Jezec Sanders in Where Foxes Lie, Ready Go Theatre at Edmonton Fringe 2025. Photo supplied
By Liz Nicholls, .ca
Fringe Full of Stars goes into its final weekend with shiny news to share. As of Friday noon, the 11-day and night) 44th annual edition of our big 223-show summer theatre bash is already a record-buster.
A Fringe Full Of Stars, Edmonton Fringe 2025
It’s sold 128,000 tickets to 223 indoor shows, already more than last year’s total (127,000) — and the most since the box office stats of the gigantic pre-COVIDian 2019 Fringe, with its 258 shows and 147,000-plus tickets sold. With a full weekend of fringing ahead, $1.3 million is already going home with Fringe artists, who collect 100 per cent of the ticket sales (minus the Fringe surcharge, $5 max). Which is only slightly less than the $1.4 million artist payout at the 2019 monster, and with fewer shows for this dispersal. By Sunday night, it’s likely that this record will be broken, too.
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Meanwhile there are still lots of shows for your last weekend of fringing. What to see? Have a peek at the .ca reviews gathered under the heading Fringe 2025. And consider this little Fringe menu of possibles from the big Fringe buffet. .
Victor & Victoria’s Terrifying Tale of Terrible Things, Edmonton Fringe 2025. Photo supplied
A gem of a two-hander, part 1: a thriller directed and executed with eerie precision in an interlocking pair of uncanny performances. That would be Victor and Victoria’s Terrifying Tale of Terrible Things (directed by Jim Guedo and starring Rain Matkin and Eli Yaschuk). One of my favourite shows. See the review here.
A gem of a two-hander, part 2: Riot!, sharp, interactive comedy from Vancouver’s Monster Theatre about a historic NYC riot centred on an actor rivalry in the live theatre (imagine that!). Cunningly constructed and genuinely funny. Ryan and Jeff Gladstone are charming, and know exactly how to make participation easy and fun. See the review here.
Christine Lesiak and Louise Casemore in Lost Sock Rescue Society, Small Matters Productions. Photo supplied.
A gem of a two-hander, part 3: Christine Lesiak and Louise Casemore commit with hilarious clown intensity (and friction!) to the ne plus ultra of silly premises in The Lost Sock Rescue Society. And they even take a chance on a smidge of pathos. See the review here.
A cunningly crafted solo thriller: Jezec Sanders’ prairie gothic Where Foxes Lie, beautifully calibrated for mounting dread, in Erik Richards’ production. Is there a category in theatre for “soulful horror”? Or ghost story told by a ghost? See the review here.
An impossibly dexterous performance: Damon Pitcher as the ever-hopeful shlepper hero/anti-hero Ray in Zombies, Inc., who has to make his own story as an aspirational careerist stick against the upstaging brouhaha of a zombie apocalypse. He’s the narrator, and he sings the songs, in a whole range of styles, in this unusual new musical. See the review here.
Caitlin Stasey and Hayden Ezzy in A Kind of Electra, The Clown School Company. Photo supplied.
A blistering dramatic performance: Caitlin Stasey as the title character in A Kind of Electra, dangerous and scarily pumped for vengeance, nearly levitating in rage. You feel flung back in your seat.
A re-imagining of the classics: (see above). A Kind of Electra. The Greeks in a viscerally contemporary way. A killer 3-actor production with a scorcher ending you won’t see coming (until you think about it). See the review here.
A new musical with smart and funny lyrics that rhyme: Try Final Girl, new from Straight Edge Theatre, a “horror comedy musical” that’s an homage to teen slasher classics à la Scream. See the review here.
A masterly musical that you can’t see anywhere else: Sondheim’s 1990 Assassins, from a young and talented Uniform Theatre cast, in a lovely reno’ed venue up against dodgy acoustics. Renewed topicality thanks to the idiocy down south. See the review here.
Dayna Lea Hoffmann and Katie Yoner in Rat Academy 2 – Gnaw and Order, Batrabbit Collective. Photo supplied
A very funny, dark-edged and kinda political clown show: Rat Academy 2: Gnaw and Order, in which Fingers and Shrimp, the last two rats in a rat-free province, evicted from their Whyte Ave back alley, attempt to have a home sweet home of their own. Risky, and with hilarious audience participation. Brilliant, and one of my favourite shows at the festival. See the review here.
Sachin Sharms and Shreya Parashar in Colonial Circus: History, Clown-Style, Culture Opus Inc. at Edmonton Fringe 2025. Photo supplied
Something truly weird, fascinating, and experimental: Colonial Circus, in which bouffon clowns step up to do a “brief history of colonialism,” risky, and with unsettling audience participation. You’ll either enjoy its queasiness, or you really really won’t. The “fringe-iest” show I’ve seen so far at the Fringe. See the review here.
And, hey, if you’re foiled, Fringe Full of Stars carries on next week, with holdovers of some of its hit shows…. Check out the holdover lineups at Fringe headquarters and the Varscona here.
