Family-friendly Fringe: 6 picks from the Winnipeg festival
There are lots of shows you can take the family to beyond the Kids Venue at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival
Anything can happen at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival — and often, that gets a little raunchy.
But of the 188 shows at this year's indie theatre festival, there are some great picks you can take the family to.
There's a whole venue dedicated to children's shows at Manitoba Theatre for Young People. Our top picks for new shows at the Kids Venue this year are Hyronomous A. Frog (The Frog Prince) and One Man Romeo and Juliet. Other good picks there are the ever-popular African Folktales with Erik de Waal and returning shows Blink's Garden and Jazz Cat.
But there are shows for the family beyond the Kids Venue, too. Here are some to watch for:
The Canada Show: This "hilarious (and frenetic) voyage through Canada's past" was one of our Review Crew staff picks from opening weekend, and it's also a great family-friendly pick. You'll learn some history and have fun doing it, too.
Flight: A continuation of the story of The Little Prince told through graceful acrobatics. Reviewer Michelle Palansky calls this "gentle and sweet" show "a lovely, pared-down piece of children's theatre."
Fruit Flies Like a Banana: World Tour: I found this Boston group's show last year completely delightful. An incredibly talented ensemble of musicians takes on classical music, but adds a whole lot of fun through dance, acrobatics and more silliness — performing Chopin while riding hoverboards, for example. This year, they take a journey around the globe with samples of music from different countries.
Hotter Than Potter: "If you're into straight-up, fast-paced, family-friendly card tricks with tons of fun audience participation, you're sure to fall under Brown's spell," we said of magician Keith Brown's show last year. He's dazzling audiences again this Fringe and is one of the most sure-fire bets for magic at the festival.
The Places We Go: "I've never seen anything like The Places We Go before," says reviewer Kelly Stifora. Performers mix projected images, recorded audio, acting and shadow puppetry to tell the affecting story of Grace, a girl living in Manila and trying to get money to buy her mom a plane ticket home from Winnipeg for her birthday. It also clocks in at a family-friendly 35 minutes.
And for slightly older fringers …
Harper & Row: Not one for the little kids, but if you're looking for something you can take tweens to (or send them to, if they're already too cool to go to the theatre with their parents), check out this charming and sweet coming-of-age story about two 12-year-olds navigating their first year of junior high without each other. A nice pick for the Judy Blume set.
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