As I pivot from the Fringe to Toronto Summer Music I thought I’d lay out a few thoughts about this year’s Toronto Fringe.  Obviously this is based on my sample of eight shows out of the huge number on offer but some of my thoughts seemed to be confirmed by conversations over the course of the week.

Me with cast and crew members of Regarding Antigone

The quality of the shows saw this year was higher than last.  My six last year included one standout, one very good show, two decent ones and a couple that were meh to awful.  This year everything I saw was, at worst, good.  Regarding Antigone was absolutely top drawer.  David Lynch’s Seinfeld went over my head but judging by the audience reaction did what it was supposed to do.  My other six shows were all thought provoking and/or funny.

It was way darker than last year and that’s been a conversation thread all week.  Of course there were out and out comedies and clown shows and whimsical musicals but also many more shows that took tough issues head on.  The current Zeitgeist I guess.

I really loved that the hub moved from Tarragon to Soulpepper and not just because it’s more convenient for me.  There were more venues within easy reach of the hub (despite the TTC’s best efforts) and there are just so many more options for “between shows” than at Tarragon.  Not the least of these was Old Flame Brewery which hosted several events and was the perfect place for an after show beer.

What would I like to see next year?  Keeping the hub in the Distillery for sure!  I think a further consolidation of venues could make sense too.  Tarragon and the Helen Gardiner Phelan are now real outliers and if they could be replaced by, say, CanStage Berkeley Street and (maybe) Crow’s the footprint would become much more compact.  Of course, I have no idea what the financial implications of that might be.

All in all though an excellent experience.