Winnipeg Fringe Festival: 2025 show reviews

Not sure what to see? All of the Free Press’s reviews will be published here.  Find a show and click to read its review.

Winnipeg fringe artist tackles death in new storytelling work

It took a near-death experience for one local theatre artist to understand her father’s remarkable capacity to persist.

Menno Kehler seemed invincible, as evidenced by the title of his daughter Leigh-Anne’s latest production at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival.

“You know what the first line is? ‘My father’s heart exploded in the surgeon’s hands,’” the playwright- performer says.

That’s only one harrowing medical episode recounted by Kehler in The Man Who Couldn’t Die, a solo performance that marks the Neubergthal-raised artist’s first original fringe play since 2015.

Fringe reviews #14: The actors identify you as the playwright after the show

Man Who Couldn't Die, Bugjuice, Cliqyou, Improve Show, Jemrolls, Gender Play, Get Laid, Misterman, Outside, Anti Pasta, Seance Sisters, Third Party

Fringe reviews #13: You took the flyer from the mime; there’s no turning back now

52 Stories, After August, Birdcage, Brain, Dog, Fakespeare‘s Macbeth, Against All Odds, Sugarboyz, World Peace, Yesterday Reimagined

Fringe reviews #12: You blink and the clown is closer

Chase Padgett, Divorce Club, Finding Richard Close, The Goose, Sitruc James, Instant Modern Classic, Julius Caesar, Pete Seeger Tribute, Saints & Sinners, Improvised Shakespearean Epic

Fringe reviews #11: Your only way out is through the lighting booth

Untruebadour, Best Friends, Cactus, Daredevils, Gallery Wall, Riot, Show Must Go On, Stories I Won't Tell, Where Does Bob Belong, Wherever You May Be

Fringe reviews #10: A street performer convinces you to join the circus

100% Wizard, Problem of Living, Croakinole & Croakette, If Day, Italian Monday Improv, Late-in-Life Lesbian, Money Fish, Sarah Teakle, Seasons of Love, Story Wizards

Fringe reviews #9: You tread on the boards. If you strut, go to Act IV

Boblin the Goblin, Brain Machine, Debbie Loves Bumblebee, Chosen One, Heart Ripped Out, Puck & Pickle Pub, Dorothy Parker, Probiotic Masculinity, Milk the Cow Myself, You've Been Served

Fringe reviews #7: You misread the venue number. The door locks behind you.

Non-Denominationa Concert, Control, Evil Amok, Funny Thing, Whoopee Kingdom, Multiple Neurosis, Papa Ubu, Randy & Elizabeth, A Spoonful of Magic, Tycho Freaking Brahe

Fringe reviews #8: You decide to exit, pursued by a bear

Bodice Ripper, Chuckle Hunters, Inescapable, Hmong Class 101, Hockey Sticks, Lesbian in the Kitchen, Murder Manor, Odds Are, Shit, The Tempestuous

Fringe reviews #6: You enter the venue and immediately trip over the fourth wall

Cancer Wife, Drag me to the Opera, Houdini, I Hope You Know, Lysistrata, Moms Moms Moms, A Monkey's Paw, Nervous Breakdown in G Minor, Neurohilarity Exposed, Tess Talks.

Fringe reviews #5 : You sit down at the Cube Stage and wake up in the beer tent

The Dirty Bucket Comedy Show, Fiji, Iago Vs Hamlet, Pool (No Water), The Raunchy Romp, Reviewing the Free Press 2, Rob and Jenny's First Date, Shakespeare: Say it!, Small Fish, Stacey-Jean: Life Lines

Fringe reviews #4: You attempt to sneak out but the exit is now part of the set

1 Small Lie, Alana and Kaibo, The Apricot Tree, Berlin Waltz, Eggshells, I Fucked Up and I'm Sorry, Jack Goes to Therapy, The Redmeption of Heracles, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Wuthering Frights

Fringe reviews #3: You’re sinking in quicksand. Someone calls it immersive.

Bob Marley, Crabs Gone Wild, Eleanor's Story, Fanaddict, Glitterbomb, Jimmy Hogg, New Wave Your Behaviour, Oversharer, Rewritten, Singing Psychic Game Show