A fringe festival like no other

Long before COVID, I had a chance to be a Fringe reviewer.

While posted in Ottawa as our parliamentary reporter, my assignment was to take in a show from that city’s festival that would be staged in Winnipeg a week later. In doing so, the Free Press would have a head-start on reviewing all the shows playing in our city.

I don’t remember much about that show, but I’ll never forget the contrast between Ottawa’s fringe festival and the fringe I’d experienced in Winnipeg.

I was practically the only person in the audience at my assigned show and things weren’t much better at the festival’s beer tent. Where Winnipeg’s festival was filled with energy and excitement, Ottawa’s was very much on the fringe and in desperate need of a festive injection.

I mention my Ottawa fringe flashback as the Free Press embarks on this year’s rendition of fringe reviews, a massive undertaking that involves a team of reviewers to take in all 143 plays in a matter of days.

There’s not many papers left in this country with an arts department, let alone one with the ambition and capability to review an entire fringe festival. And in today’s media ecosystem, the fact the Free Press is the only outlet delivering extensive coverage of the Winnipeg Fringe speaks volumes — even if Facebook and Google want to keep you from hearing, accessing or sharing any of it.

It’s no secret the pandemic took a toll on our arts community. By its own admission, this is “recovery year No. 2” for Winnipeg’s fringe which will be operating at about 80 per cent of its pre-pandemic capacity.

Upon review, if comprehensive coverage from the Free Press helps speed that recovery, then our newsroom will have done its job. Again!

Paul Samyn, Editor

Three Savour Manitoba magazine covers promoting a food, drink, and lifestyle publication.

COMING UP

Please fasten your seatbelts, we’re about to take a trip down memory lane. We talk to the ‘boys on the bikes’ who had an extremely close-up view of the Gimli Glider miracle 40 years ago.

With the much-anticipated Barbie movie finally in cinemas, local bars and restaurants are getting into the spirit with pink-hued cocktails. AV Kitching takes a boozy cruise through five bars’ Barbie- (and Ken)-themed offerings in Friday’s arts section.

Eugene Hutz, the Ukrainian-born frontman of the Brooklyn punk-rock group Gogol Bordello, like so many around the world, can’t keep his mind off the news in Ukraine. He knows all about the Ukrainian diaspora in Manitoba, those who’ve been here for years as well as the 20,000 newcomers who have fled the Russian invasion. Alan Small talks to the singer/actor ahead of the group’s Burton Cummings show on Saturday night.

And in sports, tomorrow night the Winnipeg Blue Bombers host the Edmonton Elks at IG Field and the Sea Bears are in Calgary taking on the Surge. On Sunday, FC Valour will host York United at 6 p.m. at IG Field.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

For the National Hotdog Day-inspired edition of Tasting Notes, Eva Wasney embarked on a local “Tour de Chien-Chaud” for the sake of journalism.

After eating a hotdog a day (sometimes two) during this investigation, she shared reviews of the best hot dogs in the city, as well as a sidebar of honourable mentions. You can read about it here.

Driving east on Wilkes Avenue, you may notice a full-scale wooden pirate ship. Resident Doug Cook, inspired by the legendary Captain Cook, custom-built the land-locked frigate, which measures an impressive 23 metres long from stem to stern.

Furthermore, there is an oblong-shaped above-ground pool that rests in the centre of the ship’s main deck. David Sanderson talks to Cook about his new hobby. You can read more about it here.

ONE GREAT PHOTO

Allan Woodhouse (left), Tom Sophonow, Brian Anderson, and Frank Ostrowski outside of the law courts Tuesday. Woodhouse (left) and Anderson were exonerated by Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal, almost 50 years to the day after being charged with the 1973 killing of Ting Fong Chan. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

Iced drink with lime on a wooden surface beside the Savour Manitoba magazine cover.

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ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

Malak Abas:

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