The Buzz – Reviews

East of Berlin

Glitter & Sawdust—Tom Hendry Warehouse

I went into this not knowing what to expect. The cast and crew listed was already enough to get me in the door and boy was it worth it. Stellar performances by all three. The amount of dialogue memorized as well as little mannerisms thrown in, makes every one of them unique. Don’t let the 90 minute time sway you, the show is so well put together everything flows perfectly from the minute it starts to when it ends. This show is only going to Thursday SO CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!!!!! Great job team.

Joel Passante

Babel

Geräuschbiest—West End Cultural Centre-Ventura Hall

The Tower of Babel story in the Old Testament (for those of you who read the Bible) is a familiar one, where the people attempt to build a tower to reach the heavens and God themselves, before the deity confuses their languages, and the tower collapses in absolute confusion. The Riel Gentlemen’s Choir (clad in carpenter’s denim and tools) bring that story to life with song and with wood. The musical instruments they use look like they were hewn from the forest itself, and the choir builds the tower on stage using planks – before it descends into madness. The power of the men’s voices and the power of the visual marry into something I’ve never seen before. It’s a true original, and a show truly worthy of the Fringe. And my praise.

Karl Eckstrand

Jon Bennett: AMERICAN’T

2Hoots Productions—aceartinc.

Veteran Fringe story teller Jon Bennett recounts life as a touring performer, spending years on the road, and how that was all brought to a sudden stop with the Covid pandemic.

How do you ‘Go home’ if you haven’t had a physical home for many years? How do you deal with family that now seem so different? What is the mental and emotional toll of having your entire life and identity ripped from you? He answers these questions with his usual hilarity and candid openness. He hits some very low points, but manages to get through it. It is an incredible and strange journey he took, and well worth the visit.

Murray Hunter

Paper Fathers: Shadows and the Songs We Leave Behind

Tilted Hilton Productions—The Gargoyle Theatre

Tim Hogue has been a familiar face at the Winnipeg Fringe for a long time, as a volunteer and performer. This is his Fringe debut as a writer, a one-man show about his life as a father and the father he never knew. It also parallels his life with the vaudeville performer Cliff Edwards (you might remember him as the voice of Jiminy Cricket) and how they converged and diverged; how they reconciled their performing career with fatherhood proves to be vastly different. It’s a solid, heartfelt debut from Tim – ukuleles are optional.

Karl Eckstrand

Sweat

Manitoba Underground Opera—John Hirsch Mainstage

Manitoba Underground Opera presents a sharp contemporary work that is, simply put, pro-level opera. From its innovative set, evocative lighting, and vivid costume design to its dynamic staging and brilliant performances, Sweat is an outstanding production. If you’ve never been to the opera, make this your first; it is an accessible and engaging story and a wonderful introduction to the genre.

The percussive quality of the score supports the powerful lyrics so perfectly that you might forget operas usually come with accompaniment. Every minute of this performance is visually and aurally spectacular.

Sweat gave me shivers in 38-degree weather, and I don’t care if that’s punny. You won’t find many opportunities to enjoy such a well-executed and technically accomplished opera for $13, so you’d be best to get a ticket while you can.

Ashley Frantik

The Naked Mennonite: Genesis

Real Live Entertainment—Club 200

In the beginning… there was a man. This man had a robe. And beneath that robe… was a show.

Fehr rises again with Naked Mennonite in this new work, and he absolutely does make it “werk.”

Using a wheel to personally “Taboo” himself from using choice words found in and between the lines of the opening pages of Scripture, this recovering and reformed biblical scholar warms the crowd up with his signature charm, wit, and the Word of the Lord.

Pointing out and stripping down inconsistencies in the Good Book and their synchronicities with our evolving world is no easy feat. Fehr, well aware of this, does so while getting bare onstage.

Just have faith… and see this show.

Stephanie Adamov

The Funny Thing about Men

Olive Productions—CCFM – Salle Pauline-Boutal

My partner remembers everything about shows, movies and books. I remember nothing. I remember different things, like if you ask me to recite the quadratic formula from high school? I have it. Ask me what happened in last week’s episode of [whatever show we watch], I don’t remember.

However, it didn’t take long to remember I saw this exact same show last year! The delivery was quite identical to this year. Needless to say, Williams is very polished at the show and you should expect a perfect performance every time.

If you want to see my previous review, check us out on the 2025 Jenny archive file; it still applies today. I’ll also add that the enthusiasm still oozes from her essence. I know when I presented a show, by the end of the run, I started to get tired of doing the same thing repeatedly. What’s it like to keep doing it for years? Obviously, it hasn’t slowed Williams. She still presents it with the same spunk, ardour and energy as she did before.

It’s fun, fast, energetic and tongue-in-cheek. Sit back, enjoy a glass of wine with some charcuterie (before or after the show) and immerse yourself in the ride.

As a note for Williams, I would think about at least updating the show from using the word “America” to “The US.” With today’s movement, even in The US, alternative terms emerge, like US-American, Statesian, and even Usonian (older). It sounded natural last year but this year, it really stung my ears.

Ray Yuen

Hapalochlaena

Aaron Malkin—CCFM – Salle Pauline-Boutal

Both literally and figuratively offbeat, this physical comedy thrives on building momentum only to gleefully pull the rug out from under itself. The performer is consistently impressive in his physicality, though the show’s stream-of-consciousness approach can become a little too nonsensical for its own good, often leaving the audience unsure of what is expected of them.

The strongest sequences have the charm of a live-action Silly Symphonies, but when scenes are stretched beyond their natural conclusion, the momentum begins to peter out. The performer openly acknowledges the production is still a work in progress, and it shows. While some moments feel polished, a number of onstage props and costume pieces are underused or ignored entirely.

Without a clear thematic throughline or destination, the 75-minute runtime feels a little excessive. Still, audiences with an appreciation for physical theatre will find much to enjoy in this energetic and experimental show, provided they can tolerate some awkward lags that often do not pay off.

Ashley Frantik

The ’80s Commercials

TJ Dawe—Planetarium Auditorium

Fringe legend TJ Dawe is back in Winnipeg with the debut of a new show that looks at nostalgia by showing and talking about commercials from the ’80s. TJ is well known to Fringe audiences for his ability to look at parts of everyday life, things that are often just generally accepted, and notice things about them that are actually kind of odd. He then finds a funny way to describe that oddness and explore the path that may have led to it. So this subject matter is right in his wheelhouse.

He was drawn into this particular rabbit hole by his fascination with “cultural dead ends”, things that were once the peak of popularity, but then suddenly disappear. Using the commercials to provide a look back at that decade is a great way to give a good sense of some of the ’80s cultural landscape. His commentary is hilarious and thought provoking.

He closes with a direct look at nostalgia, how each decade looks back at a supposedly better time, and how that rosy view might be missing a few things from the picture.

I am of the same generation as TJ, so a lot of the commercials were familiar and really brought me back to that time. For those who are younger, I expect it would still be a fun and interesting show.

Murray Hunter

Eleven Please

Kinetica Creative—The Rachel Browne Theatre

Five people trapped in a stalled office elevator is the perfect scenario to spin into multifaceted comedy. The production’s greatest strengths are its absurd escalation, comedic timing, and inventive sketches, which occasionally veer into unexpected ensemble musical numbers and surprise choreography.

The individual bits are well constructed and build on one another with confidence. Where the production stumbles is in trying to tie its sketches into a larger story. The framing narrative develops unevenly and arrives at some awkward compromises that feel more like necessity than a satisfying conclusion.

Fortunately, the individual sketches are strong enough that the uneven overarching plot never derails the fun. The piece is better sketch comedy than it is a play, and that’s perfectly okay when the jokes land so well.

Ashley Frantik