Kole Durnford in ‘Insert Clown Here’, Photo by Maxim Luca Bortnowski

I had such a blast at last summer’s Fringe Festival with Parlous Theatre’s high concept parody of 19th century melodrama—a dynamic sketch comedy framework that drops a new clown performer into each performance. After a 2022 workshop and 2023 Fringe run (my review of that iteration here), Insert Clown Here returns to The Theatre Centre’s BMO Incubator (where it was born), having upped its game with a proper set. The pale green stuffiness of Irene Ly’s appropriately mundane Victorian drawing room is the perfect backdrop for the hilarity that ensues as the clown, not knowing the script or blocking, must fumble their way through the drama that unfolds around them. Continue Reading