Me, My Stuff, and I: show and tell as art form

Powerpoint-utilizing autobiographical storyteller extraordinaire Barry Smith is back with a show that is billed as being about his habit of keeping every record, photo, and scrap of personal information that passes through his life, but is more accurately about his colourful youth spent growing up in backwater Mississippi and southern California.

This show, like his previous offerings, is more casual spoken word than “theatre”,  but is also infinitely more engaging than the average seminar or speech. Structured around the pages of a bizarrely forward looking baby book, Smith’s show is layered with elements of nostalgia, cynicism, and plenty of self-deprecating humour. From a technical standpoint, Smith’s use of the projected image is done skillfully and includes more than a handful of hilarious visual reveals (the photo of his going-away cake is priceless). Me, My Stuff, and I is as close as ‘show and tell’ has ever come to being an art form.

Me, My Stuff, and I is part of this year's Toronto Fringe. For more information go here.