Richard Weisdorf

The Pros: the music, the performances/singing, puppetry, some of the jokes (most I didn't get), some of the plot I could understand, the way it incorporated Galen as a 'musical' villain.

The Cons: barely any exposition launching right into things, an airy plot, the way the CEO killer stuff played out (the idea itself was good), a musical that seems to make fun of musicals, references to modern stuff I did not get.

It was quite a good show which picked up as it went deeper into the main character's storyline.

The jokes in the beginning were pretty good and some were surprising and there was some discussion and insight surrounding attitudes towards death but mainly it was about the experience of going through a health scare.

It didn't reach me on the emotional level but at least it was understandable and solidly performed. At times it felt like 'the more you know' segments as it was explaining terms like stent and cardiac arrest but then ironically at the end questioned how good it is to know things and rather just live. I liked the fact that there was still some lingering mystery as to why the main character was afraid of dying.

Some good things here.

I thought it was overall quite good.

Unfortunately, I got lost as to what actually happened. It's been happening a lot to me this fringe. What the tape recording meant, the degree to which Claire was involved with the neighbours....

Overall though, I enjoyed the performance. The shadows in the beginning, the middle in which the dynamic of the siblings and their contrasts and IMO similarities come out. The older child being saddled with a whopping amount of responsibility and the parallel story of the neighbours. I even liked the spattering of occasional humor.

But I just didn't understand the resolution and so ultimately this will be forgettable as there isn't any gut punch to remember.

It also didn't help that as the performance occurred, a lot of revving occurred outside near the venue from motorcycles/supped up cars. They unfortunately had a hand in 'stealing the show'. Of course, not the play's fault so take my rating with a grain of salt. Still glad I saw it but am missing something that the 5 star raters got.

This was a very satisfying foray into immersive theatre. The host was great at explaining the rules in an entertaining fashion.

It was a great workout for the mind and I got a chance to interact with performers which I've really never done before. Got interacted with frequently even though I didn't know what I was doing. Lol.

Some artifacts were harder to get and some solutions towards obtaining an artifact were interesting and the host made the experience inclusive by summarizing how artifacts were obtained in case out of the loop. Concept was interestingly structured as some actors were there more to guide and others were central points in the drama of this new years party.

Because there were different arcs going on at the same time, you couldn't hear or be a part of everything and there was competing noise so that made it a bit tough. Towards the end though I was a bit tired, it's work!! lol. I did wish there was a bit more drama and less artifacts so I could enjoy and take it easy. But that would make it less of a game so I get it. The game aspect invests the audience more.

All in all, definitely worth the ride. Kudos to the actors. None of them made it awkward when I didn't know what to say. It's a nice place to meet your audience members and meet performers, while in their role.

I agree with some reviewers that have said this isn't about fringe enough. Yes, I would have appreciated poking fun at this festival directly more. However, I still enjoyed the cast who truly committed to the sketches and some of the zany ideas.

Standouts included the beginning with the most fringe content, the dialogue of hockey fans, a strange fake id and a Victorian mansion.

There were some allusions to fringe productions like everything tying together like crazy in the end. Not all sketches worked for me though but that is a difficult task. All in all, this was well worth the ride even if it wasn't gut busting in the laughter department.

Good ideas, unpredictable, intertwining story lines across imagined future years, the cast create a nice continuity, a fun musical # but at times difficult to follow for me and understand the reveals/point. They're definitely heady. Not all future scenarios landed for me but some did. A nice part of the fringe mosaic.

I'll start by saying it is hard for me to connect with one person shows. That being said, I've seen some great ones at fringe in the past: a woman living with traumatic brain injury, a man becoming a rescuer of the vulnerable after undergoing sexual trauma and performers like TJ Dawe.

This for me sadly was not one of them.

I watched this show called inspirational porn star which is about autism and left not knowing what autism is, nor what an inspirational porn star is even though the term was repeated many a time and how it relates to autism. The show was formatted like a TED talk with powerpoint. It was mainly about the performer's life subdivided into chapters.

The performer is nice, charming, sincere and very quick. A lot of people may understand this show better than I did. It was mostly all just over my head. It flew right over as if I lived under water meaning her and I are just two different kinds of humans. To understand it, I'd have to become a flying fish.

I liked a few anecdotes like receiving an embarrassing award and comparing an intimate encounter to an ATM machine but that was it.

Just not for me.

The audience laughed at times but I just didn't crack up in general at this troupe's version of silliness and that is fine. Too many 'slow' jokes for me. Despite that, they have some fun and original ideas.

However, what stole the show for me was the ringmaster. His performance and comedy were completely up my alley.

In addition to off the wall and silly, this is surprisingly more sentimental than most would expect. Definitely what fringing is all about. Try something new and find out the true story behind the fable.

Come see it. Come see it. Come see it. Come see it.

I definitely had gratitude for this one and so will you.

All kidding aside, the audience was painfully small for this one.

If you like a gripping drama with absolutely no lag along with twists and turns, come for the theatre. And if you like your theatre to breeze by and examine some important concepts through the story telling, then you will get it.

Writing was great, acting superb from a young cast.

The only thing preventing me from rating it higher was I could not believe that teens could be in reality that manipulative, wise, vicious. But that's just because I wasn't like that as a teen.

I was blown away last year with this troupe's show My Loneliness is Killing You. Creative, cutting edge, unpredictable and funny amidst the morbidity. Therefore, I had to check the next one out.

This one felt not as fully realized with more of a scattered hodge podge of ideas and side characters. However, it also had its moments of comedy, a good examination of addiction, and a plot that picked up upon arrival at the cult.

Really enjoyed the actress who played the cult trainer. Her expressions were like AI and I think that was the point.

The theatre I saw this at unfortunately is not very viewer friendly so I recommend to sit in front or aisle. I missed some action and think the venue is more for solo shows.

Overall, I recommend audiences check this troupe out. I suspect they even have a signature ending style to their shows. 'My heart goes out to them'.