VancouverMETRO VANCOUVER NEWS
Surrey photographer helps stage Fringe play with one live actor and six filmed performers
The Vancouver Fringe Festival runs Sept. 10 to 20 on and around Granville Island, with more than 80 shows expected to draw nearly 27,500 people over 11 days.
The 2026 Vancouver Fringe Festival will run Sept. 10 to 20 on and around Granville Island, promising a broad range of performances. More than 80 shows in theatre, comedy, dance, drag, music and other genres are scheduled, with nearly 27,500 theatre-goers expected over 11 days.
One production, Unsex Me Here @Lady M, combines theatre and film. Surrey resident Andrew Fraser co-created the work and filmed six actors who interact with Keri Bennett, the production's only live performer. Bennett, an actor and lawyer, performs the solo show on the Revue Stage with a large screen behind her.
The show recasts Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth in the corporate world and addresses reproductive health, social media and religious fundamentalism. Its promotional material describes it as a fierce solo work that is at times darkly funny and moving.
Fraser said the overlapping media and interaction between performers present in the theatre and those absent in person made the project unlike anything he had previously attempted to that extent. He said filming accurate eye lines and pauses for dialogue created many interesting challenges, and that filming and editing the work was enjoyable.
Maryth Gilroy and Karen Hamm co-direct Bennett and the six filmed actors for Prairie Dog Theatre: Jarod Campbell, Kennedy Goodkey, Erin Jeffery, F.J. Mensah, Jordan Navratil and Brooke Takhar. Fraser said the cast is large for this kind of production, particularly at a Fringe festival, where shows he has seen have generally featured one or two performers.
He said he drew some inspiration from a scene in the 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park, in which John Hammond interacts with himself during a park tour. Fraser compared that pre-recorded and real-time interaction to the approach used in this production.
Unsex Me Here @Lady M is scheduled for Sept. 12, 14, 15, 17, 18 and 20. Show times are listed at vancouverfringe.com, or by phone at 604-336-1736. The website also has a 56-page guide to Fringe shows, venues and other information.