TOsketchfest23 Review: Passport To Madville

Passport to Madville was part of Sketchfest’s Curator Program and was curated by Rochelle Ellar. It is a tour-de-force of a variety of fabulous performers, all exploring mental illness and/or disability. There’s everything from stand-up to sketches to scenes and monologues. There’s even some beautiful poetry and movement pieces from Andraya Sky Smith.

All of the performers were extremely charming and engaging. Their performances were frank, honest, and hilarious. Despite sometimes dealing with heavier subjects, they were really funny, each in their own way. They were also educational from time to time, such as an infomercial on Borderline Personality Disorder, which was both funny and highlighted the difficulties faced by people with BPD seeking treatment.

I loved getting to see each performer’s unique perspective and style. From Sivert Das’ frank discussion of his experience living with cerebral palsy and being mixed race, to Alexandra Floras-Matic’s breakup metaphor vis-à-vis canned soup, to K. Zimmer’s portrayal of different parts of their mental illnesses as different characters, everyone had their own voice and all of those voices were great. Not to mention Angela Sun’s bit about BTS self-insert fanfiction.

Even though some of the content might bit a little different than what someone would expect going to TOSketchfest, it was definitely the most fun I had at the festival so far. As a multidisciplinary show, the variety kept things fresh and unpredictable throughout. Not to mention, it’s great to see Mad and Disabled representation on stage. Many of these performances were works in progress, so I can’t wait to see future iterations of them.

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival runs until March 19.