Toronto Fringe Review: Cabaret of Murder

Cabaret of Murder is a showcase of some of the worst writing I have ever seen performed. This isn’t a dig at writer and director Blair Moro: most of the writing is poetry, lyrics, and scripts written by serial killers and murderers. Turns out, killers aren’t very good writers. 

This true crime podcast of Fringe shows features Paulina Pino Rubio, Katie-Rose Connors, and Bella Ciccone, all playing various murderers who have at some point in their lives created art. While a lot of the humour comes from how bad the writing is, the performers big acting choices also brought another level of funny. The first poem performance gave me major vampire vibes, complete with cape. The whole show is campy and clearly not trying to take itself too seriously, while also not making light of the severity of the crimes committed by the people they are performing.

I would be curious to see a longer version where a bit more context is given about the murderers and their art. The format of the show was the performance of a piece of writing, followed by revealing which well-known serial killer it was written by, how many victims are attributed to them, and whether or not they are still in jail or alive. As someone not in the true crime enjoyer demographic, I felt like I missed some of the shows connective tissue.

The show finishes with performances of two short plays written by Cho Seung-hui, the man responsible for the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. The length is the best thing about them. I don’t think I have ever cringed harder in my seat at the theatre. Not only are they disturbing in content, but also in just pure badness.

Dark comedy can’t get much darker than verbatim theatre quoted directly from murderers.

Cabaret of Murder is on now until July 13 at the Toronto Fringe. Show times and tickets.