From July 3rd to 14th, Supermarket in Kensington Market was the host to an immersive theatre performance, as part of the 36th annual Toronto Fringe Festival. 

The venue was only entirely fitting.

The production, "86 Me: The Restaurant Play" is set in a fictional Kensington Market pub, Our Lady Kensington.

"Supermarket I think really represents Kensington Market," says the show's director and playwright, Jackson Doner on the choice of venue. 

The play set out to be an ode to Kensington Market and the service industry. It follows the tumultuous relationships between staff members and one new arrival's mission to save the failing bar, which has just been bought out by a large corporation. 

Doner pulled from his personal experience working as a bartender when writing "86 Me."

"I've probably been through everything in the play," he jokes.  

Doner explains he sought to make full use of the unconventional venue, "There's a lot of things that you can't do in a union house that you can do in a bar venue. The show is all about using the room and certain immersive aspects to make everybody feel like they are a community and that they are sharing an experience by the end."

This was definitely not your typical theatre experience. Upon arrival, I was asked for my name and the daily, food-related password included with my ticket information, in order to gain entry to the venue. 

Audience members nestled into a restaurant-style seating arrangement of tables and chairs scattered throughout Supermarket's back room.  

Foam balls were shot over our heads. Actors wiped down spots on tables right in front of us and sat among members of the audience. 

Audience members were encouraged to interrupt the performance at any point to order a drink from the actors.

Cups were set out on the tables to toss a coin in whenever the audience found something funny or a moment resonated. There was even an interactive segment where members of the audience were asked to tap cutlery along to the tune of a song. 

This led to some funny improvised moments based on organic audience interactions. 

"Once you let actors and audiences in [an unconventional venue] a lot of that stuff just happens, because people become inspired by such a cool space," Doner explains.  

Amongst the laughs, Doner manages to weave in traces of social commentary. "There's a community of industry people and community spaces in Toronto that are really disappearing. We especially right now seem to undervalue our front-of-house service workers," he says.

The play's name speaks to this. The restaurant slang "86," is defined by leading man, Zach (played by Luke Kimball of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child") as "to kill, to eradicate, to escape."

"[Service workers] have some of the greatest risks of health issues and addiction. It's really hard to do what they do, but they provide a really valuable service to us," Doner explains. 

"86 Me: The Restaurant Play" perfectly captured the Kensington Market community—from the Jimmy's coffee cups used as props, to Marianne McIssac's spot-on portrayal of a Kensington bar regular, to the musical number by Our Lady Kensington's resident DIY band.  

The hilarious and engaging theatre experience was a wonderful homage to the essential employees that keep our favourite businesses afloat.