Toronto Fringe Review: White Collars

Mining their shared experience in the corporate marketing world, three comedians explore the absurd lengths we go to feel at home and be seen at our work. Specifically, they mine laughs in toxic office culture and the millennial need to tie our identity to our jobs. 

White Collars straddles multiple comedic forms from improv, crowd work, and sketch, working almost more like an anarchistic pitch meeting than a cohesive structure. It’s not polished but it’s not meant to feel that way - they have to be professional in the office - here they’re just unleashing everything that made them laugh on their lunch breaks.

Each performer brings a different energy from Braedon Banks’ Mark Proksch-ian deadpan, to Arun Kirupananthan’s manic glee, to Maya Cieszynska’s vulnerable playfulness. You are watching besties have fun - you get the feeling that they’re bringing you in on inside jokes they’ve cultivated over their years of friendship.

Long-time fixtures in Toronto’s improv scene, each performer is game and relaxed on stage. Their interactions with audiences lack the polish of stand-up, but their moments of spontaneous discovery won over their opening night audience. While each cast member had a moment to shine, Cieszynska is the show’s backbone willing to expose their neurosis on stage and delivers a monologue that brought the house down.

White Collars is the work of creative people who want to break out of the corporate box that pays their bills. It’s familiar ground to anyone who feels like they sold out their dreams for stability, but it’s also proof that you can do both.

White Collars is on now until July 15 as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival. Find show times and tickets here.