The FRINGE Festival has been taking over Toronto this week. While shows range from shadowcast versions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Jurassic Park the selection this year offers some of the most unique performances I’ve come across in a long time.

When I heard about Out of Character, written by Stephen Near and directed by Erika Skarpan, I couldn’t resist. The idea of a theatrical performance focusing on relationships, love and Live Action Role Playing seemed like an ambitious undertaking. I admit, I was curious to see how an audience would react to a play that dealt with LARP, a form of play that very few people have been exposed to.

When it comes to theatre I don’t impress easily. Also, the idea of contemporary theatre and LARP struck me as two words which seem great a part problematic terrible together similar to “Hollywood Marriage” or “Discount Sushi.” After seeing Out Of Character, I admit I’m impressed.

The play focuses on players Nick and Dana, whose characters, Gottlieb and Sibbolith, fall in love. Their romance spills over into real life where Nick and Dana become inexplicably drawn to each other. The catch is that Nick is engaged and Dana has a husband who is known as being a “douchebag”.

As the romance escalates, their relationships both in game and out of game become tangled, heated and complicated. Like LARPing, alliances are forged, new friendships are made, old ones are lost and the dividing lines between lovers, allies, game and reality are blurred ending in a truly epic fashion.

While there’s much to recommend about the production and execution of the production two things really stand out. The play goes back and forth like a tennis match with one group of performers at one end and another group at the other end. This offers an interesting dynamic as though each group takes turns performing its not possible to catch every nuisance, detail or action. This is the true essence of LARP: no matter how involved you are there’s always a piece of the story that escapes your attention and has you coming back for more.

Hopefully as the second part of a trilogy Out Of Character will perform or release a collection of all three plays in the near future as good theatre, like good LARP, is always worth revisiting.

Also, check out Star Spider's review of the play as well!