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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS <\/p>\n
Fringe festival posters and sandwich boards line the sidewalk along Market Avenue beside the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. <\/p>\n
Reviewees, and their outspoken fans, understandably sometimes feel that reviewers get things wrong. That was echoed in last year\u2019s Reviewing the Free Press 2 by comedian Benji Rothman, which razzed the paper for its perceived biases and inconsistencies.<\/p>\n
But the truth is, on the whole, the Free Press reviews this year were very positive. Of 160 reviews, we handed out only one lower than two stars. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests our reviews average closer to 3 1\/2 stars.<\/p>\n
Were reviewers pulling their punches? Or is the quality of DIY theatre just getting that much better?<\/p>\n
I freely admit to having a soft spot for certain types of blatantly amateur shows. A 45-minute play (I\u2019m inventing here) with a name like Star Wars: The Neck-bearded Musical Improv sounds like a dorky delight to me.<\/p>\n
I also noticed or saw far too many \u201cmemoir-style\u201d shows this year, in which ordinary people with oh-so-ordinary lives insisted on treating theatre as public therapy. I have less patience for these, but it takes tact to convey this without seeming to dismiss a performer\u2019s personal struggles.<\/p>\n
But I was also a little disappointed by the lack of truly preposterous shows this year, the sort bound to polarize audiences and critics \u2014 shows like Ian Mozdzen\u2019s infamous Viennese actionist-inspired 2013 Hollywood Hen Pit, which featured not one, not two, but three mayonnaise enemas and which was give zero stars<\/a> by Free Press reviewer Wendy King.<\/p>\n Or a pilloried 2006 \u201cvariety show\u201d that invited audience members up to perform, but without offering them instruments, backing tracks or anything beyond a blank stage. The host spent most of the show pleading in vain for audience members to come onstage.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a saying I heard at this year\u2019s fringe that\u2019s stuck with me: \u201cSee a five-star show, and you\u2019ll talk about it for a few weeks. See a one-star show and you\u2019ll talk about it forever.\u201d<\/p>\n The five- and the one-star shows indeed share a spiritual affinity. Both tend to be shows where a performer has taken a big creative risk, knowingly or not \u2014 and failed or succeeded dramatically.<\/p>\n One such show is Jean-Fran\u00e7ois, plus que parfait, by Winnipeg playwright Daniela Smith-Fernandez. There\u2019s no elevator pitch that can possibly capture its essence, but its bonkers elements include an X-rated French grammar book, a magic penis with the power to transform anglophones into francophones, and a sex cult that works for L\u2019Acad\u00e9mie fran\u00e7ais.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS \t Blair Moro promotes his show, CULTS, at the Fringe Festival kickoff at Old Market Square on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Free Press 2026<\/p>\n This parody of government bureaucracy and Franco-Canadian linguistic puritanism won\u2019t resonate with everyone, even with its English subtitles. But its concept stood out as one of the most original I\u2019ve ever seen at the fringe, and I awarded it 4 1\/2 stars. I strongly hope a Canadian theatre further develops it.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Another show I wish I\u2019d seen was Dan\u2019s Inferno. It really didn\u2019t work for the assigned Free Press reviewer, but it sounds to be made of the same absurd stuff that piques my interest: an asexual straight man travelling through the nine circles of Gender Hell, a \u201chate crime\u201d fight between Batman and a non-binary ghost, and an incel convention.<\/p>\n Whatever else might be said about them, all the shows described are non-conformist. The economy of fringe, especially for touring acts, can be unforgiving and this may create a strong temptation toward safer, more middle-brow work. That\u2019s fine, but the most memorable shows usually buck this.<\/p>\n At the same time, reviewers need the courage to risk unpopularity by firmly, and without being a jerk, saying when the results don\u2019t work for them. And, thankfully, as Hollywood Hen Pit or last year\u2019s Shit: the Musical\u2019s cult status and polarized responses remind us, a bad review is not the kiss of death.<\/p>\n More likely faint praise is.<\/p>\n conrad.sweatman@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Conrad Sweatman Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for\u00a0outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad.<\/a><\/p>\n
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