The first Fringe festival began in Edinburgh in 1947. Over the years, the festivals began popping up everywhere, and have now become integral to many theatre scenes all over the world — and Vancouver is no exception.
From September 5–15, the Vancouver Fringe Festival will be running at various venues on Granville Island. It’s not too far from campus, and where else are you going to experience high-quality local and international works for less than $20 per ticket?
Keep in mind that to buy tickets to a Fringe show, you’ll need to purchase a one-time $10 membership first — this goes towards covering artist costs and keeping Fringe tickets at the prices they are today (and by Vancouver standards, they’re pretty reasonable).
As a wide-reaching and accessible platform for emerging theatre artists, Fringe is a great opportunity to get a taste for up-and-coming faces and works in the theatre world, so try to catch a show or two! Here are a few productions involving UBC students and alumni in their cast and creative team, which you definitely won’t want to miss:
Camp Goneaway
Fans of Gravity Falls are bound to enjoy Camp Goneaway, a musical about best friends Margot and Evie seeking out to find a legendary sea monster while at camp while touching on themes of navigating girlhood and climate anxiety.
The New Emergent Studio Theatre (NEST)
$12 per ticket, with additional $3 fee
I Fear Love
Solo show I Fear Love experiments with different manners of storytelling — combining game show, comedy and “choose your own adventure,” to name a few — to reflect on playwright and performer Katie Voravong’s experiences with love and romance.
The NEST
$12 per ticket, with additional $3 fee
Qi-Pao & TOTALLY 80s
Qi-Pao & Totally 80s are two short plays featuring young people coming to terms with their identity. Qi-Pao focuses on a girl who tries on a qi pao dress and then reflects on being a mixed race person. Totally 80s explores young Queer love in the 80s and what it means to fall in love with someone else from across the sea, aided by a Greek chorus.
Waterfront Theatre
$14 per ticket, with additional $3 fee
43 and me
As she awaits the permit to renovate her parents’ bathroom, Anastasia Koutalianos gets a call that her mother has been admitted to hospital in Greece and has just a couple of days to live. 43 and me provides insight into Koutalianos’ life leading up to her mother’s passing and how she confronts grief.
Waterfront Theatre
$15 per ticket, with additional $3 fee
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