Back in July I saw a crazy clown show called Monks at the Fringe. It’s back playing at the Theatre Centre. It’s basically the same show with Veronica Hortigüela and Annie Luján playing a pair of delinquent Benedictines on their one day off every five years. TL:DR it’s hilariously mad.
There was a certain amount of anticipatory buzz about Michael Ross Albert’s The Bidding War, directed by Paolo Santalucia, that opened at Crow’s Theatre on Wednesday night. Crow’s has built rather a reputation for punchy, darkly humorous, Toronto-centric plays. This time it’s basically a satire on the Toronto real estate market and the sharp practices of the real estate and property development industries and for the most part it hits the mark.
Monks is a two woman clown show. It’s that one day, every five years, when the abbot isn’t around and the brothers can take a day off from praying and counting lentils. Unfortunately they have lost their donkey which is a perfect excuse for every possible permutation of ass jokes.
It’s hugely physical and highly interactive with water sprayers, lentils (yes more lentils), musical instruments and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, not to mention writhing on the floor and hiding in lentil barrels. If you don’t want to engage in the antics sit right at the back and, above all, do not come late. The full wrath of the Catholic Church awaits the Satanic evil of the tardy. Continue reading
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