The Toronto Fringe Theatre Review: Mom & Pop Productions’ Things My Dad Kept
By Ross
Ronit Rubinstein, the creator and performer behind Things My Dad Kept, sitting solidly inside the Meridian Arts Center in North York for the Best of Fringe Festival by TO Live, tells us pretty straight up what we are in for, and invites all to leave if it feels too heavy. It’s a solo storytelling show about my dead dad, she tells us, followed by a quick “gross” self-commentary that gets the laugh it deserves, without losing one audience member to the framing. And no wonder, because over the next 60 minutes, Rubinstein does a most beautiful job unpacking a memory-hoarding, shared experience that is as connecting as it is hilarious and moving. She asks us, who is a “member of the dead dad club?“, high-fiving the few of us that raise our hands, alongside my own, after issuing the warning, followed by her signature style, subtle explanation, and crafty paperfolding project that we all dutifully attempt to fly into, some with better results than others.
Directed with a casual clarity by Janelle Hanna (Capitol Theatre Port Hope’s Stag & Doe), Rubinstein (Anniversary)—an award-winning playwright and storyteller— draws us in with her honesty and emotional energy. She poses two central questions: “What would you do if, 12 years after losing someone you love, you discovered that they’d documented every moment of your life (in triplicate)?” and “And does it count as hoarding if the thing hoarded is… memories?” These questions set the stage for her exploration, before numerically diving into the three-drawer metal file cabinet that is stationed on the stage next to a squeaky rolling chair and a corkboard that will serve as her memory presentation board, as three files get pulled out and discussed, openly and honestly, with sometimes irreverent vulnerability and emotionally heartbreaking clarity.
The piece hits home in sharply simple ways, focusing on the way her father held onto her life in a paper trail of meticulously preserved memories and experiences, filed under the year, and sometimes in ways that surprise and humorously connect the story to our emotional stability. She hopes to lock in the memories by reading out emails and exposing us to the hilarious ways her father tried to protect her from her very existence, surprisingly, in New York City, in neighborhoods that I know all too well. Developed in part with Nightwood Theatre’s Creatryx 3.0 Unit, this Mom & Pop Production of Things My Dad Kept engages in the most stunningly beautiful and natural way possible. She delivers her story with honesty, humor, and heartbreaking vulnerability as she tries her hardest to bypass the idea of forgetting by repeating for prosperity’s sake all the things that Rubinstein holds dear and sweet about her obviously loving and caring father. Her story brought tears to her eyes—and to mine as well, connecting us all in this shared experience of love and loss. She invites us not just to witness her mourning, but to join in with her sweet hope of holding onto all these treasured moments. Things My Dad Kept is a touching journey through loss that feels raw yet universal, resonating deeply and warmly as she guides us through her story and our own desires to preserve what matters most.
