REVIEW: 100 First Kisses @ Ottawa Fringe Festival

100 First Kisses is a sweet and charming story that takes place inside a girl’s imagination. Should you see it?

In 100 First Kisses, a young girl decides to write an essay on her first kiss. But she has a major problem. She’s never been kissed before. So she decides to make stuff up. She comes up with all kinds of scenarios where a boy and girl meet, flirt, date and, eventually, kiss. And as she writes, her thoughts are performed for the audience. The show focuses on the themes of romance, specifically how we build up moments in our head to be grander than they are. The acting and staging is good, but the main draw of the show is the concept.

The show is mainly comprised of comedy, as the scenes that play out are usually goofy and awkward. In one such instance, they implement variations of the old yawn-and-put-your-arm-around-the-shoulder for laughs. Since most of the scenes are represented as the writings of the main character, whenever a scene goes wrong, she erases it and the scene rewinds. It’s one of the show’s primary gags and it is funny, but it is used very frequently with little variation and starts to lose its impact. Another scene that I liked was near the end of the play, where we see one of the fantasies play out similarly to a real event earlier in the play. More scenes like that could have fleshed story out. As it stands, 100 First Kisses is a decent show, with a good dose of comedy and charm to earn it a three.

Allan’s (slightly late) followup:

When asked to write a thousand words on a “first” for school, a young girl  decides to write about her first kiss. Of course, she hasn’t yet had her first kiss so she cycles through a series of imagined first kisses trying to write one she likes. The story is told with the main character at her desk and the characters in her writing acted out by other actors. When she erases what she wrote for not liking it, the actors rewind to the part where she picks up again. When she feels she’s on the totally wrong track, she scraps the page and starts an entirely new scene.

It’s cutesey and light and charming but there isn’t a lot of substance, not that their needs to be - it’s like a root beer float. The allure of the piece comes from the audience relating to many of the scenarios, like going to the movies. There’s a lot of rewinding, which from a story point of view gets a touch tired, but made the audience laugh as they swallowed back their lines and reversed their actions.

The imagined scenes are enveloped by a b-plot between the main character and her best friend, which is the cutesy part that ties everything together. It’s kind of like a chick flick for the stage and great for date night. Light and fun and three.

- by Allan Mackey

 

No photos? Send us one or two and we’ll add them to the article.

Kurt Shantz

About Kurt Shantz

Kurt Shantz is a Theatre and Scriptwriting graduate and an occasional Should You See It reviewer. He currently works as a warehouse clerk, but has big aspirations of someday achieving his dream of becoming a senior warehouse clerk. He's also been known to write on occasion.

Links to this article.

  1. [...] 100 First Kisses — Review by Kurt, followup by Allan (pending) 2020 — Review by Kurt, followups by Allan and Matthew + VIDEO A MacSummer Night’s Dream — Review by Matthew, followups by Allan and Kurt + VIDEO A Report To An Academy — Review by Kurt Aerial Allusions — Review by Kurt, followup by Allan Alien Predator: The Musical — Review by Matthew, followups by Allan and Kurt + VIDEO Breaking Rank! — Review by Kurt (pending), followup by Allan (pending) + VIDEO (pending) Crux: The Musical Review by Matthew, followup by Allan + VIDEO Danti-Dan Review by Kurt, followup by Allan Dead Wrong Review by Matthew, followup by Kurt (pending) + VIDEO Dirk Darrow: NCSSI — Review by Kurt Don’t Make Me Zealous — Review by Matthew, followups by Allan and Kurt + VIDEO Donkey Derby — Review by Allan, follow up by Kurt (pending) + VIDEO Ex Cathedra — Review by Matthew, followup by Allan + VIDEO Fallen: The Book Of Samael — Review by Kurt, followup by Allan Fear Factor: Canine Edition — Review by by Kurt Fishbowl — Review by Kurt + VIDEO FNL: Fringe Night Live — Review by Matthew, followup by Allan Gametes And Gonads — Review by Matthew, followup by Kurt + VIDEO Hard Times! — Review by Kurt (pending), followup by Allan (pending) Heterollectual: Love, And Other Dumb Ideas — Review by Kurt, followup by Allan. Hip-Hop Shakespeare Live Music Videos! — Review by Kurt + VIDEO I’m Not Crying In The Bathroom: I’m Crying In The Supply Closet — Review by Kurt In Waves — Review by Kurt It Is What It Is — Review by Kurt Kuwaiti Moonshine — Review by Kurt Late Night Cabaret — Review by Allan Leftovers — Review by Matthew, followup by Allan (pending) and Kurt (pending) Little Lady — Review by Kurt, followup by Allan Little Orange Man — Review by Allan, followup by Matthew and Kurt (pending) Lonely Bear — Review by Matthew, followup by Allan (pending) and Kurt (pending) + VIDEO Love Bug Louie In A Blessing From The Cursed — Review by Kurt (pending) Mabel’s Last Performance — Review by Mathew Mercutio And Ophelia — Review by Kurt More Power To Your Knitting, Nell! — Review by Matthew, followup by Allan and Kurt + VIDEO Ne Me Quitte Pas, Piaf And Brel: The Impossible Concert — Review by Kurt (pending) Pickin N’ Shtick — Review by Kurt (pending) R U Smarter Than An Irishman — Review by Kurt + VIDEO Space Mystery… From Outerspace! — Review by Allan, followup by Kurt + VIDEO The Boy And The Girl And The Secrets They Shared — Review by Matthew The Fat Guy Show — Review by Matthew, followup by Allan The Open Couple — Review by Matthew The Roommate —- Review by Allan, followup by Kurt + VIDEO The Suicide — Review by Kurt, followup by Allan + VIDEO This Is Today — Review by Allan (pending), followup by Kurt (pending Tis Pity She’s A Whore — Review by Kurt + VIDEO Trashman’s Dilemma — Review by Kurt, followup by Allan (pending) + VIDEO Vernus Says Surprise — Review by Matthew, followup by Allan and Kurt (pending) Wanderlust — Review by Allan What Happens Now? — Review by Matthew (pending), followup by Allan (pending) White Noise — Review by Kurt, followup by Allan + VIDEO Wolves > Boys — Review by Kurt, followup by Allan [...]

  2. [...] just kind of blown by. Did a five-show circuit today. Trashman’s Dilemma was pretty strong, 100 First Kisses, This is today, and Leftovers were various shades of kind of okay. Of course, if you missed some of [...]

What do you think?

We fully encourage discussion and want to know what you're thinking but always remember to keep it civil and don't make any personal attacks against the article author or another commenter.

*