In an aside from my normal talking about food, here's a theatre review.
But to start, I did grab a quick rice and chicken meal from the Cozy Place, 1692 Douglas. Fresh made, in an open kitchen. Not fantastic, but it was fast cooked rice, with plenty of veg and cubes of fried chicken. And a big portion of it, with some egg stirred in too. Tasty enough, definitely filling, and definitely made to order. I suspect the veg was frozen before it hit than pan, but with sweetcorn and peas, that always seems the best way to get it almost as fresh as it was in the field.
The Cosy Place used to house the Green Wasabi, which had made a play downtown from it's base in Sidney. I really couldn't see much difference, except the menu is fast chinese food, and the windows don't give any indication of the price of the dishes, just the range of them.
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So onwards, and into the Intrepid Theatre, where Catador were presenting Robbie Huebner's "Describe My Lonely". Originally created as a one-act solo show about dating; it was revised to play almost the same story twice. First, the story is told by a character male (dating female) Cooper and then female (dating males) Cooper. The challenge to the audience is to consider the differences in the stereotypes and tropes and challenges in dating from each genders point of view. The challenge for the staging was to keep it interesting for the audience while telling the same story twice.
A smart reviewer would now write two reviews of this show, broadly similar, one for the first act, and one for the second. I am not that smart reviewer.
I think they succeeded overall. While the story was broadly similar, some of the puns were different. The characters were imagined differently by the two leads. The small changes kept you engaged, trying to spot the divergent parts, and then to think about if these changes are because of the gender changes (and how society expects men and women to behave, especially when dating), or just because it helped to keep it interesting.
Cooper is nerdy, obsessive and takes a scientific approach to dating... reading all the self articles they can find. Hoping that online, the facts they can learn hold the key to happiness. Their best friend (who is probably the biggest difference between the two acts) tries to help as well, though I am not sure if they are really the sort of help you'd want. In all cases, the single act takes on almost all the parts, playing Cooper and the other party, flitting between the roles. In both cases, the leads did it was an apparent ease, making it clear by positioning and voice which character was speaking.
My biggest thought at the end was if they staged the show male/female every night. They don't, and alternate nights switched the order of the acts. Which means some people would have a different feel for the two tales than I did. Which reminds me a bit of the Clue: The Movie. The same story, two results motif has recurred before... in 'Two', their 2015 fringe show. I didn't really enjoy Two, as the motif didn't work for me. In "Describe My Lonely", the acting was crisp. The way they showed the use of the internet (with sound effects) was done very well, with me 'seeing' the computer interface they were showing.
I liked Cooper. I liked their naiviety, their sense of wonder and nerdy obsessions. And the finale moral was an uplifting revelation for Cooper, and for me too.
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Couple of side notes: I'm not sure (and I should ask) but Catador seems to come from the Spanish for a cigar factory... or the tradition someone reading out a novel or newspaper inside the cigar factory. The later seems such a good name for a theatre group whose trying to tell interesting stories.
And, on the other hand, the Intrepid Theatre is small. 49 seats. That's not a problem, but, people, lets be smart and move into the corners and sides were we can when sitting down. Sitting in the middle of the row is fine, but don't be surprised that people might have to climb over to sit down on a sale out night...
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