The 2020 Cincinnati Fringe Festival is “an all-digital, totally online, 100% at-a-safe-distance, for 2020-only” affair from May 29-June 13.
CityBeat's team of critics have been reviewing the new additions to the fest's 20-show primary lineup and we've been posting them on our Fringe Festival Coverage hub here. We have also been posting original reviews of Fringe Flashbacks from the year's they were performed live.
Here are the top picks from this year:
- Critic's Pick: m-o-u-s-e — Rory Sheridan is a one-man whirling dervish performing all the roles in a script where he’s an archeologist in the distant future who has stumbled on the autobiography of Walt Disney’s pet mouse.
- Critic's Pick: Paul & Erika's House Show — Paul Strickland’s off-beat songs and Erika Kate MacDonald’s clever ways of animating found objects are very much in the vein of what Fringe fans have come to expect from this pair.
- Critic's Pick: Forbidden City! — A laugh-out-loud funny autobiographical one-man, whose compelling power lies in (relatively) quiet moments, which elevate this stand-up into a meditation on the ways life can surprise us.
- Critic's Pick: Quit While You're Ahead — Underneath the very funny jokes and references to detailed charts, Quit While You’re Ahead is a show about feeling powerless in an increasingly unjust and individualistic society.
- Critic's Pick: Opinions of Men: A Stupid History of the Protestant Reformation — A raucously funny, delightfully creative look into the early days of Protestantism told via a hilarious mockumentary and produced in glorious mixed-style animation.
- Critic's Pick: Proximity — 18 dancers take to the streets of Cincinnati in a free-flowing study in movement at arm’s length to ask "How do we negotiate the space that exists between us?"
Performances are available via online streaming, accessible by anyone with a computer, tablet, smartphone or smart TV. Tickets are required to view shows. All-access passes cost $200 and cover all performances; individual show tickets can be purchased for $11 a piece. If you can show additional support for performers, you can also buy a “Love Your Artist” ticket for $16 per show. All profits will be shared 50/50 with performers.
The 17th annual all-digital Cincinnati Fringe Festival runs through June 13. Get tickets and show info at cincyfringe.com.
