Review: THIS SHOW WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE - THE TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL at Native Earth's Aki Studio
This quartet of life coaches are here to improve your life...through improv!
The lifestyle gurus at $20 Sandwich are here to improve your life through the much beloved medium of improv comedy. Playing at Native Earth's Aki Studio as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival, This Show Will Change Your Life is here to deliver what it says on the package. Featuring Brennan Asbridge, Antony Hall, Shaun Hunter, and Chase Jeffels (with musical director Jake Schindler on the keys) deriving material inspired by an audience member's life to create sketches on the fly for a unique show at each performance.
The performance starts with an interview with an audience member. Don't be shy for they only intend to use your stories as comedic fodder to entertain the audience. That said, their interview can lean slightly on the side of intrusive but, hey, the more material they can work with the better. Each lifestyle guru will ask questions pertaining to a certain area of life - career, love, passion, and family.
Of course, they aren't just inspired by your answers for content. True improvers can be inspired by anything. Even random conversation that develop seamingly from out of nowhere - like the sexual orientation of Care Bears, or certain fashion choices made by another audience member.
As far as the flow of the show is concerned, the interviewing portion can be a bit dry and lagging, but that can easily change depending on how open the interviewee is in discussing their life. But once the improving begins, the laughs surely follow. This troupe has chemistry in spades and it's apparent how well they trust each other when it comes to developing and presenting sketches on the go - exactly what you want from an improv troupe.
Passion expert Shaun Hunter stood out in this particular performance due to his willingness to spend an entire sketch with his chest exposed or just shirtless, as also inspired by the audience. His dedication to the bit sold the show.
Whether or not This Show Will Change Your Life actually proves to do exactly that or not, you will at least be walking out of the theatre with a lingering laugh and a smile on your face.
Photo Credit: Parmida Vand
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