Fringe Play Reviews

Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

The Big Smoke

By: Ron Fromstein

FRINGETASTIC! Nanaimo, BC

07/15/2011 2:18 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies) Our Rating: Your Average Rating:

The Cinematheque (Venue 7), to July 24

Fringe Festival

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Tommy, like others before him, is trying to make his way out of the bars and small-town life of Wawa, Ont. He’s just a guy in a baseball cap looking for something he can’t find back home… himself. The Big Smoke is the funny, one-man confessional about that search.

Tommy heads to Toronto and is soon drawn to Church Street. To his surprise, he finds himself in a gay bar, and it’s a more comfortable fit than the one back home.

Nanaimo’s Jeremy Banks is funny, vulnerable, and spot-on as Tommy, a kid just out of adolescence sporting an awkward combination of trepidation and bravado. His engaging presence and Ron Fromstein’s strong, sure writing universalize Tommy’s awakening — those crucial moments of self-recognition that all young adults go through in order to figure out who they are. In the end though, the trick is staying out of Wawa.

— Wendy Burke

From the official Fringe Festival program:

Performed by Jeremy Banks

The Big Smoke is like making a new friend. Then he shares something heavy with you - not gloomily, since there's beer and, well, you're buds …

The Big Smoke feels like that. It even includes some of that, except afterwards things get … pretty hot … and complicated.

Recommended For: Mature Audience

Length: 60 MIN

Tickets: $10

Warnings: Subject Matter, Language, Sexual content

History

Updated on Friday, July 15, 2011 at 2:18 PM CDT:
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