Final Fringe 2025 post: Zeitgeist, Alpha, Mocktails and a free Fringe-themed book giveaway

As in previous Fringes, I’ve spent the last five days mostly catching up on shows I heard about but didn’t get around to seeing, and reviewing, during the first half of the festival. Sincere apologies if you emailed me and I didn’t see your show. Please let me know if it returns.

(And speaking of returns, Friday night the Fringe announced its many prize winners, including venue Patron’s Picks, allowing you another shot to catch that sold-out show. You can find the full list of winners near the bottom of this post.)

Because the new Fringe Hub/Patio/Beer Tent next to the Young Centre was a little (okay, a lot) cramped, it felt like there was a lack of social interaction this year. But I loved all the little catch-ups with people before and after shows, in line, or in the Soulpepper lobby.

Heck, Steve Fisher and I even had a long-ish conversation about Iris (Says Goodbye) and potential future sites for the Fringe Hub in the comments section of my mid-festival report.

As so many brick and mortar theatres struggle with what to program on scaled back resources and how to attract audiences, it feels like there’s a solution somewhere in the hustle and bustle of the Fringe. More than ever, Fringe 2025 felt like a potential marketplace for new theatre.

Wouldn’t a show like Alpha (see review below) transfer beautifully into Young People’s Theatre’s season? Matthew Baldwin and David John Phillips’ Oh! I Miss the War would fit nicely into Tallulah’s Cabaret at Buddies. Could Obsidian help develop Riel Reddick-Stevens’ Sex Goddess, perhaps at the Crow’s Studio? And as I suggested in my original review, a big hit like David Lynch’s Seinfeld could easily sell out on weekend nights in any city in North America.

Is it just me, or did more shows sell out quicker than usual? How to harness that energy and apply it to the regular theatre season?

The Next Stage Festival used to attempt to do something like that. How did everyone feel about its inclusion in the actual Fringe? And how did you feel about the fact that tickets for those shows were a steep $28.75?

I didn’t see everything I wanted to see — I tapped out at 30 — but that’s how it goes. Even Derrick Chua can’t see everything at the festival, and he doesn’t have to rise at 7 am and review shows until his Fringe day begins and the cycle starts up again.

I posted about my mid-fest favourites on Monday. But since then, I caught a few more shows. So here are my thoughts on them.

And at the very end of this post, please look for a free members-only giveaway of a new Edinburgh Fringe-related novel that theatre lovers will gobble up. Courtesy of Penguin Random House Canada, I’m giving away three copies of Charlotte Runcie’s just-published Bring Down The House.

Zeitgeist

A few years ago, the talented young actor Ben Yoganathan had a small role in the Howland Company’s fine production of Three Sisters. He obviously absorbed a lot from that experience. Although it’s set in 2025, there’s a definite Chekhovian feel to his play Zeitgeist (Rating: ✭✭✭✭), a bracing, insightful, immersive look at six zillennials dealing with life, love, gig work and impending adult responsibilities.

After meeting and vibing an art gallery, 20-somethings Caroline (Elena Milo) and Anders (Ethan Zuchkan) head to a party at the apartment Caroline shares with her friend Sofia (Rachel Cucheron). It takes a while to discover the reason for the party, but once we do it lends some urgency to the thin plot. And meanwhile, there are her friends James (Ali Farhani) and Olivia (Sofia Farahani), who have broken up, as well as Cameron (Nicholas Eddie), to help pass the time.

Booze gets poured, music gets played, drugs get taken, and soon the characters' desires and grudges come to light. Yoganathan, who also directs, moves things around and along swiftly, and lets us get to know these people gradually in a series of two-hander scenelets (evocatively lit by Christopher-Elizabeth) that make wonderful use of the grungy (and very appropriate) Cinecycle space. There’s also a really effective group dance sequence (choreographed by Alli Carry) in the middle of the show that expresses things the people can’t, or won’t, articulate.