First I'll begin by saying I appreciate any production which allows me to walk up to the box office and say "One for Death please". I first saw Death And Dating last fall under its original title, The Mom's House Factor, as a recital piece when I did the Soulo Theatre class in Toronto. What began as a 10-minute piece has grown into a forty-five minute extravaganza which mourns breakups and celebrates karaoke and funny hats. I suppose it falls under the category of tragicomedy, which I'm surprised my iPad recognizes as a legitimate word. It's the story, told as a set of reminiscences and flashbacks of a woman subjected to a cruel and in humane break up... At his mom's house. This takes quite a while to get over, as each flash forward in time shows that the pain hasn't really gone away.
Death and Dating is a project to help make light of and put in perspective those unfortunate events which occupy an unhealthy space in our consciousness.
The venue, which has been confusingly named a hardware store... Is not one. Although somewhat confusingly it contains a bar and the beer is clearly visible in the fridge. Given that large portions of the show take place in a karaoke bar inside the protagonist's imagination, one would have hoped that for added realism, the bar could be open.
Death And Dating has 5 shows left at Mills Hardware (95 King Street East, Hamilton) Tickets $10 plus a Fringe backer button.
Written by Magdelana BB, Directed by Mark Kalzer
All the fun fact-shaped things at www.HamiltonFringe.ca.