Fringe Winding Down

I liked the Adding Machine a lot.  I didn't realize that this is actually the Leroy Street Theatre sneaking into the Fringe through a non-conventional site (actually a puppy yoga salon!).  They have come back with a full season in 2025-26 (I think Acting Unit 102 may have bit the dust).  So that's all quite exciting, though they are kicking things off with Mamet's Oleanna, which I have zero intention of seeing, so I won't be doing a full subscription.  The reviews for this have been great (here and Glenn Sumi made it a Critic's Pick here (but behind paywall)).  It is mostly sold out, but does have some tickets remaining for the 13th.

I've generally enjoyed things I've seen with the exception of one where the concept was fine but the acting was shaky and one that was way too much ritual and nowhere near enough clowning.  I did enjoy Adam Bailey's My Three Deaths at Aki Studio in Regent Park but not as much as the leather-lunged woman sitting behind me who just was howling and cackling the whole time and frankly did detract from the experience.  I'm on the fence on Oh! I Miss the War, though this has been getting strong reviews, so I may go in the end.  It's also at Aki, so is fairly close to home, which is nice.

There are a few shows I've seen where they really committed to the bit, like Very Shady Arab Ladies and Hoody, though I was clearly not entirely on the same wavelength as the creators.  The Star reviewer (Chong) really liked Hoody, so I wouldn't want to discourage you from going.  

In general, I have picked shows that correspond with things that critics have enjoyed and/or have largely sold out, so I think I picked reasonably well this year.  I won't see it until Friday, but Stealing Home at Alumnae has generally gotten good reviews and still has seats left.

I'm running quite late at this point, but I thought I would mention that I finally finished Dombey and Son.  I didn't care much for it in general, particularly after the son exits the picture, and I thought the reconciliation scenes rang a bit false.  As with most Dickens's novels, it would be so much stronger if it were 100-200 pages shorter!  I should be able to wrap up Zhu Wen's I Love Dollars soon, and then on to The Leopard and Invisible Cities and maybe Lord Vishnu's Love Handles and perhaps Walden on the train to Montreal.  So much to do...

Edit (10 pm): Oh! I Miss the War was very good.  I'm glad I went in the end.  Two more performances at Aki Studio, and it seems like there is still good availability.  Anyway, I realized that while Leroy Street Theatre is back from the dead, it isn't clear just how active they will be going forward.  The new season (announced in The Adding Machine program is Icarus Theatre).  Not entirely sure what the connection is.  I will say, I am not entirely sure I am going to go all in on a new theatre company, given they are picking shows that do not do anything for me.  I saw Lobby Hero in Hamilton, and while I imagine the acting at Icarus was better, it still was an extremely cliched script.  And they also did Payne's Constellations, which is just a completely empty pomo exercise.  And then they follow this up with Oleanna, which I will not go to.  So maybe I won't go to the other two shows.  We'll see closer to the time.