Theatre

With 56 shows in this year's Hamilton Fringe Festival, no one can see everything. That's part of the pleasure and the problem. You scan the program, trust your instincts, follow artists you already love, take a chance on a title, and hope you've chosen well. After attending the Hamilton Fringe for more than twenty years, I've learned that the most memorable shows are rarely the biggest or most polished. They're the productions with a strong hook, a distinct artistic voice, and the courage to attempt something that could only happen at the Fringe. In alphabetical order, these are the thirteen productions that most caught my attention.

Developed at the Caravan Farm Theatre in Armstrong, BC, and after debuting at the Ottawa Fringe last month, A SEANCE SPECTACULAR WITH THE MYSTICAL MEDIUM WOLF SISTERS FROM THE GREAT WHITE NORTH, from the Queer/Femme podcasters who run the Ghosts Are Everywhere collective; sounds like exactly the sort of strange, theatrical mischief the Fringe was built for. Created and performed by Cecilia O’Grady and Ojibwe artist Carly Anna Billings, (whose MEAT(LESS) LOAF play was an audience favourite back in 2022), this show invites audiences into a Victorian séance hosted by two spiritualist sisters. Director Katherine Teed-Arthur, who created the marvellous pirate Fringe comedy 500 DOUBLOONS at the Westdale last summer, explores a premise that takes a sharp turn when someone tries to expose the act as a fraud just as the spirits begin to stir. Part comedy, part scare, and involving audience participation, this 60-minute show at Mills Hardware offers a gleeful mix of period atmosphere, supernatural nonsense, and live comic danger. The production heads to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August after the Hamilton run.

Fresh off a star turn last fall in HTI’s production of AVENUE Q; Hamilton Fringe veteran Kristi Boulton brings FELT CUTE, MIGHT OVERSHARE LATER to The Staircase Studio. Boulton, a familiar and much-loved Hamilton performer, has created a solo comedy confessional in which her most embarrassing true stories are told with help from a felt alter ego. The show promises childhood disasters, romantic misfires, and the kind of personal revelations that are both mortifying and healing. A puppet can say things a performer might be too ashamed to say directly, which makes this a particularly smart Fringe premise. Boulton has built a loyal following over many years in Hamilton theatre, and I suspect this one will sell out quickly.

FOR WHAT WE LABOUR, from Hamilton’s Hiccup Productions, takes us to Ancient Greece and the House of the Elliminestai, where pregnancy, duty, family obligation, and chaos collide. Written and produced by Renata Ona and directed by Tamara Kamermans, the show is described as a farce narrated by an expelled member of the Greek Chorus. That alone suggests a playful relationship with classical theatre. The comic promise is clear: a daughter trying to escape her inherited duty, the return of the “baby daddy,” a household descending into hijinks, and the housekeeper left to clean up the mess. Presented at St. Luke’s Mission, on John Street, as part of three productions that make up “Fringe North”; it is also worth catching because it expands the festival’s geography and brings original Hamilton comedy into a new community performance venue.

At the Staircase Theatre Bright Room is KARL THE CAT AND THE JUNKYARD PACK, from Playdough Productions, and from the advance press materials, it looks like one of the most imaginative adult musical comedies in the entire festival. Co-created by Jesse Lewis and Rachel Van Staaluinen, the team behind last year’s Best in Venue Award winning production of RACCACLOON, this new show follows Karl, an adventurous feral cat living among garbage piles and demolished cars, as they try to understand their true purpose in life, while smoking weed. Featuring live music and five originally designed hand puppets, it offers more than a cute premise; instead it sounds like a customized handmade theatrical world, full of the joy of living your life authentically. The show is also produced by a queer-led company, with an affinity performance centred on 2SLGBTQIA+ community members, friends, and family. That combination of puppetry, music, identity, and junkyard adventure makes it a standout.

Presented by Squirrel Suit Productions at the Staircase Studio, LOVE & CRAÍC brings neuro-diverse performance artist Carlyn Rhamey back to Hamilton Fringe audiences with a Celtic adventure spanning Ireland, Scotland, and even Amsterdam's “red-light” district. In search of identity and adventure, Rhamey takes audiences on a journey filled with perilous cliffs, handsome rebels, Viking ghosts, and underpants gone rogue. Well known across the CAFF circuit for 2017 - 2019’s THE ADHD PROJECT, Rhamey writes and performs this award-winning show, which returns, in what the listing describes as a “bolder and wilder” version of the very first production I ever saw her in back in the 2016 Hamilton Fringe; SOAR, which is a Gaelic word meaning “free”. Heartfelt, funny, and full of energy, LOVE & CRAÍC promises travel, romance, trouble, and high-spirited storytelling. Rhamey has the kind of performer-driven presence Fringe audiences love: direct, personal, funny, and just unpredictable enough that you never quite know what might happen next. If you're looking for a solo show built for laughter and momentum, this one belongs on your list.

REBEL SPIRITS, by Bateson & Shaw, may have the most efficient pitch in the festival: “Cheers meets Lord of the Rings.” Written and performed by Devin Bateson, (whose 2025 Hamilton Fringe play MEN LOVE HORSIES: THE MUSICAL, won all the awards last year) and Justin Shaw, (performing in August at the Blyth Festival with an original script OFF ISLAND ODYSSEY); their latest production is set in a fantasy village where local pub dwellers plot to overthrow the Castle. That premise has immediate comic appeal, as it suggests a tavern comedy with revolutionary stakes, where regulars, rebels, and fantasy tropes collide over a pint of lager. Performing at the Theatre Aquarius Studio, it is also part of HFTco's ALERT Resident Company program, giving emerging producers Rebeca Costa Reis and Colina Philips the opportunity to bring a new work from page to stage. If the premise delivers on its promise, this could be one of the festival's breakout comedies.

SOME OF THIS IS TRUE, written and performed by Diana Bentley, sounds like one of the most intense solo dramas in the lineup. Bentley plays Sandra Martin, the Artistic Director of Canada’s National Theatre, (a thinly veiled reference to the NAC perhaps), who finds herself at the centre of a massive scandal and must unravel the events of her career and her relationship with a favourite, highly esteemed actress. Based on the aftermath of the #metoo movement, and directed by Erik Richards, the show promises a one-hour ride through power, memory, ambition, and institutional damage. Bentley is the co-founder with her partner Ted Dykstra, of Coal Mine Theatre, a vitally important DORA award winning performance venue in Toronto. Her credits include THE EXPANSE, HEDDA GABLER, FRONTIER, and THE HANDMAID’S TALE, and the subject matter suggests a sharp, timely examination of how theatre institutions protect reputations, bury truths, and exploit devotion. At the Gasworks indie venue on Park Street North.

SPOONING THE GREAT BEAR BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON, presented at the Player’s Guild from Hamilton’s Xenoproductions, has a title that suggests whimsy, but the synopsis points toward something more emotionally grounded. Written and directed by Jen Frankel, the play follows Syl after the collapse of her marriage, when best friend Kirsten proposes a road trip like the ones they took in their college days. But time has changed them, and the arrival of a third wheel threatens to disrupt the friendship and perhaps something more. Performed by Melissa Murray-Mutch and Susan Curran, this 45-minute piece sounds like a compact, character-driven play about friendship, age, desire, and what happens when old patterns no longer fit.

TAMP, written and performed by Claud Spadafora and directed by Pascal Simmons, may have the shortest synopsis in the festival: “A young tampon explores life outside the box.” That is also why it stands out. Fringe is the right place for a premise that is funny, bodily, political, and absurd all at once. Spadafora, who I first saw back in 2016 in Micheal Kra’s hit play #DIRTYGIRL, is also appearing elsewhere in the festival as part of the DND LIVE ensemble, but TAMP gives them a solo platform for a more personal and surreal comic idea. A show like this could be silly, subversive, unexpectedly touching, or all three. At the Hamilton Fringe, that uncertainty is part of the appeal of seeing the show. Check them out at the Staircase Theatre on Dundurn Street.

Coming back to the Hammer, after a two week run in the Montreal Fringe, THE GIANT SPACE MONSTER THAT ATE HAMILTON IN 3-D may be the most unapologetically Hamilton show in the entire festival. Created by the long-running comedy team of Larry Smith and (Canadian Comedy Award winner) Kristian Reimer, the production revives the spirit of classic 1950s science-fiction monster movies while affectionately skewering local landmarks, personalities, and civic mythology. Presented in glorious low-budget 3-D, the show promises giant creatures, questionable science, and the impending destruction of the Ambitious City. Smith and Reimer have spent years developing a reputation for smart, fast-paced comedy rooted in Hamilton culture, and this latest creation appears designed for audiences who enjoy seeing their city transformed into the setting of a ridiculous B-movie epic. Fringe audiences often search for shows that could only exist in one particular place. A giant monster attacking Hamilton certainly qualifies.

THE OUTLAW AND THE SON, at the Westdale Theatre, offers something rare at the Hamilton Fringe: a genuine country and western musical! Presented by Quebec company FirstRodeo, written, directed and performed by Tony Martins; featuring guitarist Andrew Aldridge, the production combines storytelling, physical theatre, live music, and frontier adventure in a tale of family, legacy, and survival. Through an eerie conjoining of story and live music set in an otherworldly place, a weathered cowboy lays bare his haunted past, straining against an encroaching hope in the darkness. Described as a “Western-Noir”, at its heart is the relationship between a notorious outlaw and the son forced to live in the shadow of his father's reputation. Coming to Hamilton from Gatineau, the production also offers the opportunity to experience work from outside Ontario's usual theatre circuits. For audiences looking for a change of pace from contemporary urban storytelling, THE OUTLAW AND THE SON promises campfires, conflict, and the enduring appeal of a well-told frontier tale.

TOWNSPERSON #3, is another show with a premise that immediately identifies its audience. Written and directed by Izad Etemadi, and performed by Etemadi and Julia Pulo, it asks what is going on with the anonymous townspeople in a musical. The answer, apparently, is chaos. The play follows two background characters as their kingdom slowly freezes over, drawing inspiration from the elaborate private backstories ensemble performers often create for themselves. It is described as an unhinged comedic ode to musical theatre, with the important clarification that it is a play about a musical, not a musical. For anyone who has ever watched the chorus instead of the leads, this sounds irresistible. Izad is a firm favourite, a Queer Persian-Canadian who first performed in the Hamilton Fringe back in 2013, with his solo show, BORDERLANDS. Now he is a very busy jobbing actor with roles on GHOSTS, and in big musicals such as COME FROM AWAY, FROZEN, ELF THE MUSICAL and GROW.

VICTORIA SCHNEIDER: VERIFIED, from SWAP Hamilton Inc., is one of the most important original plays in this year’s festival. Based on a true story and created with Victoria Schneider’s direct involvement, the play follows a trans woman and sex worker who fought back against police abuse and won. Written and directed by Scarlett Gillespie, who is currently running for mayor of Hamilton, with intimacy coordination by Pascal Simmons; this original play uses court transcripts and archival records to blend documentary theatre, courtroom drama, and biting humour. Its central question is devastatingly simple: who gets to be believed? Presented at The Westdale, centred on 2SLGBTQ+, transfemme, sex worker, harm reduction, and social justice communities, this is the kind of Fringe show that does more than entertain. It preserves a story, honours resistance, and asks an audience to reconsider the systems that decide whose dignity matters.

That is the real reason to make a personal Fringe “must-see” list. When sorting through the 56 shows on offer, the task is not simply to choose what looks good; it is to ask what feels urgent, distinctive, alive, and unlikely to happen anywhere else. These thirteen productions, I think, provide lots of variety and choice including; ghosts, puppets, greek inspired farce, Celtic chaos, fantasy rebellion, institutional scandal, road-trip intimacy, menstrual absurdism, musical-theatre satire, and documentary justice. In other words, they offer the particular pleasure that is the 2026 Hamilton Fringe; I encourage you to take the chance to walk into a theatre and risk experiencing something new, and maybe discover something you did not know you needed to see.

Just like last year, the Hammer Monthly will be reviewing all of the productions in the festival, and they will be online as of July 20; check out what our experienced team of critics think about the delightful diversity of choice that is about to hit the city.

THEATRE