Dispatches From The Office Chair – Fringe shows you absolutely must see
Gentle readers,
That most anticipated time of year is upon us again: the Toronto Fringe Festival will once again spread across the Annex, inciting twelve wild days of drinking, debauchery, and theatre-going. As the days shift from “merely very warm” to “Dear God, why is it so sweltering everywhere?”, the pressing question upon every theatre-goer’s mind is: What should I go see at the Fringe this year?
Well, readers, once again Pip is here to set you straight and guide you in your decisions. After careful thought and a highly scientific process of stabbing my Fringe program with a highlighter, I have determined my top picks of this year’s festival. Here are, in no particular order, the six shows you absolutely must see at the 2012 Fringe Festival.
Too Much Information You Never Wanted To Know About Me: The Solo Show
By That Guy Who’s Been Touring The Fringe Circuit Since Time Immemorial
Join me for the story of how I had sex once! And also I have problems with women, that probably stem from the fact that my father left home when I was seven! And also with my boss (same reason)! And I have a somewhat inappropriate and overindulgent relationship with my turtle (same reason)! And I’m forty-five and I can’t date anyone more than three times before I freak out. It’s probably because of my dad.
Five stars – Winnipeg Free Press/Patron’s Pick – Orlando Fringe Festival
Things That Should Never Be A Musical: The Musical
By That Group of Stoners Who Did Not Realize What They Were Getting Into
Join us for a wild, comedic romp about that thing that seemed really, really funny nine months ago when we were all on weed and then Jimmy (who had just taken ‘shrooms) said, “Hey, guys, wouldn’t it be great if this was a musical?” and then Lucas got his guitar out and Caleb’s girlfriend Kelsei started singing and man we all just laughed and laughed and laughed and then shit we’d won the Fringe lottery.
That Fight I Had With My Ex-Boyfriend That I’m Still Not Over Two Years Later: A Drama
By That Girl Who Never Stops Talking About Some Guy Named Ben Benson
Join us for the story of Ben Benson, who is a lying liar who lies and also cheats on you. DO NOT DATE HIM. Plus I saw him at The Brunny the other night and he was totally scamming on two girls at once but what they don’t know is HE HAS HERPES.
My Family Is Way Worse Than Your Family: A Comedy
By That Middle Aged Woman Who Found Theatre Late In Life
Join us for a hilarious romp through all of the funny things my kids and parents ever said! Set at a Thanksgiving dinner, this multigenerational comedy is full of the wacky hijinks of a madcap family of misfits coming together for a holiday none of them will forget!
I Have Too Many Feelings For Words: A Dance Piece
By That Young Artists’ Group
Join us for a collective creation that we made out of our youth outreach program, dealing with themes of sexuality, grief, and growing up set to the music of Lady GaGa and Nicki Minaj. Too old to be kids, too young to be adults; we’re not girls, but not yet women.
Scandalous Words Strung In A Row With Salacious Intent To Make You Think My Show Is Interesting: The Site Specific In A Wildly Inappropriate Place
By That 23 yr old University Student Who Thinks This Is A New Idea
Join us for tits tits tits tits blowjobs handjobs drugs makeouts allusions to multiple partner sex acts. A wild, sexy ride into a sexy heart of darkness filled with sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll! In the dressing room of a strip joint! Lap dances extra.
[For real advice about which of this year’s 155 amazing shows you want to see at the Toronto Fringe, please check out Derrick Chua’s picks here.]
Sarah ‘Pip’ Bradford is the Mainspace Technician of Tarragon Theatre and the Youth Outreach Coordinator of the Toronto Fringe Festival. She blogs here (tips from pip) and here (The Christopher Pike Project), and also live tweets really bad books @pipbradford #pipreads. She would like to emphasize that every one of these Fringe shows is both totally made up and something she totally saw at one point, and she really enjoyed them all. She also firmly believes that you should tip your stripper.
Ha Pip!
This is hilarious. You are hilarious. Great roast of the festival we know and love and both have worked for. Most of the early shows that put Praxis on the map happened at Fringe. If you can’t laugh at yourself, well, who can you laugh at? Would you care to write A Modest Proposal concerning SummerWorks?
Ben. Benson. Cannot stop laughing. Thanks for this!
I have cringed through all of these. Pitch-perfect, Pip!
brilliant and completely on the nose. Have seen every one of these shows – some unfortunately in the 90 minute slot…
You are one funny broad. 🙂 Unfortunately I wasn’t laughing while sitting through some of these in years past….
Pip you are AMAZING! So funny, and sadly so true.
Soooo very true! Most Excellent! And here’s another for the collection:
I’m Feeling Angsty Even Though I’m A 22 YO Theatre Student And Have No Real Life Experience But I’m Writing Dark Gritty Drama Because I’m Angsty And This Show Is A Metaphor For My Angst: A Metaphorically Gritty Drama
By Every Theatre Kid Ever
RINGTAILED LEMURS EEEEEEEEE!
Hi Folks,
Just wanted to let you know that based on the classic author advice, Write What You Know Pip has accepted my DARE to write a piece on “building Excel databases”. Looking forwards to it.
Or the “I have a lot of polarizing, yet half-formed political notions, a screed in one act.” Just hit us all in the head with a hammer, instead, jerkface. It’s Fringe, not your reader-less blog.
Oh I saw that one!
[…] out about Fringe with picks and how to go about your Fringe experience. I like reading them all. This was a […]
Ha ha ha. Exactly why I (ummmm….) generally miss the Fringe.
All I know is this PIP girl is both sexy with her big wide mouth an cute at the same time
Pip also has a kissy button nose and juicy BIG EYES made out od coal. Cutenesssahh!