Montreal Fringe opens with sharp takes on family, identity, and belonging

Two productions opened Montreal's Fringe Festival this week with inventive takes on family dynamics, identity, and resilience.

SNAFU's "The Middle Child" uses humour to navigate heavy terrain. The show frames itself as a funeral for the disappearing middle child in smaller families. Three siblings—the golden older child, the neglected weirdo middle child, and the beloved baby—shoot a film to explore their family dynamics with their parents. The audience is regularly called in to participate: an audition is held for the role of dad, and viewers are instructed to laugh or whoop during specific scenes.

But underneath the playfulness, the show journeys through life's most painful experiences: death, bitter divorce, alcoholism, body shaming, and separation. The three actors display masterful ensemble work, balancing high energy and inversions of expectation with a hodge-podge of storytelling and dramatic techniques. SNAFU sits at the line of how-far-can-we-go without losing coherence—and rarely crosses it. That restraint, endurance, and confidence come from deep commitment to excellence.

"The Runaround: The Journey of Abel the Amish Misfit" is a one-man electronic hero's journey. Stewart Alden Tabler performs entirely behind electronics, using audio looping, sequencing, and vocal processing to inhabit multiple characters. The story follows Abel, an Amish man whose sexuality and creativity clash with his community. After acquiring a phone and posting about his life on social media, he draws attention from a psychotic outsider and eventually faces shunning. His quest to survive in yet another rejecting world carries universal weight.

Tabler's gorgeous voice and emotional range, paired with his audio samples, create a tapestry of voices: a bishop, his mother, his father, social media commentators, schoolchildren. Abel himself is lovable—slightly naive but earnest, intent on doing good while being himself. The song lyrics are especially clever, evoking William Finn's emotional precision while Tabler sings with genuine passion and sincerity. For a small production with minimal movement, the show feels enormous.