Toronto Fringe Review: The Delightful Chaos of Mistila and the Motlies

The Delightful Chaos of Mistila and the Motlies from Down and Dirty Theatre Co. certainly lives up to its title as a both delightful and chaotic journey to find joy in a dreary world.

Mistila (played by Kat Letwin) has an almost certainly fatal case of weltschmerz (also known as world weariness, melancholy, or clinical depression). Her friends and family band together and go on a quest to find the five ingredients to make the elixir that will cure her.

One of the things that makes this show interesting is the way it plays with mask, clown, and genre. The Motlies are all wearing clown noses at the top of the show, but almost immediately take them off as they are introduced by both their character names and the names of the actors playing them. Mistila is the only one who remains in mask for most of the performance. Every so often, she will flip up her mask and become Kat Letwin again. When Kat is speaking as herself, she serves as both a narrator and a manifestation of Mistila’s anxieties about the state of the world around her. This can be both funny and a little jarring, going from the search for dragonfly laughter to a list of real-world issues.

Mistila and the Motlies might not have the answers to climate change, colonization, or war. But it does encourage us to find hope and joy in our lives anyways, with our friends, families, lovers, and even with death.

The Delightful Chaos of Mistila and the Motlies is on now until July 13 at the Toronto Fringe. Show times and tickets.