Rachel Jewson

The staging for this show is incredibly unique and quite spectacular. At times, it felt like the staging was all it was, though. The substance of the story I don't think really dug into Odelia's psyche enough. I definitely felt that sometimes we were supposed to be so entranced by the projections that we didn't notice the fact the story was loose and vague. But maybe I'm no better than a toddler with keys getting jingled in front of their face, because my eyes were definitely mostly glued to the shiny things.

10/10, no notes. One of the best things I've ever seen at Fringe, and hands down my favourite this year. I don't want to say too much about it because you really should just go experience it for yourself. Wayne Burns and Izzi Nagel are stars. If you're sensitive, highly recommend you read the trigger warnings. I have no triggers and I'm not squeamish, and there were even times I felt the need to avert my eyes (extremely complimentary).

I liked this show quite a lot! I think as AI becomes more a part of our society, we'll see more and more shows pop up about it. Off the top of my head, I know there's three shows primarily about AI in this Fringe line up (nevermind shows where it's more of a subplot, like Minimum or shows that have used AI in their promotional materials) and that is a not a small percentage at all.

This show really drove home what we're seeing in our society about how AI chatbots enable people with mental health issues to avoid recovery, but it wasn't a flat out criticism of the tool. It also showcased some of the areas where chatbots are genuinely useful tools to human beings. I enjoyed the more nuanced take than we typically see in media and online. Colin A. Doyle also had THE most perfect AI voice, and I loved that they chose to use a live human being for the chatbot, rather than a pre-recorded track.

As a former lifeguard who was very proud of the job, I really enjoyed this show! The guys sitting behind me were also former lifeguards, and I saw multiple people I had guarded with in the past there, too. Lifeguard culture is hard to explain to people who haven't worked it, but most of us take a lot of pride in that job, so much more than you could imagine for a part-time job most people do while they're students and never again.

Kathryn Haggis does a really good job getting this across. I feel like the plot gets a bit lost halfway through, but Kathryn is a great storyteller and I was happy to just sit there and listen to whatever direction she wanted to take us. I'm not sure how much wide appeal there would be for a show like this and I'm not sure that the average Fringe goer would come away enjoying it as much as me, but if the target demographic is people who love(d) lifeguarding, it is definitely succeeding.

This show was SO FUN!! The whole show I'm looking at the actors trying to figure out if they're kids or just really young looking and short adults (I was in the back lol) because I thought there was no way a Fringe show could find 8 incredibly talented kids without a single weak link in the cast, but they sure did! I was blown away by their talent. I always love Ben Kopp's songwriting (not ashamed to admit a Killing Time song has been in my Top 5 songs on Spotify Wrapped in the past...). It's crazy to think that this show had a bigger cast, and imo, was better pulled off, than some of the mainstage Mirvish shows in past years. A must-see for musical lovers.

I think this show has excellent bones but isn't quite there yet. The performers were excellent and it has all the makings of a very memorable, intriguing show.

There were certain things I could see it was going for that it reached for but never quite got there, the main one being the fact that the machismo male characters are all played by women (and I definitely jumped when That One Character entered because it was so jarring). I think to really drive this home, more emphasis on the whole "locker room talk" about how men like this see women was warranted, especially in the wake of multiple hockey team assault scandals in our media lately.

I did find the Scott/Tyler storyline especially well done, though. I think if you grew up in small town Ontario, you know a Scott. Or several.

I felt a little let down from this one after how much I enjoyed Jack Goes to Therapy last year. While sweet, it felt too sweet, like giving me a cavity. Zac Williams is a great storyteller and I was engaged, but everything about the story just felt too clean and straightforward, and I knew the reveal was coming within the first five or so minutes of the show. I do appreciate a queer story without massive trauma and suffering where gay characters just get to be rom-com characters, but to me the story was just missing the beating heart a little bit.

This show really needed to be tightened up. At 60 minutes I think I would've felt more positively about it than at 85.

This show takes place in a dystopian Canada where Doug Ford is Prime Minister. It pokes a lot of fun at his Conservative style politics, but seems like that's about all it does. The whole thing felt more like a gentle teasing of surface level things like Buck a Beer and swallowing a bee.

Where it felt confused to me was the main characters, obviously portrayed as Conservatives, both performed these same politics and yet opposed it because clearly the show was written as a critique of these politics. To me it felt like they couldn't decide whether to commit to making it a show about portraying right wing politics in a satirical way by making the characters unapologetic Conservatives contributing to the problem, like Succession, or making the characters openly condemn these types of politics.

You'll probably chuckle watching the show, but it's really not much deeper than that which is a shame given the show's description feels like it's setting you up for a show about late-stage capitalism and a member of the bourgeoise learning what it's like to survive as a proletariat.

Also, the twist was completely random and I really am not sure where it factors into any of the story.

I saw Galen's Grocer: The Play last year and loved it, it was probably my favourite Fringe show of 2025. I am a musical freak, that said, I wasn't so sure it needed to be a musical. The songs were fun, especially the CEO song, but I think the story actually came across better without the songs. Definitely still worth a watch.

This show was cute and a nice way to kick off my Fringe! Not earth shattering by any means, but the talent was really great!