So I came to Halifax to do my show. I am pleased to announce that we received a favorable review. For me it is a first review, ever, and with that I leave the post.
From "The Chronicle Herald"
Toronto plays explore dreams versus reality
Ready, Set, Life! is a Toronto double bill of one-person plays about two young people whose dreams namely to be actors are squashed by parental and societal expectations.
Struggling to conform and yet remain true to one’s self is hardly unique to actors, so these light and fast-paced comedic plays easily resonate for a viewer.
In fact, Geoff Kolomayz in This is the Rest of Your Life! does not initially identify his young man’s plight as a passion to act. Instead, his cleverly constructed show starts with himself portraying a public speaker urging people to find out what they want in life and pursue it.
Kolomayz, demonstrating he can act, plays a number of roles as he leads his character through conflict to a soul-destroying job and back again to a brighter future. Breaking up scenes with his parents and wife is a search for a mysterious black box, a parody of quest movies that ends up having meaning.
Alison Lynne Ward’s approach in Quarter Life Crisis is more bare bones and direct in a charming and funny autobiographical piece about a mid-twenties woman trying to plan her life in terms of marriage and career.
She keeps having to alter her life plan with much angst that she knows is self-indulgent. Her dreams to save the world like Angelina Jolie, to be skinny, to be discovered, to not be so self-obsessed all ring true.
It’s easier for Ward to get dates (though not husbands) than acting jobs and her key story of one nearly-marital relationship includes a great speech in which she tries to explain to her boyfriend how she loves him but not in the same way she loves her cat.
Quirky, with good writing, Quarter Life Crisis is well-balanced by Kolmayz’s more serious exploration of dreams versus responsibility.
Ready, Set, Life!, at 80 minutes with a 10-minute intermission, needs more than three people in its audience for the comedy to sing.
It runs in the Khyber 3 today, 2:15 p.m; Monday, 2:15 and 7:45 p.m.; Thursday, 9:45 p.m.; Friday, 6:15 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 8 at 3:30 p.m., and Sunday, Setp. 9 at 5:30 p.m. Admission is $7.
By Elissa Barnard
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