Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Review: (Toronto) Blue Moon Girls (Fringe)

Elegant script gets production it deserves
by Joel Fishbane
@joelfishbane

A sharp script gets the showcase it deserves in Blue Moon Girls, the new production by Fruitful Productions. A concise three hander,  Blue Moon Girls takes that well-worn subject of many Canadian plays – life in a small town – and marries it with that other well-worn subject, the love triangle. The ingredients may be common but the results are startling and original: playwright / actress Jessica Lea Fleming is poised to become one of Canada’s next wunderkinds, if some producer is wise enough to snatch her up.

In the rural town of Blue Moon – a stand-in for Fleming’s own hometown of Penetanguishene, located on Georgian Bay – Julia (Fleming) and husband Christian (Christian Smith) are reunited with their old friend Sonya (Justine D. Moritz). The reunion is strained for reasons that become obvious as the past plays itself out, shuffled out of order like the cards of the tarot deck that Sonya has brought along.

The cast does a fine job – Moritz especially shines - and director Julia Pileggi keeps things simple, all of which allows the spotlight to shine on the elegant text. Blue Moon Girls only needs two things right now: a larger audience for this run and a longer running time for the next. Fleming’s world is rich and the characters are aching for a larger playground in which they can run free. 

Blue Moon Girls is at the Toronto Fringe

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