Hidden Ninja

Forgive Us Our Trespasses

SEE has been banned from attending any Stewart Lemoine plays, but the lure of Happy Toes was too strong to resist

For reasons none of us really understand, SEE has been banned from attending any future plays by Stewart Lemoine, news which—predictably—made me want to go ahead and do just that. It’s a real shame too, because of all the works I’ve seen over the years at the Fringe, I’m struggling to come up with a better example of just how to put together professional theatre. Simply put, I think Happy Toes, Lemoine’s first Fringe production since 2002’s The Exquisite Hour, might be the best Fringe play I’ve ever seen.

It’s ferociously intelligent, fucking funny, unpredictable, and enviably well-acted—a heavyweight among mayflies.

We start off with coffee between two genius mates, Edgar the clarinetist (Ron Pederson) and Tony (Jeff Haslam). As Tony puts it during one of the play’s key conversations, he’s not so much independently wealthy as completely dependent on his riches. While the two discuss Edgar’s encounter with his home-yearning bank teller earlier that day, we get the sense these two will end up being inactive moral observers of the rest of the characters—but it turns out their bright boredom and casual platitudes will go on to rearrange lives.

The two are soon joined by their jogging acquaintance Alex (Julien Arnold), who is hilariously yet seriously worried that his wife is having an affair—but with him. She won’t give Alex a moment’s rest, sneaking him to lunch, taking him to dinner and ripping his clothes off in hotels. Tony and Edgar, both single, are at a loss for words but try their best to be sympathetic. On the play’s distaff side, Davina Stewart’s Janine is obviously going through something, her state of crisis perfectly balanced by the content musings of Edgar’s teller Cora (Leona Brausen).

The way all these characters are thrown together is nothing short of brilliant, putting typical British farce to shame. And of all places, it happens at a free concerto, which almost everyone in attendance accidentally makes fun of, much to Edgar’s dismay. I don’t want to wreck any more—it’s another heartwarming yet cutting play by Lemoine. I hate to use the booster’s language, but all the actors inside it are world-class.

Just get your ass into the Varscona Theatre immediately, whether you’ve been banned from the premises or not! -Fish Griwkowsky

5 STARS