Today's selection included a 1:00pm performance of Eternal Friendship With A Spotless Smile @ Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace and a 3:30pm performance of Metro at the Bathurst Street Theatre.
Eternal Friendship With A Spotless Smile
by Matt McCready
From the Fringe Program:
Jessie and Matt are two best friends that share a great room together in an insane asylum. Their last nurse died under suspicious circumstances, but that's ok. They have a new nurse and, best of all, they're both in love with her! An existential romp! A machiavellian rom-com!
An excellent little space - small black box with steep carpeted bench seating and the stage way down at the bottom. I have to say this space made me very happy. Plus, for such a hot day, as it was on Sunday, this small windowless non-air conditioned space was surprisingly and thankfully cool!
Only three talented actors playing a total of 8 roles combined. Due to the excellent acting and the great script, and being tossed around from one story or scene to the next, I actually felt like I was going slightly insane just watching. Fabulous!!
The Jesse character had some of the best stories and some great dialogue. One of the Matt character's lines that stuck with me was (along the lines of): "Your mind is like a coffin buried just long enough to let the decay in." The actress (Janelle Hanna) who played the new nurse, among other characters, had the voice of one of the many Disney Princess characters. She was so bubbly! The combination of the three actors worked very well for this show.
At a couple of points the story the characters take you down the dark path of serious, but they whip you back into the funny before you know what's happening.
Highly recommended. Glad I saw it!
Without delay, I headed back Northbound to the Bathurst Street Theatre, got my ticket for Metro and found some shade until we were let inside.
Metro
by Creator - Linette Doherty
From the Fringe Program:
A hilarious look at public transportation in the big city. From breaking dancing cops to bored office drones, the subway is where they city comes together; our joys, loves, fears, and frustrations become shared collective experiences. With a cast of zany characters blending hard hitting street styles and haunting contemporary works, Linette Doherty creates dance that's accessible, technically innovative, and unique.
Very cool space - both in architecture and temperature.
This show was not what I expected at all. I knew there would be dancing, of course. I just figured it would be a play with dancing. You know, like a play with singing is a musical? Well this would have been a dancical...or something.
There. Were. No. Words.
It was fabulous and creative and amazing dancing to different songs that got people, including me, bopping in our seats. The dancers themselves were of different ages, different (dancer) body types and different dance style backgrounds.
The lead lady and creator, Linette Doherty, trained with two dancers who, in my mind, are tap Gods - Savion Glover and Gregory Hines. At one point in the show she also wore sneakers with tap shoe bottoms - how cool is that?! I haven't tapped since I was a kid, but I kinda wanna try it again.
One of the male dancers, Gary Lucich, was amazing in looks and dance technique. He was very
The body definition, especially in the legs, of both the men and the women on stage would put many of us to shame. However, they were all beautiful with fluid motions and extreme flexibility and I was happy to enjoy the visual artistry.
What got me really excited about this show was the fact that it was taking place in the subway. When you begin writing your own script about the subway, what's in your head doesn't always work on the stage. Once I saw the simple set of subway seating up there on stage, I knew my script vision could become reality.
Whether you're a dance fan or not, go and see this show!
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