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Posts tagged ‘A Man Walks Into A Bar’

Jul 11

Our 2015 Fringe Favourites

by Hallie Seline, Bailey Green, Brittany Kay, Madryn McCabe

As another incredible Toronto Fringe Festival draws to a close, we wanted to share some of the In the Greenroom gals’ favourite shows, should it inspire your final Fringe days. It has been a pleasure immersing ourselves in the Fringe spirit – racing from venue to venue, meeting new friends in the Fringe Alley or in various Fringe lines and discovering incredible artists as well as watching those we already knew share what they love with another year of Fringe-goers. Here are some of our Fringe Favourites, in no particular order.

What would make your list? Share your picks with us on Twitter @intheGreenRoom_ , Facebook @In the Greenroom or on Instagram @inthegreenroom. #GetYourFringeOn!

Morro and Jasp Do Puberty

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Simply delightful! These clown sisters are such open, super smart performers, who embrace the chaos of growing up in weird and wonderful ways with a playful spirit that invites the audience to come along for the ride. These gals are truly great at what they do and had us smiling from ear to ear ever since.

Shows: Patron’s Pick show – Sunday July 12 at 9:15

Tickets here.

In Case We Disappear

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We’ve been likening the captivating Vanessa Smyth’s performance to a wonderful glass of wine since seeing her intimate piece of storytelling, song and spoken word poetry. It’s really something to watch. Smyth is so open and welcoming, confident and charming as she shares this unique performance with her audience. We loved it!

Sadly there are no longer any more performances but keep up to date with Vanessa’s next projects here: vanessasmythe.com Twitter: @vsmythe

SwordPlay: A Play of Swords

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Amazing physical comedy and sharp performances including some improv, beard-nuzzles, and a killer GOT Little Finger impression. Anyone who’s played those old-school video games will get a real kick out of this but definitely worth checking out even if you aren’t a huge video-game fan. Really inventive work. We had a super enjoyable time.

Shows: July 11 at 04:00 PM

Tickets here.

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@sextrex

Summerland

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This is a Fringe show of epic proportions, Fringe-wise. With a cast of 100 teens INCLUDING a rotating cast of main characters, the sheer scale of this mystical musical is something to see. Watching that many young performers sing and dance their hearts out on stage together is a true joy to experience. Filled with stunning music by the talented Anika Johnson, Barbara Johnston and Suzy Wilde, we hope this continues to develop and finds life in the main stages! Hello, Mirvish! Hello, Broadway!

Shows:

July 11 at 07:30 PM
July 12 at 02:00 PM

Tickets here.

The Untitled Sam Mullins Project

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Sam Mullins knows how to draw his audience in, connecting with every seat in the house. The writing was sharp, charming and honest. Mullins’ stories transport you to other places and times, and then leave you to reflect on your own quirks, fears, joys and heartbreaks.

Show: July 11 at 11:30 PM
Tickets here.

Hamlet… A Puppet Epic!

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Hamlet…A Puppet Epic! has laugh-out-loud humour for all ages, the Bard and awesome puppets. You’ve never seen Hamlet like this. The ensemble cast performs with an infectious energy. It’s no small feat to fill a theatre with families and then keep them all spellbound for an hour. It doesn’t talk down to the kids at all, and there are plenty of jokes for the adults. We also get the best explanation for Polonius’ decision to hid behind a curtain that we’ve ever heard. True theatre magic from Shakey-Shake and Friends.

Shows:
July 12 at 11:00 AM

Patrons Pick: July 12 at 6:00 PM

Tickets here.

One Good Marriage

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Becky Shrimpton and Matthew Gin’s performances are thoughtful and witty. They have the best chemistry of a staged married couple we’ve seen in a long time. The dialogue is quick and navigates the comedy and tragedy deftly. Definitely worth seeing.

Shows:
July 11 at 07:30 PM 
July 12 at 02:00 PM 
July 12 at 07:30 PM 
Tickets here.

Peter ‘n’ Chris Present: Here Lies Chris

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Vancouver based sketch duo, Peter n’ Chris had us laughing from beginning to end. Their use of physical comedy, repetition and sketch characters made their storytelling enjoyable and engaging. Constant Fringe Favourites!

Show:
July 11 at 07:30 PM
Tickets here.

A Man Walks into a Bar

A Man Walks in 1 Lo Res

A Man Walks into a Bar was a meta-theatrical experience that allowed audiences to gain insight on what many waitresses and women at any given job can go through. Rachel Blair’s writing was witty and hilarious, and became extremely thought provoking about male/female interaction. Definitely worthy of Best of Fringe.

Show: July 13 at 9:15 PM
Ticketshere.

The Philanderess

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Playwright and actress, Sophia Fabiilli, challenged the notion of femininity and power in epic ways. Every player in this farcical marathon of a comedy was incredible! Fabiilli is one fierce Fringe femme.

Shows:
July 12 at 04:00 PM
Patrons Pick: July 12 at 9:45 PM
Advanced tickets are sold out but there may be tickets at the door one hour before.

The Merry Wives of Windsor

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Bash’d does it again! The ladies call the shots in this silly Shakespeare play and we loved it. A special shout-out goes to Suzette McCanny and Julia Nish-Lapidus who we loved watching delight in their plotting and trickery, and also to the incredible AJ Richardson, whose mastery of text and comedy set up a Ford that added to our sheer joy of watching him and Falstaff be made the fool-of. Great ensemble, appropriately silly Shakespeare play, and perfect setting for Fringe-viewing with beer in hand.

Shows:
July 11 at 07:00 PM
July 12 at 05:00 PM
Tickets here.

Bout

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The fights are intense, and the relationship between Jackie and her coach is fantastic. The dialogue between them is fast and holds nothing back. The perfect one, two, punch for a Fringe knock-out.

Shows:
July 11 at 10:00 PM
July 12 at 10:00 PM
Tickets: here

The Dinner Table

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“Stories open us up to each other”. A truly special and intimate experience, delicious home-cooked meal that was tailored to the guest and a slew of incredible storytellers from the Toronto theatre community. If theatre, for you, is about connection and a sharing of stories, The Dinner Table is for you.

Shows:
July 11 at 09:00 PM  sold out
July 12 at 06:30 PM  sold out
Both of the final performances are sold out but there is always a chance at snagging a single ticket at the door.

Jul 3

1 Comment

Interview with Rachel Blair – Playwright & Performer of “A Man Walks Into a Bar” at the 2015 Toronto Fringe

by Bailey Green 

“A woman, with the help of a man, tells a joke: A man walks into a bar and meets a waitress. As lines between the performers and the characters blur, a tense and funny standoff about gender, power, and selling sex emerges.” – A Man Walks Into a Bar

Presented by Circle Circle and written by Rachel Blair, A Man Walks into a Bar is a stark exploration of the ways men and women interact. Inspired by current events, collected stories and her own experience, the play is a frank conversation about masculine and feminine interaction. The location— the loaded and often hyper-sexualized environment of a bar.

Rachel wanted to discuss inequality, for example: how from a very early age women are taught coping strategies to avoid violence and protect themselves. “In these kinds of conversations, about gender or race, someone has privilege and someone does not,” Rachel says, “and you might not realize how privileged you are until you hear how someone else isn’t.” She strove to make each character identifiable but challenging. In her own words, she describes the play as “funny, feminist, masculine, urgent and accessible.”

The play slips between two worlds, between interaction with the audience and absorption into the woman’s story. Rachel performs the role of the woman. Blue Bigwood-Mallin plays the man, and Rachel comments on his willingness to stretch as a performer, committing to the strong opinionated nature of his role. The play began as a satire on how men negatively respond to women’s stories— corrections, suggestions, interruptions, etc. Rachel did extensive research, using Reddit and message boards to examine the ways men dismantled women’s arguments. Now before I go further, let me introduce a hashtag conceived by the cast and crew:

#NotAllMenwhoWalkIntoaBar

One of Rachel’s challenges was to make the piece as balanced as possible, “I’m trying open up a discussion that happens often, and clearly sometimes blows up in our face and creates animosity—between men and women, women and women, men and men. I wanted to be very respectful to both voices without making them caricatures or demonizing them.” Rachel mentions White Ribbon for their work, men working to end violence towards women, and expresses her gratitude for the feminists in her life.

One of whom is her director, David Matheson (Artistic Director of the Dora nominated Wordsmyth Theatre) who was a mentor of Rachel’s while she studied at York. Their friendship grew from there. “David’s great about drawing out new aspects and finding moments while being very respectful of the work,” Rachel says. When Rachel was selected from the Fringe lottery, she proceeded to write the play in two months, going through multiple drafts with her dramaturg Andrew Cheng—who she has worked with for years.

After June 1st, Rachel officially switched over to acting the role as opposed to writing the show. She initially found it challenging to let go of the male character’s justifiable opinions at points in the story.“We’ve played a lot with my character’s volition and how much she needs to keep the conversation with the man amicable and light. As a playwright I’ve written this piece, and I’m outspoken and opinionated” Rachel says, “but for the character, this is a big brave thing to talk about this idea and tell this joke to a man. I think a lot of women may have huge opinions about who they are as women and where they stand but are scared to speak up for fear that they won’t ‘do it right’ or rock the boat or to encourage judgement.”

As for her intention for the audience, she hopes people hear an opinion different from their own and find themselves understanding even though they still may disagree. She hopes women find a sense of comfort in hearing any part of their experience heard. Let’s keep the dialogue going.

A Man Walks Into a Bar

A Man Walks In 3 Lo Res

A man walks into a bar and asks a waitress for a drink. A tense and funny metatheatrical look at gender dynamics.

From Rachel Blair, 2008 New Play Contest winner for Wake (NNNN, ***** Eye Weekly, Best of Fringe) and David Matheson, Artistic Director of Dora-nominated Wordsmyth Theatre and director of [sic] (Best of Fringe) and Bluebeard (Patron’s Pick).

By: Rachel Blair

Company: Circle Circle

Company origin: Toronto, Ontario

Director: David Matheson

Dramaturg: Andrew Cheng

Warnings: Mature Language

Where: Tarragon Theatre Extraspace

When:
July 01 at 06:30 PM
July 03 at 01:15 PM
July 04 at 07:00 PM
July 05 at 03:30 PM
July 06 at 08:30 PM
July 08 at 12:00 PM
July 11 at 05:15 PM

Tickets: http://fringetoronto.com/fringe-festival/shows/a-man-walks-into-a-bar/