Review: Low Rise Queens at Toronto Sketchfest
Low Rise Queens is a sketch comedy troupe consisting of Anna Smith, Erica Gellert, and Rachel Maclatchie. Together, they bring infectious high-energy to their brand of comedy.
Watching Low Rise Queens perform is kind of like watching a cool group of best friends hang out. Their flow is uncanny and natural, and it’s a tribute to how long they’ve worked together. They pick up and pass along each other’s energy to make a show that is chaotic and hilarious, but also well thought out and put together. Each sketch was a mix of being completely ridiculous and unmistakably millennial. The troupe was refreshing and fun to watch, three young artists honing their craft while supporting each other.
All three women in the troupe brought high energy and big characters, from a disgruntled Bloody Mary, angry about being woken up by two high-schoolers, to a couple of haphazard detectives trying to muddy their way through a case. All three women committed to these wacky characters in a way that brought such an infectious joy, it was hard to look away.
Highlights included MacLatchie singing a rousing parody of “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” from Grease to reflect more modern age problems, and a sketch about the made-up technology “Blacktooth”: a Bluetooth device that sits on your front tooth that the women kept accidentally swallowing while trying to advertise. This sketch blurred the lines of characters and performers in a way that almost felt like you were cheering on the performers running a marathon. This was prefaced by MacLatchie addressing the audience directly that she would be moving away soon, and this was one of the group’s last opportunities to get it right, which added humour and urgency to the end of the performance.
You can catch Low Rise Queens on March 12th 8:00pm at Comedy Bar. https://www.torontosketchfest.com/tscf-troupes/low-rise-queens/
The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival runs until March 15th. Tickets can be bought at https://www.torontosketchfest.com/