About halfway through Marshall Lorenzo’s Everybody Loves Sealand, playing through July 12th as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival, I found myself thinking, perhaps the point of this show isn’t its jumbled plot, or its lame jokes, or the songs that do nothing to advance the plot, develop character or comment wryly on the action, but more of a theatrical experiment involving holding actors in captivity and forcing them to perform against their will, much like the creatures at Marineland.
It’s difficult to see Lorenzo’s vision here, as he so often throws away the plot and the character development and what seems like it should be the unifying concept or message, to serve throwaway jokes that more often confuse than land. There is nothing for the audience to care about, and I think if there was even one aspect that anchored the audience’s interest in the story, that would be a strong first step toward making the rest of the musical more clear.
If you like cringe-worthy theatre, and there are people who do, Everybody Loves Sealand is the gift that keeps on giving, but as a musical, even the farce or the parody or the shadow of one, Everybody Loves Sealand is a sinking ship and the audience can’t do anything but watch.
TWISI FRINGE RATING:
Everybody Loves Sealand plays at the Randolph Theatre as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival at the following times:
show times
July 07 at 03:15 PM buy tickets
July 09 at 07:30 PM buy tickets
July 11 at 12:30 PM buy tickets
July 12 at 03:30 PM buy tickets
