Fringe review: ‘Stiff & Sons’

Dark comedy about a funeral home features witty script, strong ensemble acting

What: Stiff & Sons
Where: Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina Ave.
When: Thurs., July 11 at 9:30 pm; Fri., July 12 at 6:00 pm; Sat., July 13 at 6:00 pm
Highlight: Director Daniel Reale’s lovingly heightened production, which seems to take inspiration from Mel Brooks and classic Hollywood screwballs.
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should go: Every Fringe needs a rock-solid dark comedy, and Stiff & Sons fits the coffin.


AIDAN GOUVEIA’S farcical Stiff & Sons has a plot right out of Little Shop of Horrors: a struggling business uses a string of murders to advance sales. Like that B-movie-turned-musical, there’s even a puppet who does the killing, manoeuvred by the Wednesday Addams-esque young daughter (Izzi Nagel) of one of the titular company’s “sons” (Tim Walker), who inherited the place from his father.

The business in question is a funeral home, making the dramatic situation extra dark. I would not say the script’s logic checks out, but it has a good number of seriously funny one-liners. And, more importantly, it facilitates the ridiculous nature of director Daniel Reale’s lovingly heightened production, which is packed with highly theatrical lighting states, elaborate physical comedy and strong ensemble acting. A repeated bit in which Jonas Trottier plays both a news anchor and all of the people he interviews is a showstopper.

It’s nothing incredibly new, with Gouveia and Reale seeming to take a great deal of inspiration from Mel Brooks as well as classic Hollywood screwballs — but every Fringe needs a rock-solid dark comedy, and Stiff & Sons fits the coffin.