe play, Potosí, in which a lawyer working for a Canadian mining company travels to an unnamed Third World nation with the hope of calming an incendiary problem at her employer’s mine. What she doesn’t expect is to be held ­hostage in a civil war.

“The best-kept secret in mining ­politics is Canada’s involvement in the extraction industry,” says Offord, who also directs Potosí. His play The Hystericon was a hit at last year’s Fringe.

“Seventy-five per cent of the world’s extraction companies are based here.

“I wanted to write about that, but what first came out was an angry philippic against the mining industry. That’s not good theatre, and I knew I needed a major rewrite.”

The script, which now contains a good dose of satire, involves the Cana­dian manager of the local office, who wants to take responsibility for the atrocities being committed against native people, and the lawyer who wants him to refrain from making a public statement about what’s been happening. Then there’s the local soldier with a gun and a plan to improve his life.

“I’m using parable to explore our seeming inability to assign political or moral blame for much of what we do. How can you describe a violent person as good or evil, given that we are products of our environment, upbringing and cultural system?

“The play’s antagonist, the lawyer, Leblanc, is a forceful, confident wo­man whose view of the world is miles away from that of the other characters. A radical determinist, she rejects the idea that the world could be different if we made other choices. She sees the whole idea of crime as false, and does her best to persuade the manager that she’s right.”

In the play’s second half, Leblanc confronts the brutal soldier, “the flesh-and-blood consequences of her abstract thought. In some ways he’s like a child, someone who doesn’t ­easily speak the language of the two white characters. I like that Craig Thomas, who plays the part, came up with a Nigerian name for the man, a name that translates as ‘soldier/child.’”

JON KAPLAN Now playing at Tarragon Main­space.

reviews and reports at nowtoronto.com/fringe

#12

Let your kids go clubbing

Not content this year with eight theatre productions for the small fry, the Fringe inaugurates the FringeKids! Club, a daily series of activities and crafts for children three to 12.

There’ll also be vendors who focus on kids’ wares and an open-air noon performance, as well as some indoor workshops (registration and payment required).

Many of the activities are outdoors, so be sure to bring water, sunscreen and hats.

The family event runs July 3 to 6 and July 10 to 13, from 11 am to 4 pm.

Huron Street Junior Public School (541 Huron).

#13

Have a good time with Johnnie Walker and Morgan Norwich If you see former NOW cover subjects Johnnie Walker and Morgan Norwich’s name on a show, you know you’re in for a good time.

Their company Nobody’s Business – which recently wowed the Next Stage Fest with an imaginative spin on Scheherazade – is turning 10 this year, and they’re marking that milestone with a remount of two hits. Redheaded Stepchild (written by and starring Walker, directed by Norwich) is about a 12-year-old who uses a fabulous alter ego to deal with school bullying, his annoying red hair and the fact that his dad’s just remarried. In Amusement, the two play friends who encounter a ton of adventures at DisneyWorld.

It’s being directed by Tom Arthur Davis, who helmed previous Fringe hits Elizabeth And Darcy and Mahmoud.

Amusement and Redheaded Stepchild run in rep at the Helen Gardiner Phelan.

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Fringe / 25 things you need to do

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#14

Keep the queer spirit going WorldPride may have just ended, but the spirit continues in a bunch of queerthemed Fringe shows.

In Salvador (from July 3 at the Annex Theatre), Toronto-based playwright/actor Rafael Antonio Renderos explores what would have happened to him as a gay man had his parents not escaped civil war in El Salvador, which prompts trips to that Central American country to talk to activists.

Yury Ruzhyev’s Komunka (from July 3 at the Helen Gardiner) looks at the current state of Russia, including how Putin’s anti-gay laws are affecting people.

It’s directed by queer icon Sky Gilbert, so it won’t pull any punches.

The Common Ground: A Musical Dissertation (now playing, Randolph Theatre) is drawn from the real-life stories of the children of queer parents – a trend now, with the popularity of shows like Fun Home and Confessions Of A Fairy’s Daughter.

Concrete Kid (from July 4 at George Ignatieff) uses slam poetry, hip-hop dance and drag to tell a lesbian coming-of-age story about a Toronto woman who’s about to be shipped off by her parents to the ­country.

And while it doesn’t seem to have any explicit queer content, Emerald City: A Musical Play (from July 3 at the Tarragon Mainspace) should attract friends of you-know-who. It follows Dorothy and Co. after they leave the yellow brick road and get into group therapy with a Dr. Oz.

#15

The Common Ground ­(clockwise from above), Emerald City and ­Concrete Kid ­explore different aspects of LGBTQ lives.

Tune up with Tikva ’s Orchestra

Stories of Jewish musicians during World War II have been told powerfully, most recently in the Oscar-winning short The Lady In Number 6.

Tikva’s Orchestra, written by Alisa Walton, Ginette Mohr and Thomas Morgan Jones, follows a Jewish cellist who sets out to save the members of her orchestra during the infamous Kristallnacht attacks of November 1938.

With the multi-talented Mohr (Fish Face, The Truth About Comets) direct­ing the other two, expect lots of remarkable physical movement and moments of utter theatrical beauty, all underscored by original music by award-winning composer David Mesiha.

Now playing at the Annex Theatre

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reviews and reports at nowtoronto.com/fringe

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#16

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Learn how to keep it real

A number of shows draw on history to create engaging theatre.

The musical comedy Elvis And Dick (from July 3 at the Tarragon Mainspace) lets us in on a private meeting between The King and Tricky Dick (Nixon­), a gettogether during which Elvis offers to become a federal drug agent. Really. Fifteen Elvis hits are part of the story.

Radical (from July 4 at the Tarragon Mainspace) is the story of Canadian oncologist Vera Peters, who gave women a choice about how their bodies were treated if they were diagnosed with breast cancer.

Mastec­tomies, she argued, did not guarantee cancer-free results.

Breasts are also a central image in Hugh And I (from July 3 at the Randolph Theatre), a musical biography of businessman and freewheeling bachelor Hugh Hefner and how he developed his worldwide warren of bunnies.

Andy Warhol Presents: Valerie explores another sort of male/female ­relationship, that between pop art guru Warhol and radical feminist Valerie Solanas, whose S.C.U.M. Manifesto called for the eradication of men to end sexism (from July 3 at Influx Creative Space, Studio 7).

And don’t mistake The Assassination Of Robert Ford: Dirty Little Coward for a piece about you-know-who. Its central figure is the man who shot outlaw Jesse James (now playing at Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace).

#17

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Real-life ­characters like Elvis And Dick (above) and Hugh Hefner pop up at this year’s fest.

Go to www.canadiancomedy.ca and register to vote in this year’s public categories and you could

WIN A TRIP FOR 2

including hotel room for 2 nights, train travel from Toronto and VIP passes to gala shows at the Ottawa Little Theatre!

Want to go to university but haven’t finished high school or community college?

Watch Fringe veterans Pea Green make a splash

No company has the Fringe longevity of Pea Green Theatre Group, which produced a show in the first Fringe and has returned for seven other festivals.

Make that eight – the company that scored with High Sticking!, Conservatives In Love, The Barbecue King and the delightful War Of The Clowns now mounts Mark Brownell’s adaptation of Jerome K. Jerome’s comic Victorian travelogue Three Men In A Boat.

Its trio of intrepid characters, all colourful bachelors, spend an adventureand whisky-filled weekend punting up the Thames with their fox terrier, at a time when boating on the river was a fascinating leisure activity for citydwellers.

Directed by Sue Miner, the cast includes Matt Pilipiak, Scott Garland and Graham Conway.

Don’t know who plays the dog.

Now playing at the Annex Theatre.

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Fringe / 25 things you need to do

#21 Think about art, life and Seana McKenna

#20

#18 Discover that Astrid Van Wieren is awesome

Dora Award winner Astrid Van Wieren can boost a show’s energy with her steely focus, gritty voice and electric stage presence.

As good in straight theatre as she is in musicals (she was heartwrenching in last season’s The Way Back To Thursday), Van Wieren has a worthy vehicle in Myth Of The Ostrich, Matt Murray’s new comedy about parents and children. Plus, it’s directed by Steven Gallagher, whose own Fringe show, Stealing Sam, was one of the most buzzed about last year.

Now playing at St. Vladimir’s.

#19

Learn about head-tying from Kanika Ambrose

Who knew you could pick up a skill – and learn a bit about cultural history – at a Fringe show? In her multi-character solo show The Art Of Traditional Head-Tying, Dora Award-nominated actor Kanika Ambrose (Binti’s Journey, Obeah Opera) plays a Canadian woman who returns to her Caribbean hometown to teach a series of head-tie workshops, which opens her eyes both to what she’s left behind and to her idea of home.

Now playing at St. Vladimir’s.

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Ancient History is one of two shows helmed

by Richard Beaune.

Choose a Beaune to pick

Director Richard Beaune’s work is a combination of contradictions. He’s artistic director of Keystone Theatre, whose productions (The Belle Of Winnipeg and The Last Man On Earth) use the physicality of silent films to communicate emotions; he’s also taught the words of Shakespeare at George Brown Theatre School.

Appropriately, he helms two productions in the Fringe, one focusing on text, the other on movement. The first is David Ives’s Ancient History (from July 3 at Robert Gill), about a seemingly perfectly matched couple whose relationship is threatened by cultural ­differences and the possibility of a marriage proposal.

In Keystone’s Gold Fever (now playing at Al Green Theatre), a barren landscape supplies the backdrop for a series of dreams about striking it rich – dreams that bring out the best and worst in the characters.

She won’t be there in person – she’s performing in King John and Mother Courage at Stratford – but illustrious Canadian actor Seana McKenna is at the centre of the intriguingly titled Watching Seana McKenna Watch Paint Dry. Let’s hope we see a good surrogate in her place.

Created by Peter Hamiwka, Diane Baker Mason and a company of real-life lawyers who love theatre, the show looks at questions of art and life and how the two fit together. McKenna the character stars in a show that gets great reviews but befuddles audiences, who argue heatedly about its artistic merit during a performance.

A send-up? To be sure. Also a look at what art means to different people.

Though the meaning may be in doubt, there’s no doubt about the purpose of the box office revenues; all proceeds go to Lawyers Feed the Hungry.

And McKenna has the last word. When asked whether she’d contribute her “presence” to the production, she agreed and asked only one question: “What colour is the paint?”

From July 4 at George ­Ignatieff.

Witness the two#22 timing Mark Shyzer

Mark Shyzer first struck a chord with audiences in his solo comedy Fishbowl, which debuted at Buddies before touring festivals around North America.

He’s since studied with Second City and uses his various talents, both working on his own and playing well with others, in two different Fringe shows. As a member of comedy troupe Highbräu, Shyzer is part of the sketch-based Only Human (from July 3 at Theatre­Passe Muraille Backspace).

Then he does it without help in the solo musical Great Battles In History (now playing at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace), in which he plays the only survivor of an ambitious project to present the most famous battles of the world as a musical spectacle. Soldiering on, he takes on all the parts and performs on all the instruments in a tale that tackles both world and personal history.

up-to-the-minute reviews and reports at nowtoronto.com/fringe

#25 Find out what ’s app-ening

Get your laugh on with funny girls

Whatever idiot famously wrote that women aren’t funny should check out this year’s Toronto Fringe.

It’s packed with some of the most hilarious ladies in the country. At the top of the list is Elvira Kurt, the ground­breaking lesbian stand-up and writer, who’s co-written and co-stars (with Megan Fahlenbock) in Parallel Play (from July 4 at the Tarragon Extra Space), about the various roles women take on in their lives. It’s directed by another legendary funny lady, Linda Kash.

There’s also lots of female sketch talent at the Fringe. Besides the fantastic Templeton Philharmonic, check out Strapless (now playing at George Ignatieff), Vancouver’s all-female sketch troupe. Chelsea Manders, formerly of the troupes the Black Roses and Charity & Chastity, goes solo in Don’t Tell My Dad (from July 3 at Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace), which she’s taking on the Fringe tour as well as Edinburgh.

No disrespect to the dudes, but the women in the Bad Dog Repertory Players (winners of the NOW Readers Poll for best improv troupe) are among the best in the biz: Jess Bryson, Ashley Comeau, Paloma Nunez, Kirsten Rasmussen, Evany Rosen and Hannah Spear. BDRP’s improvised show, Toronto, I Love You (from July 4 at the Helen Gardiner), should be a hoot. How long before a Rob Ford scene pops up?

And British expat Marilla Wex’s Lost And Found (from July 3 at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace) promises to mix laughter and tears in an autobiographical tale about her journey here.

#24 Climb the social ladder at Campbell House ­

Writer Robert Watson and director ­Andrew Lamb’s company, Theatre Awakening, has had a number of festival hits, including In Darfur and Buried. They had a smash with an earlier show, Desperate Housepets.

In Chasing Margaret Flatwood, a wealthy social outcast is desperate to win her way back into the Rosedale set by bringing a famous Canadian literary icon to a cultural gala she’s holding.

Guess who?

Look for a clever use of the setting, too – the show takes place in a historic dwelling, Campbell House, which adds to the polish the socialite wants to re-acquire.

Maybe Doug Ford should attend and get an education.

Now playing at Campbell House (160 Queen West).

So how do you navigate the 150 shows at the Fringe? Click, swipe and refresh at nowtoronto.com/fringe, where reviews will be posted hours after our critics see them.

Reviews are searchable on com­puter, smartphone or tablet by venue, date, time of posting and rating, and if you disagree (or agree!) with one of our critics, you can leave a comment and help the buzz continue.

Be sure to check out our critics’ Twitter­feeds for news, photos and 140-character impressions: @­glennsumi, @­jordanbimm, @­somanydreams and @­thirdbeat.

The fest’s official Twitter handle is @­Toronto_Fringe and the hashtag is #FringeTO. New this year is the Toronto Fringe App, which you can download at www.bit.ly/­ tofringe.

So see you online – and then in line.

©Tom Arban

#23

Parallel Play (clockwise from top), starring Elvira Kurt (front) and Megan Fahlenbock, Don’t Tell My Dad and Strapless should prove women are hilarious.

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