REVIEW: Comedy-horror hybrid Dead Broke successfully spooks
iPhoto caption: Dead Broke production still by Calvin Petersen.
Do you ever wish Halloween could last forever?
Though we’re into November now, Lost Dreams Collective’s Dead Broke keeps the spooky spirit alive in its rag-tag comedy horror, which runs until November 10th. Starting as a 2022 Fringe hit and Toronto Star “Top Pick,” this show has been resurrected with both returning cast members and fresh faces.
After a night with his parents, wannabe musician Oliver (Will King, also the playwright) becomes a squatter in an abandoned house with no lights and no water, but at least the rent is free. This is all to stay in the city he can’t afford with his girlfriend Charlotte (Kiera Publicover), who is decidedly against the creepy house. She invites all of their friends over for a house party so they can talk some sense into him. This classic horror trope includes a host of wacky characters, from a classic mean girl (Diana Del Rosario) to a drug dealer (Gordon Harper) and his client (Claire Shenstone-Harris), who he’s clearly in love with. Chaos ensues.
Dead Broke does something I consider to be somewhat difficult to pull off in the theatre: It successfully spooks. A solid concept from King, combined with some creative choices by director Calvin Petersen, creates delightfully cheesy yet haunting horror. Creepy chanting that escalates into guttural screaming, clever jump scares, and even a good old-fashioned “I’ll be right back” exit to a dusty basement create a hair-raising atmosphere.
The Theatre Centre’s intimate BMO Incubator has been transformed into an old abandoned house by an abundance of white sheets that hang from the overhead lighting grid. This set design by Julia Kim is crafty and quite effective, not only at providing a spine-tingling, tossed-together feel, but also at helping with the logistics of the actual horror. The actors push and pull the sheets away and towards the audience for ghostly apparitions.
Chin Palipane’s lighting further accentuates the eerie tone, using reds and flashing lights to create unsettling visuals, and at moments plunging the whole theatre into nerve-wracking darkness. Nate Bitton’s fight direction definitely made me flinch once or twice, as delightfully violent and strange things began to unfold onstage.
All that said, the non-supernatural scenes leading up to the play’s main action are a little lackluster. There’s a drought of chemistry between the central couple, little to no blocking, and a few transitions are clunky and long. The actors also seem a little too old to be playing college-aged students, but hey, if Riverdale can do it, why not Toronto theatre?
The concept for King’s script is punchy and successfully scary, but at moments feels bloated. With a lot of filler and exposition at the beginning of the script, I was left craving more scares and spookiness by its end. Billed at an approximate 75 minutes (and pushing 90 minutes when I saw it), I get the sense that perhaps this may have worked better in its previous iteration as a short, snappy Fringe show.
Several performances keep this show grounded despite its directorial and script challenges. Harper as the love-sick puppy drug dealer provides delightful comedic relief and a host of believable scary moments. But all in all, Shenstone-Harris steals the spotlight in a deliciously chilling performance that genuinely made me a little scared to be in the same room as her.
While the non-horror aspects of the show lean towards the more amateur, the scares are incredibly successful. This show pulls off the theatrical horror with seeming ease: That’s reason enough to check it out for yourself. (Pro tip: If you want to experience maximum fright, I’d recommend sitting in the front row of house left.)
Dead Broke plays at the Theatre Centre through November 10. Tickets are available here.
Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.
Andrea Perez
Andrea Perez is an interdisciplinary theatre artist who enjoys acting, writing, directing, and producing. She is an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto studying Drama, Classical Civilizations, and Creative Writing, exploring storytelling and people in their many facets. She is a member of the 2023 cohort of the IBPOC Critics Lab, supported by Intermission Magazine and the Stratford Festival.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Olivier Normand in 'The Far Side of the Moon.' Photo by Li Wang.
REVIEW: Lepage’s ethereal The Far Side of the Moon is insomniac theatre
The Far Side of the Moon begins and ends with a large mirror on stage, and the show extracts enigmatic power from the tantalizing question of whether its protagonist is losing himself in his reflection, or moving toward self-discovery.
iPhoto caption: Shaakir Muhammad, Christopher Gerty, and Matthieu Pagès with artists of the National Ballet in 'Procession.' Photo by Karolina Kuras. Courtesy of the National Ballet of Canada.
REVIEW: National Ballet’s Procession tangles the lines of sorrow and sensuality
Procession, the National Ballet of Canada’s brooding and stylized world premiere ballet, rushes to the stage with startling vitality — and does so at a funeral.
iPhoto caption: The company of 'CHILD-ish.' Photo by Jae Yang.
REVIEW: Tarragon’s CHILD-ish takes a hopeful and hilarious look at life through kids’ eyes
It’s a giggly good time, if a pinch oversweet.
iPhoto caption: Vincent LeBlanc-Beaudoin, Drew Moore, and Peter James Haworth in 'Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre.' Photo by Emelia Hellman.
REVIEW: At Ottawa’s GCTC, you won’t expect what happens when Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre
Sarah Kitz’s production leans into the play’s real strength: its exploration of narrative. The characters attempt to narrativize the play’s events before, after, and even while they take place. But their failure to impose narrative logic onto complex realities only results in escalating cycles of violence.
iPhoto caption: 'Kokuho' still courtesy of TIFF.
REVIEW: During this year’s TIFF, two films depicted theatre as a vessel for transcendence
Of the several performing arts-adjacent selections I took in, most affecting were two dramas: Lee Sang-il’s Kokuho and Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. In both period pieces, theatre creation serves as an emotional outlet for an artist navigating devastating loss.
iPhoto caption: Benu. Photo by Selina McCallum.
REVIEW: The Sankofa Trilogy is a passionate love letter to Jamaica and Black womanhood
“Politician, yuh have to listen.” “No borders on stolen land.” “No genocide inna Gaza.” These are just three of the rallying cries featured on signs held by picketers in word! sound! powah!, the final installation of d’bi young anitafrika’s Sankofa Trilogy.
iPhoto caption: Photos by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Two site-specific TIFT shows flirt with nonconformity
Screw the proscenium: a house kitchen and a warehouse take front and centre in Talk Is Free Theatre's productions of Cock and For Both Resting and Breeding.
iPhoto caption: Sara Topham in Hedda Gabler at the Stratford Festival. Photo by David Hou.
Gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss: The delight of female rage in theatre
Personally, I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs — especially when it comes to my girl Hedda. And it seems that at least two Ontario directors share my viewpoint, with Hedda Gabler opening twice in the same month at Stratford and at Coal Mine Theatre in Toronto. What makes her story so appealing?
iPhoto caption: Photo by David Hou.
Stratford Festival review: The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia? A review in five acts
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? delivers an off-kilter comedy and disturbing tragedy in a fashion that would make the Ancient Greeks proud.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: The Last Timbit is a surprisingly charming commercial gem
The Last Timbit, a show of snow and sweets, had a limited run at the Elgin Theatre in June and is getting a streaming release on Crave on August 12. I, for one, am more than curious to see how a wider audience will react.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Emily Anne Corcoran.
REVIEW: Icarus Theatre’s Fiji combines competing genres
If you enjoy the pitch of a rom-com true-crime mesh, this one's for you. Even if it's not perfect, it's a charming, nimble watch that tugs at the heartstrings.
REVIEW: ARC’s Rockabye glows but over-saturates
Rockabye, though a little longer than it should be, raises many timely questions. Should real lives be valued over ideologies or the other way around? Is it ethical to let someone die for a political cause?
Comments