✭✭✭✭✩

by Jordan Tannahill, directed by Ali Joy Richardson

Binocular Theatre, 918 Bathurst Basement, Toronto Fringe Festival, Toronto

June 30-July 10, 2016

In this play from 2009 Jordan Tannahill dramatizes the true story of 19-year-old Private Skyler James whose life is made hell on her army base in Kentucky after she is outed as a lesbian. When constant harassment turns to death threats, she flees to Canada seeking refugee status.

The set-up for the play is awkward forcing James to tell her life story to her unseen girlfriend on the other side of a locked door. Nevertheless, it is a fierce solo play made riveting by Natasha Ramondino’s extraordinary performance as this unsophisticated but bold young woman who can’t understand why her sexuality should cause persecution and exile from a country she loves. 

©Christopher Hoile

Note: This review is based on a review published in NOW magazine July 4, 2016. 

Photo: Natasha Ramondino. ©2016 Neil Silcox

For tickets, visit http://fringetoronto.com/fringe-festival/shows.