This review of Real Time comes to us from a guest contributor, Johnnie Walker, whose play The Zoo-Keeper's Love Song appeared in last year's Fringe Festival.

The Fringe may be over, but thanks to The Diesel Playhouse, a bunch of Fringe shows are getting short rep runs over the next two weeks. One of these shows is Real Time, so if you didn’t get a chance to catch this fast-paced and pretty hilarious rom-com during the frenzy of the Fringe, you’ve got another opportunity.

A two-person, multi-character show, Real Time tells the story of Jessie and Billy, an internet couple who discover their differences when they meet in real life – he’s a milquetoast computer game designer and she’s just getting out of house arrest for kicking the shit out of some guy in a bar fight she started. The show has a tight script by Matt Alden and often-awesome direction by Murray Utas. The staging of the internet scenes is particularly interesting and inventive. Dan Jeannotte brings amazing range and likeability to his Billy and all the other roles he plays, completely believable as a computer geek or a pot-smoking grandpa. Caitlin Howden never quite inhabits Jessie or any of her other characters with the same ease and confidence, but is far from terrible.

This show is damn funny and provoked me to embarrassing, full-body laughter. It also contains potentially the most accurate depiction of a night at a karaoke bar possible without actually going to a karaoke bar. If you’ve got time next week, check it out. Embarassing laughter is good for you.

Editor's Note: If we were using Rob's ratings, Johnnie maintains that this would get a 7 out of 8. So, for continuity's sake: