TONIGHT’S CANCELLED written and performed by Jason DeRosse and Stacey McGunnigle. Annex Theatre. July 4 at 7:15 pm, July 5 at 9:45 pm, July 6 at 1:45 pm, July 8 at noon, July 9 at 5:45 pm. Buy tickets. Rating: NNNN
Beloved Second City veterans Jason DeRosse and Stacey McGunnigle deal with getting older in the fickle, brutally judgemental entertainment industry with humour and heartbreakingly honest details.
After the most Canadian intro you’ll see at the Fringe (it’s too good to spoil), the two strip down to their underwear playing a couple about to have sex for the first time. Their characters are nervous and ashamed of their bodies, an apt metaphor for the comics themselves exposing their perceived flaws to a crowd.
This truthfulness – about everything from body image and loneliness to expressing one’s real opinions – pays off. One scene about a Subway employee bonding with a regular customer is so rich with emotion, the characters given depth and dignity, it’s not even concerned about getting a laugh. When the characters return later, they dig even deeper.
Fans of the pair’s SC work will appreciate them expanding on their classic sketch about an awkward adolescent boy and his stepdad. Another recurring sketch sees McGunnigle try to disguise herself (intentionally badly) as a man to test her husband’s loyalty. Brilliant.
And the scene in which the two play new parents trying to prepare their infant son for the complex world he’s been born into captures all the anxieties of the present age.
Under Rob Baker’s direction, the scenes are clear and the transitions – often featuring autobiographical confessions – seamless. Until the end, which feels a little rushed.
Still, I’ve missed seeing DeRosse’s perennial underdog characters and the scratchy-voiced fearlessness of McGunnigle. May this be the first of many collaborations.
