Fringe News
Fringe News
Solo performance sensation Jeff Leard is coming back to the Toronto Fringe Festival (July 3-14) with a hilarious new autobiographical tale about the travails of a children’s theatre company touring through northern Rocky Mountains.
In THE SHOW MUST GO ON, Leard relates war stories of the six months he spent in a van with a hot young ingénue and a grizzled veteran of the school circuit, bringing a production of Rumplestiltskin to schools in BC’s isolated mountain communities. Over more than 5,000 kilometres travelled, Leard performed for incontinent children, was nearly stampeded to death by a herd of caribou, and was robbed at gunpoint of all his belongings – all in the name of bringing art to kids.
Leard is best-known to Fringers for his hit solo show Gametes & Gonads, a high-energy physical comedy that turned the human reproductive system into a multi-character sci-fi epic in the vein of Star Wars, which toured Canada and played at the Toronto Fringe in 2011. THE SHOW MUST GO ON sees Leard once again display his mastery of athletic physical comedy, mime, character voices, and brutally funny observations to tell a personal story about the power of art to transform both the artist and the audience.
Leard, a Victoria native who now calls Toronto home, created the show with direction from his father James Leard, a fixture of the Victoria theatre company and owner of Story Theatre Company, which creates children’s shows to tour to elementary schools in British Columbia.
The Toronto Fringe is just the beginning for THE SHOW MUST GO ON, which is touring the Fringe Circuit across Canada this summer, playing festivals in London, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Victoria.
Leard’s autobiographical show a hilarious look at the world of touring children’s theatre
“✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ - Leard is a superb comedian with a seemingly endless supply of accents and mannerisms.... Leard’s approach is unique, clever and bursting with laughs.” (Saskatoon Star Phoenix)
“✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ½ - Leard is an energetic and ingenious performer. He may not have a phaser, or any other props for that matter, but his best prop is his rubber body.” (Edmonton Sun)
WHO: Produced by the Random Samples Collective –
Created and performed by Jeff Leard
Directed/Produced by James Leard – Dramaturgy by Rob Salerno
WHEN: Toronto Fringe Festival July 3-14;
Showtimes: July 5, 7pm; July 6, 11pm; July 8, 2:45pm;
July 9, 7pm; July 11, 9:45pm; July 12, 1:45pm; July 13, 11:30pm
WHERE: Venue #6 - George Ignatieff Theatre - 15 Devonshire Pl.
MORE INFORMATION: www.fringetoronto.com
Toronto Fringe Festival, July 3-14
Fringe Box Office Information: On-line sales www.fringetoronto.com
By phone: 416-966-1062; Ticket cost: $10.00 (at the door); $11.00 (in advance)
Photo: Jeff Leard.
2013-06-04
The Show Must Go On!