Commentary

Review: ‘Me and you and the Highland Coo’ charms with heart and humour

August 14, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Joshua Drakes

Over the weekend, the community came alive for Theatre Orangeville’s Summer Arts Fest. Among the standout attractions was Best of Toronto Fringe, a curated selection by Theatre Orangeville of performances from the Toronto Fringe Festival brought directly to town.

One of the featured shows, “Me and You and the Highland Coo” by Happy as a Clam Productions, written and directed by Sara Masciotra-Milstein, stood out.

The play follows Jackie (Brooklyn Melnyk) and Charlie (Amy Ring), two best friends studying abroad in Scotland for reasons left ambiguous at first. Meeting by chance, they quickly form a bond and make a whimsical pact: to take a road trip to Edinburgh and buy a Highland Coo plushie (A Highland Coo is a shaggy Scottish cow).

What should be a simple journey quickly becomes anything but. Their guide, Willow (Jeremy Lewis) — who just might be a mystical highland spirit — works tirelessly to keep the pair’s troubles at bay. Through audience trivia games, music selections, and even Scottish drink tastings, Willow distracts them from the problems waiting for them back home.

Despite Willow’s efforts, unresolved emotions begin to surface. Even Willow’s best efforts can’t stop tensions from finally exploding — and when they do, it happens in a very familiar setting: a Tim Horton’s parking lot. Honest truths spill out, feelings are rekindled, and they set off again, more united than before, determined to reach Edinburgh and claim their prize.

One of the production’s greatest strengths lies in its performances, particularly in how it embraces improv and audience participation. Willow often breaks from the story to engage the crowd — handing out drinks with the flair of a British butler, tossing music lists into the air with dramatic flourish, and sneaking around in LED lights while Jackie and Charlie’s story unfolds. The result feels less like a traditional play and more like a shared story told to a circle of friends, where everyone in the room is part of the experience.

Audience interaction is always a gamble, but here it pays off. By inviting the crowd into the story, the show becomes intimate, unpredictable, and alive.

A great example of this is when Charlie and Jackie debate what a Scottish drink actually tastes like, and Willow appears in the audience with samples for guests to try. Their answers play into the debate onstage.

Ring and Melnyk deliver emotionally diverse performances. Jackie and Charlie are both avoiding problems, but in very different ways: Charlie is ready to face hers, while Jackie fears coming to terms with hers, going so far as to subtly sabotage the trip to prolong their time together.

What begins as small diversions — like a “no phones” rule — builds into overt deception and misdirection. The shift is so gradual that the audience doesn’t fully realize it’s about to boil over until it happens, and when it does, the tone changes instantly. Lighting cools, the room falls silent, and the comedy falls away to stark tension.

Neither character is entirely in the wrong, yet neither has been willing to confront the truth until this breaking point. The moment feels painfully real, and instead of breaking audience immersion, it draws them in even further: Will they reconcile? Will the trip end here?

Behind the scenes, the production’s ingenuity shines. Toronto Fringe venues offer little storage, so Happy as a Clam Productions had to keep everything portable and multi-use.

The main set — the front of a car — is mounted to a wheeled shoe rack, transforming into a bar table or scenic backdrop in seconds. Props are minimal but made unforgettable through performance: a music list flung open midair, an easel repositioned to mimic travel, drinks served with theatrical flair.

With so few physical elements, the cast’s energy and creativity fill in the rest, turning small objects into larger-than-life moments full of laughs.

In the end, “Me and You and the Highland Coo” delivers far more than a quirky road trip story. It’s a heartfelt, interactive emotional ride — one that blends laughter, tension, and genuine human connection — and it’s well worth seeing.

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