Sub-Total
2025 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: John Slaight
Company: an alleged Theatre Company
Show: The Temporary Tattoo Trio
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre
Innovative; well done
This is an excellent play about friendship and time and how things can slowly go sour. It’s well written and acted, with a crowdwork element that heightens the emotional heft of a friendship disintegrating under the pressure of growth and adulthood. An excellent work from a company I’ll keep an eye out for in the future.
Company: Melancholics Anonymous
Show: Joan of Arc for Miss Teen Queen USA
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
Glittering, funny, had real depth.
This is a highly original spin on Drop Dead gorgeous. The pageant queens felt more fleshed with more real seeming motivations, the acting and the writing was very funny. The show went between moments of restrained emotions and some straight up ham at all the right times. Joan of Arc was an excellent straight woman in the pageant chaos. I liked the mix of comedy and some good and poignant moments. I enjoyed this shows immensely, and like so much this Fringe, it is worth your time.
Company: Wheeler In The Sky
Show: In The Garden Of American Heroes
Venue: The Southern Theatre
Mesmerizing, layered performance
This starts with the performer entering as George Custer with some inflections of Vegas Elvis, and keeps its foot on the gas from there. A by turns erudite and raw exploration of the ugly power of myth in American history, delivered with delicate skill and great power. This show is searing and very funny by turns. I saw it the last night; if history is any guide (wink) this will go up somewhere else in town. Go to it.
Company: MDV Productions
Show: Final Dress
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
Glorious show
I was fortunate enough to catch the last night of this. Brilliant work; was a masterclass at being willing to stay in the strong emotions without either going ham, or deflecting with funny. The guest director reminded me of a game master, slowly ratcheting up the dilemma for his players. I particularly liked the way they made and managed the under current of tension between the characters. See them at other venues after the festival!
Company: Snikt! Bamf! Thwip!
Show: Invasive Species or: In Space No-One Can Hear Your Steam
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
Uneven, great puppets
I think that this form does not simply award five kitties with a lick but allows one to select a number for a reason. This show had some fine actors giving it their all, and I thought the blocking helped tell the story in a quietly understated way. The puppet props were legit great. I liked the songs. Sometimes a show does not cohere; no matter how hard the creative talent behind it tries, or how proven that talent may be. There is no shame in the attempt; and I can appreciate and respect that people who like horror or the Alien series might get some real joy out of this production.
Company: Ryan Klima
Show: Ping Prov
Venue: The Southern Theatre
High energy laughs from the quality.
Fun, fast paced improv concept, from smooth and solid performers. The night I saw it, they were willing to play with some edgier themes, but in a way that did not seem at all aimed for shock value or cheap exploitation. The form, where the performers has to throw a ping-pong ball in a cup, gave the whole thing a zany energy I enjoyed. I enjoyed this; a delightful hour of my Fringe!
-2025-06-29-12-48-22.png?Action=thumbnail&Width=600&Height=400&algorithm=fill)
Company: SAATH
Show: Manasu - Echoes of the Mind
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
Original, Off the beaten path, poignant!
This play was tight; and also rich. The person who called it a “Black Forest Cake” is correct, sad I didn’t think of that description my self. Good writing, superb characterization, and continued this Fringe’s trend of the message plays also being good theater that was a pleasure to watch. In general, I appreciate that relative minimalism of sets and props at Fringe; Manasu was nice bit of variety as the production seemed to view the quick load in and load out time of Fringe as no reason not to dress a proper set. I also loved the writing. Found family and non-traditional family structures rarely get addressed from this angle, about the ties that still bind us, however people may wish for a lack of friction. There was also an authenticity and emotional depth to the actor’s performances, and not simply glib platitudes. Excellent play I regret not seeing sooner. I had been unaware of SAATH before this; a near criminal lapse on my part that I plan to correct!
Company: LandmanLand
Show: A Sad Carousel 2: The Timely Death of Herschel Douscheburg
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
Lively, well executed inside baseball.
I get the feeling that if I’d been around Fringe before the pandemic much more than I was, I’d call this a 4.5. I think that this was still a very well done production, because I found it funny and enjoyable even though half the jokes were ones I was not inside baseball enough to get. I get the feeling that this is a show that rides the line of actually good satire of its targets, but from a place of affection and regard. This show could have been a license to make semi-deserved, but prone to going stale zoomer jokes; or a license to say terrible things. It wasn’t, to it’s great credit; where I really liked this show was it’s willingness to put out it’s old down puncher character, it’s young hand raisers, and let the limits of each speak for themselves. The performers were all quite excellent, and made for a lively show that never felt long.
Company: SUPERMOON
Show: All Your Shimmering Gold
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
Amazingly innovative theater
I was told this play was good. This was inaccurate, it is in fact great. This was pushing the bounds of what could be done with staging and writing and set up at Fringe. I almost hesitate to say that it had political themes; political shows at Fringe have a certain reputation for a reason. But it is, in a way that elevates the play by bringing in real dreadful powers to Das Rheinegelt. It’s also opera. And it’s very funny. And the political side is raw and powerful, and not simple hand-raising. (Though between this and Abortion Chronicles, this has a been a good year for actual message that is actual theater.) It’s also gut-bustingly hilarious when it’s funny, which is often.
Company: Jennifer Vosters
Show: Songs Without Words (or, The Mendelssohn Play)
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
The hype undersells this.
I am rarely at a loss for words, but I was after this show. Dazzling doesn’t do it justice. Ms. Vosters puts on a tour de force of acting; the transitions between the two characters are remarkably subtle while being instantly apparent. The shifts between humor and pathos are smooth and sure, and a potentially niche or dry subject becomes so fleshed out and alive it’s almost painful. I didn’t think sheet music was going to be the best used prop I saw this Fringe, but here we are. This is what theater can be, and it was a privilege to get to see it. I’d only temper my recommendation to see it with a caution that the last show is sold out, so getting one of the remaining held tickets is your only option here. Please do not go feral in the box office line.
Company: Lady Z Productions
Show: The 4 “W”s and the “H” of Murder
Venue: Mixed Blood
Cooks when it cooks
This show for me belonged to two different venerable Fringe genres: the show I’d love to see the 90 minute version of, and the show that was a great deal of fun in spite of it’s unevenness. A great deal of this show works. I enjoyed the conceit of using a true crime podcast to do what seemed like a procedural/courtroom drama. I loved the examination of the pathologies of true crime, and I thought the ad reads hysterically funny. It explored other lifestyles with grace and sympathy. The send ups of the “reenactments” were glorious, full Unsolved Mysteries-grade dreck delivered by actors who are *cooking*. Actors acting about acting is a special skill set this cast crushed, and I thought the way the victim’s partner didn’t do the expected portrayal of grief was a quietly bold choice. The witnesses and the one host were delightfully daffy. I have had less fun at better polished shows, and I’d love to see another version of this in the future with the connective tissue in place between the excellent concepts.
Company: Kalal Productions
Show: GUNS! the Musical
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Ambitious, flawed.
Ambition in theater is what Fringe is for. A show going beyond crowd pleasers is commendable. It is clear that this show is conceived with a righteous rage about US gun culture, and how we go to avoid facing the need to act. It is attempting an Airplane style of absurdism and heightened reality, and when it hits this is pretty funny. It has a charismatic cast that landed some funny and clever lines; the two parents in particular were very good, and the doctor and the reporter were hysterical. I wanted very much to like this, but I’m forced to call this show a misfire. It suffers from some good lines going stale due to over call back, with the absurdism turning into a security blanket of winking irony in places. In trying to do more, the show ended up getting in some its idea’s way and doing less. The instruments often overwhelmed the lyrics. This show is trying, and has some clever ideas and good talent at all levels. The producer’s commitment to paying his cast is commendable. Regardless, I don’t think it landed..
Company: Paper Soul
Show: Boxcutter Harmonica
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
An Innovative Use Of The Two Person Form!
This is a long meditation on artistic integrity and drive, at least that’s what it seemed like to me. It’s a highly innovative way of putting two performers on the stage, in a way that needs to be seen to be truly appreciated. I think that it was a joy to see what seemed like a lecture to turn into a more passionate, individual meditation, methodically building the blocks of the performance. I think this shows plays with the 4th wall in some new and fascinating ways, and it’s willing to cut quite close to home, at some of the motivations of artists more peculiar to the local scene. I particularly liked the pacing, not racing anything, and not rushing once the thrust of the show became clear, instead building to the tragic conclusion. I think this verged on being too clever for it’s own good at times, but saved itself in the end.
Company: Richie Whitehead
Show: The Wickie
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance
An art form I had not yet O-seeen
This show was amazing; I think what struck me along with the range of the actor’s movement was the ease and confidence with which they sat within their own performance. I think this show used pauses amazingly well, amongst all the other things. The anticipation in the room was palpable during each of them. That the crowd work was so integral to the show in a way that showed great confidence. The space work was done very well, and was very funny. I thought the show had some poignancy amidst the laugh. It also achieved the rare Fringe feat of a one person show which had nothing to say about the performer’s own trials. I feel like I’ve learned more about clown this Fringe than I knew before. I like that fact, and it’s been revelatory.
Company: The Winding Sheet Outfit
Show: The Spirit Moves You To Color The Unseen
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
Stylized and purposeful
I had no idea what this show was going in; by pure good fortune I was talking about the movie Picnic At Hanging Rock with a friend right before the lights came up. I feel like that prepped me for the dream like blend of color and languid movements, slowly building a story, this show had. This show introduced me to some of the wildly weird history of the fin du seicle; I thought the actors brilliantly threaded the needle between the shows very stylized structure and the sometimes very raw and real emotions of the characters. I’d had no idea that such art came out of the Theosophist movement, and I was poorer for it. The acting in this show was a particularly fine, well delivered in an unusual set up.
Company: Nightfall Productions
Show: Hamluke
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
The way adaptations should be done
This surprised me! I usually think that the pop-culture riff shows age about as well as milk or Dr. Horrible, but I enjoyed this show immensely! A lot of that is due to the formidable talents of the cast on stage. It’s also due to the excellent blocking, the lovely props and costuming choices, and the way in which the newer source material was woven into the older source material. It’s reference heavy, but it’s never SEE, I REFERRED TO THE THING YOU FIND FUNNY; the references are in places that often amplify the humor, like who exactly are brother and sister, so the meld becomes a bit of its own thing. It’s also a master class in how to repeat a joke without beating it to death, which I found refreshing. Also, the play within a play is funny and adorable, and the Jawa “players” nearly commit grand theft Fringe show. You won’t be disappointed if you watch this show, and will leave smiling.
Company: Madlads Productions
Show: Academonic
Venue: Mixed Blood
Not to be missed, excellent.
No frills, no gimmicks, original story - this is a straight up, old school one act play. Academonic is more innovative than it looks Faust story for the modern era. This was an excellent play, a tight little gem of great competence in writing and acting with no weak points. Everything works very well, and the parts that work extremely well (the protagonist, the flesh hungry carpet demon) shine within that. Some of this is the little, less noticeable bits of craft - the transitions on a bare stage, the spare but effective sound effects provide the frame for the protagonist’s charisma and ability, and the antagonist doing a sort of vaguely Jeffrey Combs-voiced carpet. I particularly thought the writing did a wonderful job of building the structure in non-showy way. Highly recommend; I’d say not to be missed.
-2025-05-02-11-18-31.png?Action=thumbnail&Width=600&Height=400&algorithm=fill)
Company: Ethan Nienaber/ GJ Media
Show: What We Wore
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
Multi-layered treat; well executed
The performer has a social media presence and a book; which I hadn’t known going in. All one person shows are self-revelatory of the performer; this one found a new and unique way to do so. The clothes are glorious, the point that clothes say so much about societal context is a message that people I know I know have heard before. What makes this show great is that it goes deeper and darker. Context is good, and context runs deep. Ms. Jones repeats some of her social media vignettes, and then, through lighting and vocal changes, drops into a more real space in a way that I think is more subconsciously impacting than the audience initially realizes. This show was both charming and challenging, and turned when I thought it would twist in a way I appreciated. It’s an elegant, glittering phillipic about our society - and if you don’t know what a phillipic is, I promise you’ll experience when if you see this show and be better for it.
-2025-06-01-23-20-32.png?Action=thumbnail&Width=600&Height=400&algorithm=fill)
Company: Special When Lit
Show: Fangs and Bangs (and Sangs)
Venue: The Southern Theatre
Vulnerability. Funny, Sexy, Vulnerabilty.
This is a gloriously funny, very genuine twist on the “let’s explore my childhood show.” The producer narrates the context of her earliest writing as set up for what happens next, which is actors cold reading them. Said writings are sexy vampire fan-fiction, and a short play about her first kiss. It was very funny to watch good actors perform these; and I think it was an new and original way for a performer to show the road they’d traveled. I laughed very hard; I can’t say I’d be brave enough to do that. The readings were divided by some nicely done renditions of 90s, aughts pop, which tug the heartstrings if you were there. For the youth, “writing on floppy disks” is what we did before TikTok.
Company: Kelly Shuda
Show: OPERA PUNKS
Venue: The Southern Theatre
Funny, innovative, supremely confident!
They improvised entire musical numbers as they go. That’s the concept. And they landed them. As someone with a… discrete… singing talent, I am very impressed by those with lots of it. And it’s fun, and it works, and the people doing it do it with some excellent comic timing, while singing. Improvised singing while *on mic*, a thrilling level of confidence. This is a talented, fun, cast, who quite literally pulled straight up opera out of… thin air… at one point. Also rap that was not (particularly) cringe. As well as a host of other genres. Some of the most fun I’ve had at Fringe.
Company: Wet Splat
Show: MicroMedics
Venue: Strike Theater
Skillful, polished improv.
This is a new improv show from some rising stars of the local improv scene, and it’s hilarious. Imagine the tiny submarine in Incredible Voyage, but it’s also the Loveboat. This works due to the tremendous skill and charisma of the cast. Helped by some sharp outfits. This show is funny without going for cheap laughs, which I really like, and going for a more relational style of comedy, which I really, really like. Had a blast.
Company: Octoberdandy Productions
Show: Clown Funeral
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Very funny, and still brought tears at the end.
If your vision of clowns is birthday parties or crappy jokes from the pick-me cool kids of 2010’s social media, you’d miss what a funny art form this is. It’s a heightened abusurdism and commentary on every day life, delivered through heightened version of clothing and deliberate conversational miscues. It’s very funny when it’s done by pros; as it is here. In a theme of my fringe so far, it’s gloriously confident in it’s own silliness. This show had great humor, pratfalls, and some excellent crowd work. Loved it.
Company: Comfort Zone
Show: Comfort Zone Presents: CHEMISTRY
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Good clean improv
This is an improv show; featuring a very experienced duo in the local scene. This is a funny and fairly whimsical show; characterized by as usually by how quickly and smoothly the performers pass the action back and forth, and each of their real gifts at comedy. This show is long on the zany, it earns it by committing to the absurdity. This show is a great deal of fun, and will have you leave it smiling. My Fringe would have been the worse for missing it.
Company: Destiny Davison
Show: DOLLY WHO?'S HOLIDAY HORROR SHOW
Venue: Open Eye Theatre
Out of the Box, Cool-Weird theater
This show is delightfully, welcomingly weird. This is a one person show about horror movies and holidays, and also I think existential dread and aging. There is dancing, puppets, cartoons, and a good use of recordings. Davison’s movements and facial expressions may be the secret sauce here, but it’s all very good. I’m struck by how I’m having a hard time putting the exact show into a sentence, but I can say that it was funny and a bit cathartic all at the same time; endearing without being saccharine. I think that it had less chaos than the illusion of chaos; less frantic than it could have been, and strangely reassuring without seeming too twee. I’m recommending a lot of shows this year, I realize. Standing by it; the theater gods have been with me this Fringe.
 (1200 x 800 px)-2025-05-14-21-01-28.jpg?Action=thumbnail&Width=600&Height=400&algorithm=fill)
Company: Katherine Warmka
Show: Romeo and Juliet: Lottery Style
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Bold, innovatively done classic.
I deeply enjoyed this. The conceit is that except for Capulet, who functions also as the chorus, the four person cast randomly draws for roles and then puts on abbreviated Romeo and Juliet. I think this show works because of the casts proficiency in performing Shakespeare in a colloquial style; no Great Actor voice was heard, the dialogue flows naturally, as it will from someone who knows their stuff. Trippingly off the tongue indeed. It’s also a wonderous flex, because this means the whole cast is off book for *every role.* I think that the one asterisk is the Chorus; the same actor is great as Capulet and working the audience at the beginning. However, as the Chorus, he’s unintentionally distracting when he was echoing many of the signature lines of the play. I have assumed that there was a planned purpose for this, it was not evident to me. It’s the one flaw on a show worth seeing: the edit is tight, the use of the round theater is excellent, and there is the special joy of seeing this play with a cast that is doing the opposite of stilted.
Company: Third Space Theater
Show: Breach
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Dazzling, Innovative, Wonderful
This play was stunning; best of what has been overall a very good Fringe so far. The writing was brilliant, sketching half a dozen real characters, escalating the tension to an unbelievably good dramatic conclusion, all in an hour. This play used the round space wonderfully, and to escalate the sense of chaos on a pitching fishing boat. The lights were a large addition to the story, as was the sound design, which helped ratchet up the feeling of otherworldly tension. The acting performances were all particularly fine, and very well calibrated, delivering a ton of emotion without going over the top. People were standing at the performance I was at, and I do not think that is likely to be a fluke.
Company: Mermaid Productions
Show: The Abortion Chronicles
Venue: Rarig Kilburn Theatre
Understated and Massively Powerful.
This was poignant, heartfelt, and very real play. The narratives of different women’s abortion experiences was presented with respect and real power. The contours of how the decision is shaped by everyone’s circumstances was very authentic. This play threaded the difficult needle of delivering a message without seeming at all preachy. Now more than ever, this is a play worth seeing.
Company: The House in the Woods
Show: Neon Breeze
Venue: The Southern Theatre
Daring, ambitious theater.
Right up front; I enjoy wordplay and fun linguistics. Neon Breeze is set in a cyberpunk future; the costumes and sets are innovative and really sell the the premise. The centerpiece, daringly, is a futuristic street slang composed of a rhyming mix of English and German, and possibly more. I found this pretty easy to follows after a minute or so; the actors inflections and performances more than ably helped get my mind into the twists of the language. The acting performances were strong, they played the alien-ness of the setting straight, and the plot brought the characters to a good dramatic conclusion. All the elements came together well, and I’d highly recommend seeing it.
Company: Michael Quadrozzi
Show: Against My Will
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
Heartfelt, brutal, and shockingly funny!
Against my will stands out for the quality of the writing and the acting. It’s a very insightful take on the impulses and forces that drive us and create us, with some hilarious observational humor throughout. The writing was a cut above. What was remarkable was the relaxed poise with which Quadrozzi flowed between characters, and delivered some very heavy material. The show succeeded in being about pain without being overwhelmed by it, or seeming the least bit exploitative or button pushing.
-2025-06-27-04-08-34.jpg?Action=thumbnail&Width=600&Height=400&algorithm=fill)
Company: JexArzayus Productions
Show: La Tunda: A Reimagining of a Colombian Folklore
Venue: Mixed Blood
Folklore and message and heart.
This show was a delight. Colombian folklore with a modern setting. Pacing was wonderful, building the world in the first half and then rising to an unexpected resolution in the second. The actors all committed to be what for some of them was some difficult scenes to portray; the comedy is funny, the dramatic scenes are delivered with skill and emotion. This show has both heart and skill. The jokes are funny, the dramatic parts land; it all works together in a way that elevates all of it. This show was delivered with a quiet intensity that heightened every part of it. It does not wrap a protective blanket of irony around its humor and its message; it doesn’t wink at the audience, and was better for it. That authenticity and heart allowed it to blend in lines that could have seemed preach-y in a way that improved the show as a whole. I could have seen how this show could have been even richer with another 20 minutes; that it was dramatically complete, in an hour, is a real achievement for a show discussing some heavy issues. I would recommend this to anyone who wanted both drama and comedy in their hour.
Company: Michael Rogers
Show: That Which Is Green
Venue: The Southern Theatre
Catharsis, laugher, skill, and some lovely songs.
This is a hard show to summarize, for one that seemed beautifully intuitive and heartfelt on the stage. It’s a duo about two men names Kevin; it’s about memory and nostalgia and failed love and lost faith. Or about the way were were raised and the paths along the way. Or about a tree. Or about a dinosaur Grinch. The point is that this is a gorgeously written show, performed by two actors who are playing off each other wonderfully well. The acting is excellent, the use of the Southern’s large space is innovative, there’s an element of minimalism to the single piece of scenery that works very well. This could have been very saccharine, and instead it was quietly profound and moving, without seeming exploitative or extreme. Not to be missed.
Company: The Bearded Company
Show: Dice of Destiny: Neon City
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Funny as heck, delivered with polish.
This was an excellent and enjoyable show! Neon City is an improv show put on by the Bearded Company, and for the ‘provs reading this, I have already said enough. Why that is so is because this is a group of very funny performers who go well beyond the old comedy tropes and find new ways to something hilariously funny in situations where they are the mercy of the narrator (GM). It’s an 80s action movie, but also cyberpunk, put on with gleeful absurdity that never shrinks from committing to the bit. The joy of watching un-showy excellence in action (except when it is quite showy.) This is a group of people with a near inhuman ability not to break (mostly), even if things get wild. The special comedy of people delivering wacky lines with complete conviction has a Naked Gun feel that I like. Critically, this is not a group that requires itself to be outrageous or button pushing to get a laugh; it’s simply really funny stuff, well executed, by people who think very fast on the fly. The ability of these performers to shift gears with a level of certainty that could have you think they wrote it out is impressive. This is a highly enjoyable show that I greatly enjoyed.