Filed under

2013 Toronto Fringe Festival: The Oak Room

The winner of the Fringe's New Play Contest is a small town suspense thriller

By Lauren Gillett • July 11, 2013

Presented by Fracas Theatre
Written by Peter Genoway
Directed by Amos Crawley

Winner of the Toronto Fringe Festival's Best New Play Contest, Peter Genoway's The Oak Room, is a tension-filled story-within-a-story set in an isolated Northern Ontario tavern. Now playing at Theatre Passe Muraille, the production was recently selected as a Patron's Pick, based on a combination of cash ticket sales after the first four shows, media reception and overall "buzz."

Directed by Amos Crawley, The Oak Room follows an after-hours conversation between a young man named Steve (Daniel Roberts) and bar owner Paul (Nigel Hamer). Steve, a former regular, has been away for some time and owes Paul money. Furious, Paul won't listen to anything he says at first, but Steve eventually manages to get his attention with a chilling story about what he saw at a bar in a neighbouring town.

It takes a while for this play to catch on. The first half is slow, and could do with less arguing between Steve and Paul, but when the story flashes back to the incidents that take place at The Oak Room, featuring sharp performances by Ari Millen, Carlos González-Vio and Sandy Crawley, things suddenly get interesting.

The Oak Room runs until July 14 at the Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace. Visit fringetoronto.com for more information.

Show Dates:

Wed, 2013-07-03 - Sun, 2013-07-14

Poll:

How many Toronto Fringe shows will you see this year?

Our rating: