Hamilton Fringe Festival - July 16th-27th, 2025
Discover 50+ Shows, over 12 Days, at 11 venues
Hello Neighbours!
At The Vibe, we’re all about helping Hamiltonians discover great events happening in our city, and we think this year’s Hamilton Fringe Festival is going to deliver.
This year, we've set an ambitious goal: to offer reviews of all Fringe performances by the end of the first weekend. We have 19 experienced reviewers ranging from writers to artists…all set to help you choose the next show to see. As the reviews come in, we will be publishing them at thevibehamilton.com and on Instagram and Facebook. Also, we will send you a newsletter with a link to all the reviews.
To understand what makes this festival so exciting, we sat down with Hamilton Fringe’s Chris Stanton (Executive Director) and Franny McCabe-Bennett (Managing Director) to talk about the magic behind the scenes, the power of community, and what makes Fringe one of Hamilton’s most energizing cultural events.
List of Performances

Sister Sophia Kicks The Habit. Sister Sophia Kicks the Habit delves into the revelations of Sister Sophia, an aging Catholic nun in crisis. As she grieves the loss of her best friend Sister Beatrice, she grapples with the realities of her half century of sisterhood in her own restless night of the soul. Through her humorous and insightful musings (with songs!), Sister Sophia confronts g(G)od and in her quest to finally be heard, she discovers a newfound outlook on life.*
Playwright/Performer - Lisa Randall
Director/Dramaturg - Kate Johnston
Lights/Stage Management - Jonathan Carroll & Robin Moir

Bangs, Bobs & Banter: Confessions of a Hairstylist. Multi-award winner Joanna Rannelli brings to life Nikki, a charismatic hairstylist with a flair for storytelling. Inspired by true stories, Nikki welcomes audiences into her salon, where a lively cast of clients spill their sassy, saucy and scandalous secrets. This humorous journey into beauty, self-expression and unexpected connections is a must-see that will keep audiences laughing their heads off...without messing up their hair.*
Patrons Pick – Orlando Fringe (2025)
Critics’ Choice Award: Best Solo Comedy – Orlando Fringe (2024)
Sold-Out Run – Edmonton Fringe (2024)
Sold-Out Run – Orlando Fringe (2025)
Written & Performed by Joanna Rannelli
Dramaturg & Directed by Kerry Ipema
Producer, Muhammad Dewji

The Damage Done. From Governor General Award-winning playwright George F. Walker comes a two-hander told in real time. Bobby and Tina, together at fifteen until it all fell apart in their twenties, are now both pushing forty and still trying to figure out what went wrong, or if there was ever anything right. The same park. The same swirling emotions. Their grown-up kids. A desperate need for help. Funny, sad, painful, and even a bit hopeful.*
Playwright - George F. Walker
Director - Matthew Willson

The Fortune Teller. A Fortune Teller is about to start a séance, when her teenage niece bursts in. "My mother says I have to live with you now." A client comes in, who wants to contact his late wife. The niece's no-good boyfriend turns up. And that's just for starters. A knockdown farce that has some clever things to say about youth, love, the Great Beyond, and the Here and Now.*
Playwright- David Laing Dawson
Director- Ronald Weihs
The Players Guild
A Gentleman’s Murder. A would-be-groom is waylaid with a dark prophecy that threatens to disrupt his plans for a happily ever after, unless he can take bloody matters into his (soon to be) bloody hands.
A Very Queer Easter Pageant. Häus of the Holy Spirit presents a drag-infused dramatization of the Bible’s Easter story with a surprise musical twist.
All The World’s A Cage. As cracks form in the story and chaos creeps in, it transforms into a gripping, unsettling exploration of entertainment and the control, abuse, and exploitation of performers for profit.
Minimum. Outrageous comedy about the newly elected Ontario Premier who must live on minimum wage.
Once Upon A Pizzeria. Nonna Maria's pizzas may be the best in town, but that doesn't stop kids at the school from teasing her grandson, Luigi, over its square shape.
Sister Sophia Kicks The Habit. Delves into the revelations of Sister Sophia, an aging Catholic nun in crisis. As she grieves the loss of her best friend Sister Beatrice, she grapples with the realities of her half century of sisterhood in her own restless night of the soul.
Hamilton Theatre
The Damage Done. The same park. The same swirling emotions. Their grown-up kids. A desperate need for help.
Moving In. Weaves together threads of gender politics, performative feminism, and the sometimes elusive line between healthy and toxic relationships.
Ostrich Park. Once in a lifetime play, see the true apex predator, Ostriches, unleashed.
Theatre Aquarius
Bangs, Bobs & Banter: Confessions of a Hairstylist. Nikki, a charismatic hairstylist with a gift for storytelling, invites the audience into her salon, seamlessly shifting between characters and revealing a hilarious mix of sassy, saucy, and scandalous secrets.
Catch Me in the Kitchen Story Adventures. Daring wolves, clever heroes, and twisted fairy tales collide in Catch Me in the Kitchen Story Adventures.
Crane Girl. Follows a woman who walks out of her life and climbs a crane. It explores rage, women's bodies, reproductive rights, and what it means to find your voice in a patriarchal nightmare.
Horseface. A memoir of encounters with men throughout her life: handsy professors, train manspreaders, A-list fondlers, pornography-cataloguing fathers.
The Fruits That Rot in Our Bellies. After agreeing to be a surrogate for their sister, Fimi is haunted by who or what is growing inside them.
The Pole Shebang. Take a behind-the-scenes detour on this journey of a tomboy pole dancer, as she is unexpectedly called up to the biggest stage in the country.
Visiting My Mother And Other Repetition Compulsions. A therapy session, a family dinner, a hospital visit, the unbearable tension of the ordinary.
The Westdale
500 Doubloons. During the Golden Age of Piracy, a pirate paid a woman five hundred doubloons (about $400,000 dollars) to take her clothes off, and nothing more.
Gaumukhi (Cow). An existentialist solo drama that follows a Cow, as she navigates the various identities imposed on her, with the identities she desires.
Hope in Hot Times. “I’m the main character! You’re the villain!” cry the clowns, trying so hard to live with dignity.
Meat Market. Strap in and strap on, you’re about to step into the absurd & raunchy world of gay hookup apps.
Nahanni Gold: A True Canadian Legend. One of the most incredible tales, that of Willie and Frank McLeod, who died prospecting in the Valley in the early 1900s, is told here in hushed tones of dread.
Raccacloon. Raccacloon has been ravaging dumpsters with their raccoon family their whole life, but they lack support in pursuing their true dreams: to perform as a clown.
The Fortune Teller. A knockdown farce that has some clever things to say about youth, love, the Great Beyond, and the Here and Now.
Centre for Talking Arts
Let’s Start A Fake Cult: Nihilism, Narcissism, Hypnotism. All the benefits of cult membership, without the loss of self and other nasty side effects.
Red Hot Cherry Poppin’ Experience. Laugh, learn and let loose at this wildly fun, sex positive comedy show!
Saad Sheikh’s Get It Together. Unabashedly pop music. An evening of catchy hooks, seething lyrics, and dazzling numbers.
The Giant Space Monster That Ate Hamilton in 3-D. Join forces to save Hamilton (and the world) from a monstrous threat
Ringside: Mini Bar
3 Hours, 10 Minutes. Two strangers, one painting. What do they see in it? What do they see in each other?
Brown Noise. Exploring the South Asian-Canadian experience from two very different sides.
Group Prompt. Experimental human-AI collaborative performance: you, performer, and artificial intelligence co-created it.
Hum-Buzz. A mad-dash virtuosic performance about someone—or something—that is in love with you.
Old Girls Gone Rogue: Age Against the Machine. Hilarious take on what it means to live in 2025 (no matter when you started).
Mills Hardware
A Canadian Explains Eurovision to Other Canadians. A love letter to the weirdest, wildest music competition on Earth.
A Question of Character. The clock is ticking when Leni Riefenstahl is visited by an interviewer with more than questions for the infamous filmmaker.
Mind Reader. Every performance is a different journey guided by the unique choices of each individual audience.
Mind The Gaps. Using improv to unpack organization gone wrong, a uniquely intimate performance that finds meaning in the gaps.
Sex Goddess. While sharing her album, Rayna takes her audience on the journey of one long, wild night that changed her life and perspective forever.
The Heterosexuals. A deep-dive into the shocking world of Heterosexuality! THEY WALK AMONG US!
Ugly Privilege. Featuring discussions of autism, social awkwardness, growing up gay in rural Alberta, and the declining sexiness of the Canadian Monarchy.
The Gasworks
Catching a Cheese Pervert. Who's committing lewd public acts with Francis Corp. cheese?
Charon. The ferryman of the River Styx embraces a young, ordinary Daphne as she struggles with her transition from life to death, helping her grasp the universal concepts of fate and fear.
Limb Loss, Love. A personal and hilarious exploration of the life of comedian Dan Hurwitz: a disabled, mixed-race, light-skinned, patrilineally Jewish person.
Mark I. The Gospel of Mark is known to be the oldest written biblical gospel. This amazing story is told with modern language, but in its original form.
The Staircase - Bright Room
Men Love Horsies: The Musical. Just a man singing songs about horses.
Unsolicited: Dood Advice Gone Dad. Hilarious one-woman show exploring the wild, weird, and wonderfully unsolicited advice her dad and others have given her over the years.
What If? Improvising Your Alternate Universe. A new storyteller every show will see their alternate universe right before their very eyes, and completely improvised.
The Staircase - Elaine Mae
Call Me Hutch. Paul Hutcheson is back with his fourth solo comedy at the Hamilton Fringe. Known for his physical style of storytelling and stand-up.
Impatient Inpatient. Three months in hospital. One busted body. Zero chill.
Come for the laughs, stay for the existential crisis!
Liz, A Traumatic Comedy. Might also be about healing from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, through art, friendship, family and defiant hopefulness.
The Staircase - Studio Theatre
A Non Canonical Musical Adventure with Pookamhura: Mistress of B-Roll. A random group of MMO players meets Pookamhura, a gnome rogue inspired by Shakespeare's Puck, as they wait for another player to join them for a dungeon adventure.
Big Chick Energy Presents: Big Chick Lethargy?! The Chicks have lost their ENERGY! What could have stolen it? Capitalism? People? Low iron? An all-consuming bullet journal that reminds you that you’re never going to be perfect?!?!
I’m Actually Right About Everything: A Bisexual Love Story. A hilarious and heartfelt solo show about queerness, friendship, bad boyfriends, and the voice inside that always knew better.
Waiting for* Godot. *Waiting for Waiting for. Waiting. We all do it, but what does it really mean? To wait is to want, to want is to yearn, to yearn is to earn! Waiting. The final fun-tier!

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