Review: IF I COULD #THROWBACK TIME is a Love Letter to the Past and a Stark Reminder of Our Present

It's not unusual for The Second City to take a political angle with their sketch comedy, and their latest revue is no exception. Climate change, racism, sexism and Canada's long history of genocide are all fair game-and in the hands of director Rob Baker and the talented mainstage ensemble, there's a perfect balance between funny and frightening.

The performance opens on the ensemble, made up of Tricia Black, Alan Shane Lewis, Clare McConnell, Natalie Metcalfe, Sharjil Rasool, and Chris Wilson, as they send themselves back in time via plane. Each actor states their own time and place, never aligning with each other, which allows for an open-ended exploration of different subjects.

The sketches could be happening now, or thirty years ago, and will probably still be relevant thirty years from now-although with climate change being as it is, we might not make it that long, according to Rasool and Wilson's "Do You See?" bit. The duo are part Vegas sensationalist magicians, part infomercial salesmen, and part extreme environmental activists, managing to convey the seriousness of the planet's natural state while still implementing a bit of classic Second City silliness. Black commands a sketch where she's a young girl who's just coming home from gay conversion camp and drops statistics on the practice (which is still legal in some Canadian provinces), scaring her mother straight into another more idyllic reality.

With the 80s pop-culture theming of the show, which extends onstage in the form of neon geometric lights (lighting design by Mark Andrada), there's no shortage of film and music references. One sketch led by Metcalfe and Lewis examines immigration and citizenship through the lens of the beloved Spielberg alien film E.T., dropping from a glorious high to gut-wrenching reality perfectly. The labels used by media to categorize criminals is put on blast in a Psycho-inspired bit, where Rajool is a wonderfully unhinged suspect to Wilson's snarky show-off cop.

IF I COULD #THROWBACK TIME's connection to the audience was another successful angle on opening night. A conversation between Metcalfe and an audience member brought onstage to be her future self was incredibly heartwarming, and any opportunities to get the crowd participating felt natural.

For those of us in the audience who live downtown, or just spend too much time amid the chaos that is Queen West, there's a sketch on the infamous Queen and Spadina McDonalds that is gut-busting. Lewis plays the weathered team manager, preparing his overnight crew for the 1am onslaught of drunk clubgoers on a Friday night, and each ensemble actor recounts their personal horrors in a drill-sergeant call and response style in a way that'll get anyone who's visited that location recalling their own horrible and baffling experiences.

Small sketches still have room to shine in this revue, too. McConnell and Lewis play a pair of star-crossed and surprisingly kinky inflatable Tube Men; you know, those inflatable arm-waving-things outside car dealerships. Black leads a song about being a bad lesbian that turns educational quickly, and there's a Scooby Doo-inspired bit where rapper Shaggy makes a brief-yet-glorious appearance.

The show ends with a bang, as the ensemble travels back to 2019 on their time-travel plane. Numerous interruptions involving flight attendant buttons turns into a rave, featuring one of the most iconic techno songs ever produced and several call-backs to earlier sketches that wrap IF I COULD #THROWBACK TIME up nicely. The focus is on fun, but it's hard to shake the reminder that the past is gone. This revue will make you laugh, sure, but there's the emphasis on taking action now to improve the future for ourselves and the next generations will stick with you well past curtains.

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The Second City's IF I COULD #THROWBACK TIME runs through December 22 at The Second City Mainstage, 51 Mercer St., Toronto.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-citys-mainstage-83rd-revue/

Photo credit: Paul Aihoshi

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