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Toronto Fringe Festival: She Said Yes

Virginia Woodall navigates the tricky business of online dating in this charming play at the Toronto Fringe Festival

By Victoria Bégin • July 7, 2015

Presented by Dv8 Productions
Written by Virginia Woodall with contributions from David Rowan & Jennifer-Beth Hanchar
Directed by David Rowan

Jon Champagne, Virginia Woodall, Jamie Champagne. Photo by Calwyn Shurgold.

The world of dating has changed drastically over the last 20 years, and the reason for the shift can be attributed almost exclusively to advances in technology. Gone are the days when boy and girl would meet organically at a cafe or grocery store. Today, most eyes are downcast, focused on electronic devices and the immediate gratification of social media. Fortunately, our collective obsession with said electronic devices has allowed for the strange and wonderful world of online dating to flourish, which is a topic explored by Virginia Woodall in her hilarious and clever play, She Said Yes, now playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival.

In She Said Yes, Woodall plays Liz Thompson, a young woman who is searching for someone special through various online dating channels (specifically Tinder). The options she is presented with are represented hilariously and creatively by both Jon and Jamie Champagne, who wear many hats (literally) as the various potential suitors messaging Liz online. A wide spectrum of personalities are represented—outgoing, shy, nerdy—as well as various professions, including an apron-clad butcher. Liz's best friend, the witty Jackie (Jennifer-Beth Hanchar), steals every scene she's in, and Hanchar also plays a variety of other entertaining characters, including a bitter server at a cafe during one of Liz's doomed first dates.

The audience watches as Liz goes on several dates with men who are either too keen to get into a relationship after only knowing her for an hour, or men who are terrible listeners with no conversational skills. Liz's situation as a young, single woman looking for love is all too relatable to young people today, and her monologues lamenting her situation demonstrate how online dating can be equal parts exciting and disappointing in its fast-paced nature.

She Said Yes is highly entertaining and generates many laughs, but still retains realistic undertones of the frustration and disappointment associated with the dating world today. Woodall does an excellent job of mixing every emotion and element associated with online dating in this production.

She Said Yes runs until July 12 at the Tarragon Theatre Extraspace. Visit fringetoronto.com for more information and to buy tickets.

Show Dates:

Thu, 2015-07-02 - Sun, 2015-07-12

Our rating: