WHEN: July 21 - July 31, 2021
UPDATE: On-Demand shows are available to watch until August 22, 2021
Summer is festival season, and if you love theatre, you’re not going to want to miss this: the Toronto Fringe Festival is back again with another year of digital programming!
Unfamiliar with the Fringe Festival? I wrote about the festival last year, and here’s what you need to know: The Toronto Fringe Festival was inspired by the worldwide Fringe movement that originated from Edinburgh. In 1989, the Toronto Fringe was founded by a cluster of local indie artists to offer the ‘fringes’ of the performing arts community a platform to create art at a grassroots level. Since then, it has become the largest theatre festival in Ontario, and offered at a fraction of the price compared to atypical theatre performances.
This year’s Fringe Festival, coined “Fringe where you are”, is divided into four categories: Primetime, On-Demand, Kidsfest On-Demand, and Postscript Live(Stream).
As described on their website, here’s what each category entails and how to access them…
Primetime: Live digital performances/premieres. $13 each. There are three shows in this category – As You Lay Sleeping, Empty, and My Korean Canadian Friend. See showtimes and purchase tickets here.
On-Demand: A majority of the performances at this year’s festival are offered for on-demand viewings to be enjoyed at attendees’ leisure. A $5 membership must be purchased to access the collection of shows, and then each individual performance is PYWC (pay-what-you-can). What’s being showcased can be found here.
Kidsfest On-Demand: This is similar to the On-Demand category above, but shows are geared towards children (and their parental guardians). Performances can be found here.
Postscript Live(Stream): Livestream programming offered at no cost for attendees to mingle; this is predominately taking place on Facebook Live and Gather. Join the fun daily from 9pm-11pm, or check out the events schedule here.
Based on the Festival Program, here’s what shows I don’t plan on missing…
· A Dose of On Demand [Postscript Live(Stream)]
· Bannock Republic
· Captain Condom & The COVID-19 Conundrum
· Every Young Adult Novel Ever: The Musical
· My Korean Canadian Friend [Primetime]
Happy Fringing!
P.S. I’ll be sharing my personal favourites throughout the festival on my Instagram stories. Follow along and let me know what shows you’ve been enjoying!