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 returns from September 4th to 14th in 2025.
To learn about other events that happen around the same time of the year, see our September Calendar or our article about Vancouver Shows & Entertainment.
The Vancouver Fringe Theatre Festival in 2025
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.”
In this article you’ll find information about the following topics:
About the Vancouver Fringe | Fringe Admission Prices | Vancouver Fringe Shows | About Fringe Theatre | Vancouver Fringe Video | Vancouver Fringe Venues | Tips & Advice | Other Information
Click on any of the above links, or scroll down for all the information.
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
In 2025 regular tickets for Vancouver Fringe Festival shows start at about $20 each. Organizers encourage everyone to book online.
Fringe Membership Fees
In addition to your show tickets, you need a Fringe+ membership to enjoy extra perks during the festival. This year, there are two ways to use the Fringe membership pass.
Fringe+ costs $35 and it gives you early access to discounted MultiBuy passes, half-price shows, one free ticket for a friend, plus 10 percent off Fringe merch and the Fringe Presents Year Round Series.
Fringe+ for the Future is $135 and includes everything in the Fringe+ bundle plus a $100 tax receipt for your donation. This option helps support the future of the arts and the Vancouver Fringe community.
Important Note: You have to present your Fringe Membership at each performance.
For tickets and full details about the shows when they become available, see the Vancouver Fringe Festival‘s website.
Special Rates
Fringe tickets are sometimes obtainable even cheaper than normal in the form of Multi-Buy passes. They are for people who love theatre and want to attend multiple shows. They come in groups of six, 10 and 30 shows, are available in limited quantities and frequently sell out.
2025 Multi-Buy rates are as follows.
- Six Show Pass – $96
- 10 Show Pass – $155
- 30 Show Pass – $450
For tickets and full details about the shows, visit vancouverfringe.com.
Vancouver Fringe Shows
The Vancouver Fringe Festival typically features a hundred 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 2025 Lineup
Below is a small list of shows that run in 2025. These are not even close to all of the shows (there are more than 100 to choose from). It’s just a sample from this year.
- False Creek False Tours – a wildly untrue boat tour around False Creek with fake facts, strange sights, and a skipper full of nonsense (at Granville Island Ferry Dock).
- It’s Not the End of the World – a dark comedy with puppets, music and masks that explores loneliness, climate anxiety and unexpected hope (at Waterfront Theatre).
- Drag Me to the Opera – a heartfelt drag-opera show by Aida Cupcake about chasing dreams and hitting high notes (at The NEST).
- Shakespeare Sings! – a musical mash-up of Shakespeare’s greatest hits, performed with original songs in styles from punk to country (at Tru Cafe).
- The Song Collector – an intimate, site-specific experience for four people at a time, inspired by real-life folk song collector Lucy Broadwood (at Railspur Alley).
- Pillow Talk – a chaotic, slumber party-style comedy show full of wild games, unfiltered confessions and karaoke (at Little Mountain Gallery).
For the full list of shows and more details, visit vancouverfringe.com.
Fringe Festival Tips & Advice
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 on the Vancouver Fringe website. It lists times, venues, show lengths and descriptions.
TIP #2: Read the show descriptions carefully. 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 24 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.
Some theatres and venues that participated in the Vancouver Fringe Festival last year are listed below.
- Arts Umbrella – an education centre for young artists with a 132-seat theatre at 1400 Johnston Street.
- Performance Works – a 200-seat theatre and multi-purpose venue at 1218 Cartwright Street.
- 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.
- 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.
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: Don’t forget your Fringe Membership card. You’ll need it for every performance (unless you want to donate an additional $10 to the festival for a second membership).
TIP #3: 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 #4: On or around the first night of the festival, 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. 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.
Other Information
To learn more about the Vancouver Fringe, see the official Vancouver Fringe Festival website.
For more information about theatre in the Lower Mainland, click Vancouver Theatre or the Shows & Events Calendar.
For ideas about other things to do while visiting a Fringe show, click Granville Island or check out Vancouver’s Calendar of Events.
And for a comprehensive list of major festivals and events throughout the year, see the Festivals & Events Calendar.
