Danielle Tea’s Infernal Latte is part of this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival. This comedy is a bastardization of Dante’s Inferno where Britney Spears enlists the help of barista Danielle Tea to go through Hell to retrieve her soul. They must face off against The Devil and some other unexpected encounters.
The show was written by Victoria Sullivan, who also plays Britney Spears and stars Christa-Marie Waugh
as Danielle Tea and Brandon James Sim as The Devil. I really enjoyed the production elements of the show. When you enter the venue, you are greeted by the song, Piece of Me by Britney Spears. I thought this was a suitable song choice amongst her discography for this show. There are clever uses of lighting design and the use of a fog machine to signify the different parts of hell along with fun sound design elements. The show has some Britney Spears and general pop culture references, with punny gags and jokes that local Torontonians will understand. It doesn’t rely too heavily on Britney references, but often references a popular song from her when relevant to the dialogue. Standout performances amongst the cast was Gavin Sibley, a first year TMU Performance Student who played Malphas, The Devil’s assistant and Brandon James Sim playing The Devil himself. They have a hilarious dynamic and my favourite scenes were between them.
This show is definitely for Britney stans and comedy fans alike.
Upcoming shows at the Tarragon Theatre include:
July 12th at 10:00pm
July 14th 12:30pm
July at 8:00pm