Saskatoon Fringe 2026: Six Shows, A Lot of Weirdness and One Very Good Week of Theatre

by Scott Roos

photos courtesy of the artist unless otherwise stated

There is something pretty cool about the Saskatoon Fringe Festival. Actually, there are a lot of things that are pretty cool about it. For one thing, there are simply so many options. From July 30 to August 8, Saskatoon's famed Broadway Avenue neighbourhood becomes a sort of giant, temporary theatre district, with performers, musicians, dancers, comedians and storytellers popping up all over the place. You can spend an afternoon wandering around, check out a show you know absolutely nothing about, grab something from a food truck or sit down at many of the area's restaurants, pubs and eateries, and then stumble into another performance a few hours later. That, to me, is the real charm of Fringe.

I managed to take in six shows this year and, while some were definitely better than others, I honestly wouldn't call any of them "bad". Each offered something different, and that is probably the best thing about a festival like this. You don't have to like everything. In fact, you probably shouldn't. The fun is in not knowing exactly what you're going to get - like a box of chocolates (haha thank for Forrest Gump).

There was also the Fringe plaza, which added another dimension to the whole experience with live performers, buskers, food trucks and crafty vendors. It gave the festival a bit of a carnival atmosphere and made the spaces around the theatres feel alive even when you weren't actually sitting in a theatre. And then there were the shows.

Here's a list of shows in the order that I attended them, with my own personal comments on each:

photo by Jacob Marsh

Tango After Midnight (Broadway Theatre)

Tango After Midnight, presented by PointeTango Dance Company and directed and choreographed by Alexander Richardson, was probably one of the more visually interesting productions I saw.

The show combines ballet and tango with contemporary dance happening live whist in between those performances thematic films projected on a screen. It sounds like it could become a bit of a mishmash, but it actually worked remarkably well.

Erin Scott-Kafadar was particularly graceful throughout. One of the coolest visual elements was the way she moved between the worlds of ballet and tango. At different points she wore pointe shoes, tango shoes and, at one point, one of each. It became almost a physical representation of the two dance forms coming together. Richardson was equally impressive, displaying both strength and grace as he guided Scott-Kafadar through a series of throws and lifts.

The films were also a nice touch. They helped establish the themes of the show while giving the dancers an opportunity to make costume changes. It was an great hour of dancing. And the hour time was a perfect fit for what was presented.

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A Cabaret of Legends (Broadway Theatre)

If there was one show that absolutely blew me away, it was A Cabaret of Legends starring Tymisha Harris. Wow.

Harris is an extraordinary performer and the show was, quite simply, a first-rate piece of entertainment from beginning to end. The premise is straightforward enough: Harris celebrates some of the legendary African-American performers who have shaped popular music, performing songs associated with artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Josephine Baker, Diana Ross, Tina Turner and Beyoncé. But this wasn't simply a collection of cover songs.

Between performances, Harris told stories about these artists and explained their significance to her. The selections weren't always the obvious ones either. Her Nina Simone segment included "Mississippi Goddam," while her Billie Holiday section included a portion of "Strange Fruit." There was a real sense that these weren't just songs Harris had chosen to sing. These were artists who meant something to her.

And then there was Tina Turner.

Harris absolutely nailed it, complete with Turner's trademark moves, wig and mini-skirt.

It was one of those performances where you leave the theatre thinking, "Yeah, that's why I came to Fringe."

No Die! – Or: How I Left Amsterdam and Almost Died in Africa (The Refinery)

Dutch comedian Fedor Ikelaar's No Die! was a little different. Based on his experiences travelling through Africa, the show follows a series of increasingly disastrous events involving a trip to Sierra Leone, motorbikes, a car accident and an encounter at gunpoint.

Ikelaar was engaging and entertaining throughout. Interestingly, though, I wouldn't necessarily classify the show as traditional stand-up comedy.

There was plenty of humour, but much of the material was also informative and built around storytelling rather than simply setting up jokes and delivering punchlines. That isn't necessarily a criticism. It just meant I found myself listening to the stories as much as laughing at them.

Overall, I was entertained, and that's ultimately what you want from a Fringe show.

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*photos by Cam Leverick

The Addies (The Refinery)

The Addies, presented by Saskatoon's Live Fully Productions, was probably the most "local" production I saw - and I mean that as a compliment. An original jukebox musical, the show follows two rival high school bands competing for a shot at Battle of the Bands Nationals. When a mysterious new student arrives, the rivalry gets considerably more complicated.

The production was staged at The Refinery, which proved to be a perfect venue. It was cozy, intimate and basically packed when I attended.

Was it perfect? No.

The singing, which went unamplified, could be hit and miss in spots, although it was generally pretty solid. Adrianne Tanjusay as Addison Austen and Antony Salisbury as Noah were particularly good, while Sydney Kelin was another standout.

The choreography was strong and the acting was generally quite good.

But what I liked most about The Addies was that it felt like a genuine community theatre production. It was young people getting an opportunity to perform, create and develop their craft. Live Fully Productions deserves credit for that. It was an enjoyable hour, and sometimes that's exactly what theatre should be.

photo by Joseph Ste. Marie

Tall Mark's EAT IT ANYWAY (Broadway Theatre)

Then there was Tall Mark. I honestly don't know exactly how to describe Tall Mark. Imagine Raffi and Frank Zappa somehow getting together, adopting a Muppet, raising it and nurturing it and then sending that furry creature to Fringe. Okay, that's probably not entirely accurate. But it gets you somewhere in the neighbourhood.

TALL MARK: EAT IT ANYWAY is a strange, funny, musical, autobiographical trip through illness, healthcare, capitalism, road trips and the general absurdity of being alive. And it is weird. Very weird. But underneath the weirdness is some serious musicianship and some surprisingly meaningful material. Tall Mark plays five instruments, sings bizarrely catchy songs and spends a good portion of the show essentially treating the audience like his own personal classroom - encouraging audience participation several times throughout. There was an almost Muppet-like quality to the whole thing. And somehow, it worked.

The songs were strange but catchy. His observations about society were sometimes ridiculous and sometimes genuinely insightful. There was an obvious intelligence underneath all of the silliness. By the end, I completely understood why Tall Mark was named Best National Show at this year's festival. It was probably the most quintessentially Fringe experience of the six shows I saw.

Juicy Woo-Woo – A UFO Cabaret (The Refinery)

Finally, there was John Sobol's Juicy Woo-Woo – A UFO Cabaret. The simplest description might be: a lecture about aliens with a really good saxophone player attached to it. Sobol is an excellent saxophonist and a charismatic performer. His original songs had a sort of Lou Reed-esque sung-talk quality to them, and his playing was easily one of the highlights of the show.

The lecture portion, as he even put it in his introduction, was a little heavy. Sobol spends much of the hour discussing the changing public discourse surrounding UFOs and extraterrestrial life. There is a lot of information packed into the show that was delivered predominately in that style lecture format with a few interesting audio clips thrown in to back up what he was saying. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there was a lot to digest.

Fortunately, the music provided a welcome counterbalance.

Sobol finished the show with a very reverent version of Pink Floyd's "Great Gig in the Sky," and it was a beautiful way to end the performance.

The Fringe Experience

So what did I take away from my first real taste of the Saskatoon Fringe? Mostly, that I want to go back. That's probably the highest compliment I can give it. Over the course of six shows I saw dance, musical theatre, comedy, storytelling, autobiographical performance and a saxophone playing UFO expert. Some performances were polished and professional. Others had that wonderfully rough-around-the-edges quality that comes with emerging performers finding their voices.

And that's what Fringe is supposed to be... It's discovery.... It's walking into a theatre without really knowing what you're going to see. Sometimes you get something good.

Sometimes you get something great. And every once in a while, you get something so wonderfully strange that you're still trying to explain it to somebody the next day.

Saskatoon Fringe 2026 had all of that.

And I'm already looking forward to next year.