HAMILTON FRINGE FESTIVAL MINI-REVIEWS
HAMILTON CITY Magazine is taking in Hamilton Fringe Festival shows all across our city and delivering fast and fun reviews. Check them all out here! Fringe 2025 is 55 plays and 350 performances and runs until July 27.
Ostrich Park
Writer: James Allen
Directors: Lucia Crespo and James Allen
Performers: James Allen, Jasmine Mino, Rob Mines, Matt McNama, Kyle Billie
Venue: Hamilton Theatre Inc.
Until July 27
Tickets here
In comedy, “committing to the bit” means pushing a joke to its limits – no matter how absurd things get. Ostrich Park, by Hamilton’s The Plot Hole Company, does exactly that, hilariously swapping Jurassic Park’s dinosaurs for ostriches and then going even further. Although show creators James Allen and Lucia Crespo have kept the character names from the movie series, the details have been altered. In this case, doctors Grant (Allen) and Sattler (Jasmine Mino) are newlyweds who’ve just lost their wedding venue. So when eccentric, ostrich-obsessed billionaire John Hammond (Rob Mines) offers up his avian-themed park as a replacement, there’s little thought of what could go wrong. Admittedly, Ostrich Park plays like an extended SNL skit for the first third of the show as it revisits the scenes of the film. Soon enough, though, the first of many ostrich puppets emerge onstage, and the show crosses into truly original and absurd territory. To say much else would spoil some truly hilarious gags that have to be seen to be believed. Though the whole ensemble is clearly having a blast, stand-outs Matt McNama as a feathering Nedry and Kyle Billie as Ian Malcolm steal the show. – Stephen Near
The Damage Done
Writer: George F. Walker
Director: Matthew Wilson
Performers: Rebecca Durance Hine, Adam Lemieux
Venue: Hamilton Theatre Inc.
Until July 26
Tickets here
George F. Walker, one of Canada’s most prolific playwrights, has written about the plight of the working class throughout his storied career. In The Damage Done, deftly directed by Matthew Wilson, the playwright revisits the troubled lives of two characters last seen in his script Moss Park. Bobby (Adam Lemieux) and Tina (Rebecca Durance Hine), two thirty-something divorcees working to overcome hardships, both self-inflicted and bad luck, reunite at the park where they first met decades before. As the play unfolds in real time, and Tina demands Bobby step up as the father to the couple’s two daughters, unsettling secrets and unspoken regrets are slowly peeled away. It’s a beautiful, layered performance that is both powerful and profound. Durance Hine and Lemieux share an undeniable chemistry onstage, letting them dive into Walker’s rapid-fire dialogue in one moment before seizing the tension and lashing out at one another in the next. More captivating, though, is how both actors hold the quiet moments of hurt that pepper Walker’s script, while drawing the audience further into the story. In addition to his direction, Wilson has designed a fully working swing for the HTI stage; it’s a marvelous addition that literally gives the actors room to play. Deceptively simple yet deeply moving, The Damage Done is must-see theatre and a highlight of this year’s Fringe. – Stephen Near
The Ugly Privilege
Writer/performer: Jessica Pigeau
Venue: Mills Hardware
Until July 27
Tickets here
Vancouver comedian Jessica Pigeau holds no punches in her hour-long set, hitting on familiar comedic fodder, which often veers into some pretty dark territory. Think 9/11 gift shops, sexualizing the Queen, and the private lives of incels and serial killers. Though much of her material consists of observational bits, Pigeau’s self-deprecating delivery throws the set into a kind of unhinged territory that is often more cringey than it is funny. Additionally, Pigeau’s evident strengths as a comic performer sometimes get too weighed down by her use of voice affectations, keeping some of her jokes from landing as well as they could. That said, Pigeau unabashedly owns her identity as an openly queer and neurodivergent comic. And this blunt awkwardness works in her favour, especially when she directly engages with her audience and drags them into her set. It’s here, alongside stories of her rural Alberta childhood or the less-than-friendly side of Vancouver, that her act starts to fly. It’s an aspect of The Ugly Privilege that Pigeau might consider leaning into, grounding her humour in authenticity and allowing her jokes to better hit the mark. – Stephen Near
