Hilary Wirachowsky and Cameron Kneteman from “Desperate Measures”, Photo by Catherine Teichman
Presented by Desperate Measures Collective
We open on just a box in the middle of the stage. The pregnant Amy (Hilary Wirachowsky) is desperate to not draw attention to it. Her fiancé Pete (Cameron Kneteman) isn’t gonna let the big box go unaddressed. When a bunch of red panties fall out, he has some questions. And so begins Desperate Measures, a comedy about a couple surfing, and almost drowning in, the entrepreneurial wave of their fetish industry niche.
Their situation is dishearteningly familiar: Toronto living is expensive. She’s an underpaid and overworked nurse; he’s an unemployed opera singer. (An aspiring lead, he’s been fired from his chorus position for obviously mouthing the words to the main tenor’s aria—a telling detail that amuses me greatly.) After an online clap-back to a negative comment about the quality of her used panties, she goes viral and suddenly they’re faced with filling hundreds upon hundred of orders. Hilariously innovative, and kinda gross, solutions are devised; farcical antics ensue.
Some complications worked into the story: their reluctance to actually get married because of their finances, Cameron’s intrusively helpful mother (Lisa Randall) always paying a visit at the worst possible moment, and an eventual distressing purchase from someone a little too close to home. Co-creators Rachel Moore and Catherine Teichman (with dramaturgical support from Matt Pilipiak and Kat Sandler) have crafted a quirky and rather sweet situation with vivid characters. Wirachowsky and Kneteman are especially endearing.
It does loose some momentum in the more serious bits and I wasn’t entirely invested in the mother’s visits; I think it could be tightened to an hour as a two-hander. I’m also a little surprised by a missed opportunity—for Amy and Pete and the show as a whole. Though he does start to wear some of her panties to help meet rising demand, it’s never addressed as a solution that he could start selling his own used underwear as himself! I mean, there absolutely is a market for that!
Main point: This is great fun!
Desperate Measures
@ Toronto Fringe Festival
running July 3 to 14, 2024
Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace (16 Ryerson Ave)
running time: 75 minutes
