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by Grayson R. Moore, directed by Jeff Ulrich

Waterfowl Producktions, Toronto Fringe Festival,

Robert Gill Theatre, Toronto

July 6-17, 2011

Journalist Audrey (Krista Hovsepian) claims her boss sexually harassed her but later retracts her story and alienates all her friends. Why did she retract? We never find out, and with the details so vague and the dialogue so banal, it’s impossible to care. Meanwhile, she’s trying to finish writing a novel called The Demonstrator, whose title refers not to protesters but to transparent pens used in marketing.

Audrey’s main confidante is a girl only she can see who becomes physi­cally ill when Audrey writes. While it’s transparent that the girl (Kate Zsoldos) is patently symbolic, working out the puzzle isn’t worth the effort. Only the four scenes where Hovsepian plays Audrey’s comic friends and relations have any life, suggesting that the playwright’s talent lies in comedy rather than dry meta­fictional paradoxes.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in NOW Magazine, July 14, 2011.

Photo: Krista Hovsepian. ©2011 demonstratorshow.

For tickets, visit www.fringetoronto.com.