And just like that, Fringe is complete for its 35th year! My festival total for this year is 39 shows, which is double what I was able to see last year. It’s been an incredible time and I was so happy to be able to throw myself so wholeheartedly into the Fringe and feel like I experienced things more. I’ll discuss more of this, along with lessons I learned, in a future post so keep your eyes out!

Good Old Days – One Four One Collective

Friendships can be hard in the easiest of times, but at the end of the world they can really be put to the test. Michael Ross Albert’s Good Old Days examines this idea through a one-night caper through the streets of a city where the two friends try to find one another while encountering several interesting characters along the way. Moving, funny, and poignant, Good Old Days makes you want to hug your friends a little tighter.

I think the story that Good Old Days tells is topical and certainly affected me; communication is so important and you can tell how much of the friendship’s collapse has been because they hadn’t really heard one another. You could also keenly feel the pandemic’s influence on this piece; however, I like that it was used as a background event to the horrors they were experiencing in the moment. I’m very glad to be writing on a sunny July day and not one with snow!

Cass Van Wyck and Brianna Wright do an incredible job with their myriad characters they each play throughout this piece. They change from their main characters of the friends Wendy and Alison to the wonderfully strange people they meet in their journey with ease. They’re delightfully entertaining with every new character and create a seemingly magical adventure for the audience.

Good Old Days needs to be picked up by a theatre company ASAP; this is smart, funny, and delightful, everything you need for an incredible theatre experience. Kudos to this amazing team for a fabulous final Fringe show for me! To find out more about these awesome folks, check out: Good Old Days | Toronto Fringe Festival (fringetoronto.com)

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