The Toronto Fringe Festival and an Ontario-based performing arts magazine walk into a sports bar.
Over the blare of a Blue Jays game, the Fringe calls out: “Our 36th iteration runs July 3 to 14 and features 77 productions spread across 16 venues. Wanna review a couple shows?”
“How ‘bout a team of seven critics covering a total of more than 60?” replies the magazine as Bo Bichette hits a double.
The Fringe grins: “Let’s play ball.”
This year, Intermission will be publishing Fringe capsule reviews from Alethea Bakogeorge, Liam Donovan, Stephanie Fung, Robyn Grant-Moran, Ilana Lucas, Janine Marley, and Eleanor Yuneun Park.
Their pieces will be published below as they come in, so be sure to bookmark this page and check back throughout the festival to discover which shows are hitting it into the stands.
See you out there, Fringers!
Being Celine (Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace)
by Ilana Lucas
Being Celine is a very gentle parody of the life of Quebecoise chanteuse Celine Dion — so gentle, in fact, that it’s hard to tell whether it’s a satire or a tribute, or perhaps something in between. While the singer is currently the subject of a highly publicized documentary, I Am: Celine Dion, which details her struggles with stiff-person syndrome, there’s no mention of any of that here; perhaps the gentleness is a reaction to worries about sending up the singer when her illness is so in the public eye. The conceit is that we’re at a Dion concert, where Dion, between singing standards and a few covers, tells us about her likes, loves, and inspirations — much like an actual Dion concert, as the singer is known for her (carefully scripted) confessional asides.
Writer-performer Lisa Landauer captures the singer’s vocal and pronunciation eccentricities effectively and has a pleasant, clear voice. She makes the most of her physical resemblance to the original, gesturing and prancing around the stage in wickedly high heels. When she uses her expressive face to the fullest, you can see what a more exaggerated portrayal would have been like, and it’s quite entertaining.
Played to cover costume changes, the extensive video content of Landauer as Dion shifts the show’s tone more into parody territory. Showing her exercising stylishly, bending over her sewing machine, towering over and out-glamming the PTA set, or pranking her hardscrabble ancestors, the footage is professionally shot but comprises a lot of the show. The costumes may be worth it, as hardworking costume designers Alicia Zwicewicz and Susan Kee provide appropriately fabulous outfits.
Ultimately, Being Celine still needs to decide what it’s being: if it’s a satire, the jabs should be sharper, and if it’s a tribute, we should learn more about the singer’s true inner workings and the nature of celebrity, so that it’s more than a concert with chatting in between. But, speaking of the concert, don’t leave after Dion bids you “good night,” as much of the unsuspecting audience did at opening — wait for the encore.
The Apartment (Tarragon Extraspace)
by Robyn Grant-Moran
A tiny apartment in Parkdale is home to Bonnie (Cathy Shilton) and a bevy of family secrets. In The Apartment by Paul Bilodeau, Bonnie fights to maintain her independence with the support of her overbearing sister Amy (Elizabeth Frieson) and nephew Liam (Joel Haszard), until an encounter with the scheming neighbour Toby (Bilodeau) forces the family to confront those secrets they’d kept locked away.
Bilodeau’s dialogue is sensitive, finding the humour in mental illness without turning it into a punchline. Rather than over-explaining, he personifies Bonnie’s bipolar disorder as a Nun (Jan Boase) who follows Bonnie like a shadow in silent condemnation. Except for Haszard, the cast are members of Toronto Metropolitan University’s continuing education Act II Studio, a program for those over 50 who are interested in the theatre arts. A story of a working-class family featuring primarily older characters without romantic nostalgia is refreshing. The cast has an easy chemistry that gives the impression of a genuine, loving, dysfunctional family.
I am, however, left wanting to know more about this family and the events and traumas mentioned but not fully explored. Bilodeau is incredibly considerate of his characters and could dive deeper without running the risk of writing trauma porn. The Apartment, previously known as Survivors, is in its second iteration, and I hope Bilodeau continues to nurture and expand on this compelling story of family connection through the peaks and valleys of mental illness.
The Toronto Fringe Festival runs July 3 to 14. More information is available here.
WRITTEN BY
Alethea Bakogeorge
Alethea Bakogeorge (she/her) is a physically disabled access professional, fundraiser, and artist. She is currently the director of development and performing arts at the National accessArts Centre in Calgary, leading all fundraising and performing arts strategy for Canada’s oldest and largest disability arts organization. Alethea also teaches and consults with organizations across Canada on disability representation in the arts, meeting access needs, and disability-inclusive organizational change. She has worked extensively in Canadian and American theatre, at organizations including the Musical Stage Company, Theatre Gargantua, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Theatre Aspen. She maintains an active acting career as a disabled actor. She lives in Toronto.
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WRITTEN BY
Liam Donovan
Liam is Intermission’s publishing and editorial assistant. Based in Toronto, his writing has appeared in Maisonneuve, This Magazine, NEXT Magazine, and more. He loves the original Super Mario game very much.
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WRITTEN BY
Stephanie Fung
Stephanie Fung (they/she) is an interdisciplinary performance artist and arts worker from Tkaronto/Toronto who is fascinated by the concept of convention and how we contest culture. A performer, writer, director, and theatre critic — they are drawn to themes of monstrosity, consumption, exposure, and grief. They are a member of the 2023 cohort of the IBPOC Critics Lab, supported by Intermission Magazine and the Stratford Festival.
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WRITTEN BY
Robyn Grant-Moran
Robyn Grant-Moran (Métis Nation of Ontario) is a classical singer, writer, and a jack of many trades who has recently met the requirements to call herself a Bachelor of the Fine Arts (thank you, York University and Indspire!). Along with her BFA, she has also completed the Performance Criticism Training Program with Generator, has studied with some beloved Canadian classical singers, and been in a opera or two. Robyn currently resides in Toronto with her tiny adorable rat dog.
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WRITTEN BY
Ilana Lucas
Ilana Lucas is a professor of English in Centennial College’s School of Advancement. She is the Vice-President of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association. She holds a BA in English and Theatre from Princeton University, an MFA in Dramaturgy and Script Development from Columbia University, and serves as Princeton’s Alumni Schools Committee Chair for Western Ontario. She has written for Brit+Co, Mooney on Theatre, and BroadwayWorld Toronto. Her most recent play, Let’s Talk, won the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival’s 24-Hour Playwriting Contest. She has a deep and abiding love of musical theatre, and considers her year working for the estate of Tony-winners Phyllis Newman and Adolph Green one of her most treasured memories.
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WRITTEN BY
Janine Marley
Janine Marley is an independent theatre reviewer born in Kingsville, Ontario and has been a Torontonian since November 2020. She holds Honours BA and MA Degrees from the University of Windsor in English Language and Literature with her studies primarily focused on theatre. She began acting at a young age and continued acting in productions until 2018. She started her blog, A View from the Box, as a personal project to share her passion for theatre.
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WRITTEN BY
Eleanor Yuneun Park
Eleanor Yuneun Park is an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, studying English and Religion. She is the Editor-in-Chief of The Varsity, the University of Toronto’s tri-campus newspaper, and she participated in the New Young Reviewers Program for the 2023 Toronto Fringe Festival. Eleanor is drawn to postcolonial theatre and anything by the creatives of her generation.
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