Bran Don Law at the Fringe Festival

The Vancouver Fringe Festival is a performing arts festival. It takes place at theatres and other venues on Granville Island and around Vancouver in September.

The festival runs from September 7th until the 17th, 2023.

The Vancouver Fringe

The Vancouver Fringe Festival is a multi-day event showcasing a wide range of theatrical works. It’s hosted by the Vancouver Fringe Theatre Society which is a non-profit charitable organization. The organization’s mission is to produce “Theatre for Everyone.”

Fringe Information

Below on this page you’ll find information about the following Vancouver Fringe-related topics:

About the Vancouver Fringe – basic background about the Vancouver event.
Fringe Admission Prices – a list of prices and ways to save.
Vancouver Fringe Shows – a description of types of shows.
About Fringe Theatre – a brief history and description of the festival.
Vancouver Fringe Video – a video showcasing sights and scenes from a previous year.
Vancouver Fringe Venues – names and addresses of participating theatres.
Tips & Advice – suggestions on how to make the most out of your Fringe experience.
Other Information – where to find further details on this and other similar events in Metro Vancouver.

Click on any of the above links, or scroll down for all the information.

Obit Play at Vancouver Fringe Festival — Fringe Performer on Performance Works Stage

About the Vancouver Fringe

The Vancouver Fringe Festival, or early variations of it, has been running since the mid-1980s. Today the festival involves hundreds of volunteers and performances, and tens of thousands of attendees each year.

At the Vancouver Fringe “everyone is welcome.” This applies to both audience members and performers.

The selection process for performances involves drawing names out of a hat and giving all applying artists an equal chance to participate. This means actors and their shows range from fairly novice to professional, and from semi-questionable to exceptional.

The quality of the average show at the Vancouver Fringe is surprisingly high. This is evident by the fact that the festival is frequently voted the city’s top arts festival by the Georgia Straight newspaper.

If you go to a Fringe Festival performance, you’ll likely be impressed and have a fabulous time!

Fringe Admission Prices

Admission to Fringe Festival shows is very reasonably-priced. This is great and keeps the event accessible.

Regular Ticket Prices

Regular tickets for Vancouver Fringe Festival shows usually cost $15 (including taxes and a $3 ticketing fee). The festival is paperless, so purchase your tickets in advance online.

Fringe Membership Fees

In addition to the ticket price for each performance, attendees need to purchase a membership to the Vancouver Fringe Theatre Society. The cost of a membership is $10. This is a very reasonable price which helps to offset the costs of the festival (which are significant). It also allows actors to keep the full base proceeds of sales to their shows (excluding the ticketing fee which typically costs around $3).

Fringe memberships can be purchased at the Box Office, at the door of venues prior to each show, and online during the ticket-purchasing process for pick-up at the event.

Important Note: You must present your Fringe Membership at each performance. Failure to do so requires the purchase of an additional Fringe Membership for $10.

Cry-Baby Fringe Musical

Special Rates

$15 per show is inexpensive for live theatre, but Fringe tickets are sometimes obtainable even cheaper than that in the form of half-price shows and “Frequent Fringer” passes.

Half-Price Shows

Half-Price Shows are simply that – 50% of regular price!

Every day during the first week of the festival, barring a pandemic, between a couple and over a dozen performances are offered each day at half price. That’s $7.50 per ticket instead of the full $15 or so. Generally the earlier in the season, the more half-price shows there are. It was unclear whether there were half-price shows in 2022.

Frequent Fringer Passes

Frequent Fringer Passes are for people who love theatre and want to attend multiple shows. They come in groups of four, 10 and 30 shows, are available in limited quantities and frequently sell out.

2022 Frequent Fringer rates were as follows:

5 Frequent Fringer: $68 – good for five performances.
10 Frequent Fringer: $132 – good for 10 performances.
25 Frequent Fringer: $320 – good for 25 performances

2021 Fringe Festival — 2021 Festival Shows and Actors

Vancouver Fringe Shows

The Vancouver Fringe Festival typically features 100 or so different productions offering as many as 700 performances each season. Each show is different, with some featuring a single actor or actress. Others have casts of over a dozen people plus support folks in the background.

Fringe Festival productions include musicals, stand-up comics, serious subject matter, slapstick, storytelling, dark comedy, dance and all kinds of creativity. Some are political, some touch on serious topics and some are just pleasantly silly.

The 2022 Lineup

Below is a list of 10 shows that ran in 2022. These are not even close to all of the shows (there was a little over 100 to choose from). It’s just a sample.

30 Neo-Futurist Plays – an audience-interactive show where the crowd voted on what they wanted to see as the performers tried to cram 30 plays into just 60 minutes (at Performance Works).
Blueberries are Assholes – Vancouver Fringe veteran TJ Dawe took the stage with a stand-up performance covering a wide variety of topics (at Waterfront Theatre).
Cabaret of Murder – a show about the art created by a number of serial killers before, during and after the murders they committed (at the Improv Centre).
Delusions and Grandeur – a one-woman performance that was both a cello concert and a clown show, starring Karen Hall who is trained in both classical music and improv (at Carousel Theatre).
Discounted Hotpot Centre – a collection of stories of what it was like to be a native of Hong Kong living in Canada, accompanied by some live cooking (at Granville Island Picnic Pavilion).
SELL ME: I am from North Korea – inspired by the tales of women who defected from North Korean, this play was about a teenage girl who made her way into China and had to fend for herself (online show).
Tango, to the Pointe – the PointeTango dance company performed at the Fringe once again with a grandiose and energetic recital (at Performance Works).
The DK Effect – a one-man comedy show that featured stand-up, music and other eclectic entertainment from award-winning entertainer DK Reinemar (at Revue Stage).

2022 Readings

In addition to the theatrical performances, special readings also took place at the festival in 2022. A couple of examples were the following:

Some Poems – David Jordan, the former Executive Director of the Fringe Festival, debuted his first published poetry collection with a theatrical touch (at Carousel Theatre).
Neurotic Erotica – a solo show where author Regan Shrumm read from her latest book about repression, awkward comedy and learning about sex (at the Improv Centre).

Fringe Festival Advice & Suggestions

Below are some tips to help you make the most of your Fringe theatre choices.

TIP #1: To learn about each show, check the Festival Guide when it’s available on the Vancouver Fringe website. The Guide lists times, venues, show lengths of time, show descriptions and warnings (like if there’s coarse language, nudity and age restrictions).

TIP #2: Read the show descriptions carefully in the Festival Guide. Words like “weird,” “LGBTQ+,” “intense,” “18+,” “family-friendly,” “poetic,” “intellectual,” “violent content” and “silly” are good indicators of what to expect.

TIP #3: When you go to a performance ask the people around you if they’ve seen any other shows and what they recommend.

TIP #4: Recognize that everyone is different and what’s entertaining or impressive theatre for some isn’t necessarily for others. At the Fringe Festival there is definitely something for everyone!

About Fringe Theatre

Fringe Theatre takes place around the world and performances it features are, by definition, “on the fringe.” This means they are “alternative” and not what you’d normally find on Broadway. The theatre productions at the festival are generally of high quality, but not infrequently with experimental or “unique” subject matter or style.

The world’s largest and original Fringe Festival is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland which has been running since 1947.

In Canada there are around two dozen different Fringe Festivals across the country running between late May and mid-September. Quebec’s Festival St-Ambroise Fringe de Montréal typically hosts the first festival of the season each year and Vancouver hosts the last.

Some theatre groups participate in multiple Fringe Festivals and tour the country with their productions, and others just perform in their home towns.

Vancouver Fringe Video

Below is a short video showcasing some of the sights and scenes of the Vancouver Fringe Festival from 2019.

Actors featured in the above video include performers from the shows Bushel and Peck, Szeretlek: A Hungarian Love Story, Beaver Dreams, Blue River Blues, Draining the Swamp, and Bombay Black. Others featured are OBIT: A Deathly Serious Comedy, The Adventures of Rocketman and Beano, Interstellar Elder, Stupid Cupid, I Am for You, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Good Game in “Gung Ho!”, Brain Machine and ‘Tween Earth and Sky.

Vancouver Fringe Venues

Vancouver Fringe Festival performances take place at a number of different venues. Most are on Granville Island, but a few are in other areas around downtown Vancouver.

Granville Island Venues

Theatres and other venues that participated in the Vancouver Fringe Festival on Granville Island in 2021 are listed below.

Performance Works – a 200-seat theatre and multi-purpose venue at 1218 Cartwright Street. There is to be a bar open to festival-goers here.
Revue Stage – at 198-seat theatre at 1601 Johnston Street (which is the same street as the Granville Island Public Market).
Ron Basford Park – located at 1218 Cartwright Street (right next to Performance Works), with an ampitheatre used for various performances.
Picnic Pavillion – an outdoor public picnic area at 267 Old Bridge Walk.

Below are some venues that are used in normal years, but were not used in 2021.

False Creek Gym – the gymnasium at the False Creek Community Centre at 1318 Cartwright Street (which is the first street on the right as you enter Granville Island).
The Nest – a “black-box” 50 to 100-seat performance and multi-purpose hall at 1398 Cartwright Street.
Waterfront Theatre – a 224-seat theatre at 1412 Cartwright Street.

Other Vancouver Venues

When there’s no pandemic, Fringe Festival theatres in other parts of Vancouver often include the following (as well as other venues):

The Cultch – a 200-seat historic theatre at 1895 Venables Street.
Dramatic Works Series – a black box studio at the Vancity Culture Lab at The Cultch at 1895 Venables Street.

More Tips & Advice

Below is a list of additional suggestions and information that will help audience members make the most of their Vancouver Fringe Festival experiences.

TIP #1: Tickets are available at the door, but many shows do sell out, especially the most popular ones and half-price shows. Buy your tickets early!

TIP #2: All ticket sales are final. Neither refunds nor exchanges are permitted.

TIP #3: Don’t forget your Fringe Membership card. You’ll need it for every performance (unless you want to donate an additional $7 to the festival for a second membership).

TIP #4: Out of respect for the actors and other audience members, be sure to arrive in plenty of time to find parking and get settled well before the show begins.

TIP #5: On or around the first night of the festival in years when there isn’t a pandemic, there’s the “Fringe-For-All” opening night event where about 40% of so of the festival’s performances each have a two-minute opportunity to present their shows. Tickets are just $20. The event is an excellent opportunity to get a taste of the Fringe and to decide which shows you’d like to see in full version.