Stage/Toronto Fringe 2024

What: Are you lovin’ it?
Where: Tarragon Theatre Extraspace, 30 Bridgman Ave.
When: Wed., July 10 at 9:45 pm; Fri., July 12 at 4:15 pm; Sat., July 13 at 2:00 pm
Highlight: An extraordinarily heightened performance style.
Rating: NNN (out of 5)
Why you should go: It’s rare for international theatre to come to Toronto at all, so the chance to see a play from Osaka, Japan, at Fringe prices is one that should be pounced on.

IT’S RARE for international theatre to come to Toronto at all, so the chance to see a play from Osaka, Japan, at Fringe prices is one that should be pounced on.

Popular touring company Theatre Group GUMBO’s satire Are you lovin’ it? is set in an imaginary theme park called WacDonald’s Land. The play’s stated aim is to use the fast-food industry as a symbol for America’s capitalistic dominance, although it often veers away from this topic, preferring to explore a postmodern mélange of references to cultural forms as disparate as Gothic Lolita fashion and traditional Kabuki theatre.

Are you lovin’ it? operates at a blistering pace, with its jarring, hyperactive sound design capturing all the fun of listening to someone scroll TikTok on the TTC. The performances (Kayo Tamura, Ryo Nishihara and Nono Miyasaka), too, are extraordinarily heightened; I found it a treat to see a performance style so divorced from run-of-the-mill Canadian realism.

Interesting though it may be, my view is that this piece is a bit out of step with the present moment. At the performance I attended, the audience didn’t appear to be on its wavelength, especially when the performers asked whether we liked Joe Biden and seemed to expect a wholehearted “yes” despite his recent debate flop. Being a satire, this discord may be partially intentional — still, I felt that my audience’s response to the show’s titular question was a puzzled “uh … I guess?”