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Friday, July 11, 2003
The Fr!nge
Yes, Toronto's theater festival is back, celebrating 15 years as its largest, most exciting and adventurous theater festival. 125 plays from across Canada and around the world, 900+ performances and 20 venues equals 12 days of exciting fun-filled theater for everyone. And I was one of them! Annia and I headed down to Fringe Fest armed with vim, vigour, a thirst for culture and of course, a coupon book. The plays are very affordable at only $8 a pop and most of these, if not all of them, are better than most movies out there. I picked up my Frequent Fringer pass, 5 plays for only $32, and off we headed down Bloor Street to the George Ignatieff Theater for our first Fringe, A Canadian Bartender at Butlin's. Number One: the theater was wonderful; small and cosy and deliciously inviting. The perfect setting for this scrumptious one-man show that left Annia and I in stitches and thirsty for water. Number Two: TJ Dawe (writer and performer) is genious. A gifted writer and wonderful storyteller who throws form, style and production values out the window. With just a bench and himself, he manages to bring the audience into his story and although the monologue seems to be a bit choppy in places, it all weaves together in the end with his refreshing humour. We left feeling quite sated. Off for a quick lunch at Shakespeare's Cafe where we were charged insane amounts for not-so-Shakespearean food. We then braved the elements and headed off to our second Fringe play of the day at the Royal St. George Theater, It's Raining Fun! Oh.My.Goodness. This was GOOD. So funny. It was so good and so funny that I can barely speak properly and am left with only the ability to repeat things. Such as: IT WAS SO GOOD and IT WAS SO FUNNY. Written by The Awesome Club (which I now desperately want to join), it features original music, matching t-shirts, an owl that disappears (and then reappears! gasp!) humping beatles, humping bunnies, Mysterious Mystery Guests, and ruthless idealism. Here's the description of the play which convinced me beyond any doubt whatsoever to see it. Who like LAUGHING and HAVING FUN? Well, join the club! The "AWESOME CLUB", that is! (wink!) Where SINCERE is the new CYNICAL, WHITE is the new BLACK and everyone leaves feeling like ther HEART exchanged a HIGH FIVE with their MIND! The IRONY is that there is none! (Or IS there...) We're not sure! And neither are YOU! EXCLAMATION MARK! So good. Isn't it just precious? The play was as awesome and as fun as promised. Annia has never experienced such cramps from laughter and I was crying at one point. It was so funny that I even laughed my obnoxious laugh. Now, that's something. After our day of Fringing, we headed off to Free Friday at the ROM to continue our quest for cheap culture. We took in the Korean Art exhibit, some colourful prints of trees by Naoko Matsubara and learned about South Asian religions. A lovely and affordable Indian dinner at (the recommended) Woodlands later, and off we went to the subway station in the rain. I *maple leaf* T.O. More Fringing for me tomorrow. To everyone: There's still time, go Fringe! |
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