Winnipeg Fringe Festival: 2026 show reviews

Not sure what to see at this year's Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival? All of the Free Press’s reviews will be published here.  Find a show and click to read its review.

Fringe a reminder we’re all playwrights and performers in our own lives

On Wednesday evening, in slightly grey weather, I headed for Théâtre Cercle Molière in St. Boniface to take in my first two performances of this year’s Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

The shows could not have been more different. The first, Afeni, was a biographical monologue about Black Panther activist Afeni Shakur, performed by Edmonton’s Onika Henry, who was making her Winnipeg debut. The second, Absolutely Not a Cult, was a wacky dark comedy by a trio out of New York.

It was just the opening night of the 12-day Fringe — so no reviews to guide audiences yet — but already both venues were bustling. Dozens of fans had come to see one of the two shows, based on nothing more than a brief description in the festival program and a hunch.

A spirit of curiosity. A public willingness to embrace the new, the untested, and even the totally unknown. An excitement to go out and discover, with no guarantees of what you’ll find. If you pick a Fringe show at random, it could bore you to death, or it could change your life. These are the qualities that make Fringe great, both on the stage and in the seats.

Author of haunted-venue tale on unique joys of live theatre

Though David Jón Fuller has been called a staple of Winnipeg’s theatre community, it is safe to say that he has spent most his spare time over the last decade writing.

He’s published speculative short fiction in anthologies while polishing longer manuscripts. One novel, set in Selkirk, is about Icelandic huldufólk, trolls and a secret vínarterta recipe, and a second revolves around werewolves and vampires running amok in 1980s North Kildonan and listening to a lot of hair metal.

But Venue 13, the debut novel for Fuller (who works as a Free Press web editor) brings together all his interests: it’s a ghost story set at a BYOV — bring your own venue — production at a fringe festival.

It was released by Turnstone Press just in time for this year’s edition of the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, on to Sunday.

Level up your fringe experience

Before you press start on this year’s fringe, consult someone who has logged serious hours. Whether you are a first-time fringer or chasing another festival high score, these tips will help you play smarter.

Fringe foot traffic gives Exchange shops boost

This year’s edition of the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival has brought a rise in customer numbers, businesses in the Exchange District say, noting more events like it would also improve the area’s safety.

Nominees announced for Rintoul award for top MB play

With the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival headed into its final stretch, the Manitoba Association of Playwrights announced which six original local productions have made the cut for the prestigious Harry S. Rintoul Award, given out each summer to the top new Manitoban play.

Named for the late founder of Theatre Projects Manitoba, the Rintoul Award winners receive a $750 cash prize, while the honourable mention recipient takes home $250 for their creative efforts.

This year’s list features several playwrights who’ve established reputations for critical and commercial successes at the festival, along with a few first-time Rintoul honorees.

For JHG Creative’s Monique Gauthier, Ian Ingram and brothers Cuinn and Connor Joseph, a spot on the Rintoul shortlist is on the menu for Dead Chef, a black comedy musical set at the French restaurant Eau Bouillante which earned a “chef’s kiss” from Free Press reviewer Jen Zoratti. The winners of the 2023 prize for their World’s Fair 1876: The Centennial Exposition, JHG was also the honourable mention recipient in 2024 for their delivery comedy The Mailroom. The Josephs also won the award in 2019 for The Cause.

Bookman brings roving kiosk of literary treasures to fringe

Every superhero has a true identity: Superman is Clark Kent, Captain Canuck is Tom Evans and Wonder Woman is Diana Prince.

Top of the leaderboard: Our five-star fringe reviews

Alexander Mantia, Dead Chef, El Diablo of the Cards 2.0, Eleanor's Story, Erika MacDonald, Evie & Alfie, Goose! Night of the Cobra Chicken, Jimmy Hogg, Middle Child, Our Father, Oversharer, Nat King Cole, 7 Lives of Louis Riel, Evolution of a Broken Heart, The Rocky Horror Show, Tony Wrestles a Stranger, Tymisha Harris

Fringe reviews #16: I need an extra show

Filthy Fakespeare, Just You and Me, The Review, Serious Comedy, This Is, You Are Happy, Real Grilfriend, Push Your Wheelchair

Fringe reviews #15: Button-mashing mayhem

Babel, Chase Padgett, Dirk Darrow, The Glass Between Us, K-Tel Demon Hunters, Mr. Richard, Penny Ashton, Grant Canyon, Rocky Horror Show, Wisecracks for Weirdos

Fringe reviews #14: You’ve earned extra lives

World Peace Through Humour, Emil Amok, Erika MacDonald, Evie & Alfie, The Late, Great Mormon Drag Queen, Mennonite Metamorphosis, Panic A Live Radio Musical, Qualia, Solovela, Your Boring Story

Fringe reviews #13: Achievement unlocked, levelling up

Black Fish, East of Berlin, Green Grab, Rowena Riddle, On Tidy Endings, Saving the Station, The Taming of the Shrew, Nat King Cole, Where We Fly From Hospital Beds

Fringe reviews #12: Game over? Not even close

52 STORIES 

Dave Morris

Théâtre Cercle Molière (Venue 3), to July 26

👾👾👾👾 ½

Fringe reviews #11: Our princess is in another theatre

'80s Commercials, Alexander Mantia's Zucchini Club, The Ballad of Isobel Gunn, Fission, Flunked, Fringe Family Fun Show, One More Time, A Savage Love Story, Story Story Lie, The (Un)Official (Un)Researched History, Unresolved.