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2026 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member: Marjorie Hakala
Company: Third Space Theater
Show: BE NOT AFRAID
Venue: The Southern Theater
some highs and some lows
I enjoyed the more intentional moments of choreography here very much, and the performance and direction of the angel was remarkable. But it felt throughout like some artists' idea of what is probably scary about oil country, without really grounding itself in the culture of those places--there's a kind of vagueness around the whole thing, and I agree with the reviewer who said some more intentional dramaturgy is called for.
Company: The Winding Sheet Outfit
Show: A Confluence of Magical Arseholes
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
Chaos, magic, poetry, dick jokes
Director Amber gives a warning at the top of this show that it isn't going to be as "pretty" as a typical Winding Sheet Outfit show. That's certainly true--somewhat ironically, this show about Yeats is a good deal less poetic than their previous work about nonsense artist Edward Lear, and while it's about spiritualists it's nowhere near as earnestly spiritual as their take on Hilma af Klint. Instead it's a party, with a bunch of English, Irish, and Welsh people of the early twentieth century amusing themselves by screaming profanity at each other, drinking heavily, and performing magical rituals with swords that don't seem designed to accomplish anything in particular. I found this show a bit hard to hear--I was glad I happened to attend an open-captioned performance, as the song lyrics in particular got a bit lost in the Thrust space, and there was a fair bit of crosstalk--and it didn't really go anywhere in particular. I'm not sure we really needed as much meta-about-the-Fringe as we got, either, considering there was no particular drama or narrative arc happening in the meta, and it slowed the show down to pop in and out of the fiction like that. Still, there's only one show where you'll get to see Aleister Crowley hump a sword and George Bernard Shaw pronouncing his middle name seven different ways. It's very clear the company is having fun and wants everybody in the room to have fun too.
Company: an alleged Theatre Company
Show: FAST Death of a Salesman
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
Oddly structured but very funny
This show, as others have mentioned, is lacking an ending--I was at the first performance and we weren't sure whether it was time to applaud--and for being such a relentless exploration of how to engage the youth in theater, I wished the characters had made any progress or learned something on the topic. However, I can't really rate it lower than 4.5 because I laughed SO hard. The auctioneer was one of the funniest, weirdest characters I've seen on stage, and the single "ensemble member" killed it in her attempts to portray all the minor characters in Salesman.
Company: Jake Mierva
Show: I Will Become The Silver Surfer. I Will Protect You.
Venue: Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre
Somebody's gotta save us
Mind the content warnings--this is not primarily a comedy show, and it gets intense--but definitely see it if you're up for something simultaneously personal and absurd. Jake Mierva held the audience in the palm of his hand for a brave, moving performance. Likely the most moving thing I've seen so far this Fringe.
Company: Todd Sullivan
Show: Maniac
Venue: Rarig Nolte Xperimental Theatre
Absolutely bonkers
Hard to sum this up: audience participation improv ritual? Clown work with blessings? A surprisingly well scored mock trial with a theremin? This was truly one of the Fringe-iest shows I've ever seen and I had a wonderful time.