Prom Night can be made extra special for those who love their nostalgia. The Cybertronic Spree offers the right mix of classics, hard rock and performance theatre to make Transformers fans wanting scream for more!
Next show in Toronto! August 22, 2026 Capital Ballroom, Victoria, BC Spoiler Alert
When I had the good fortune to be invited to see The Cybertronic Spree for free, I knew I was in for an awesome night of nostalgia and heavy metal, backed by animated sequences celebrating anime, video games and The Transformers: The Movie. For newcomers, they’re a Toronto rock band whose sentai-style costumes, hard-rock covers, original songs and glam-rock theatrics make their stage personas larger than life. I’d seen their YouTube videos and followed their rise as a pop-culture band. Once I learned their latest P.R.O.M. tour, short for Programmable Read-Only Memories, used a playful rock-opera narrative to stitch the concert together, I knew it was time to see them live.
The 2026 Victoria Fringe Festival celebrates its 40th year with another unpredictable lineup. Here are ten shows featuring theatrical legends, psychological horror, puppetry, wrestling, superheroes and other wonderfully strange ideas.
The 2026 Victoria Fringe Festival is celebrating a milestone, and once again, I’m ignoring any sensible attempt to see everything under the sun. Weather in Victoria, BC is fickle, and for those not wanting to wait in line for too long, it’s always good to bring a bottle of water! While they are keeping 40th century style celebrations a temporary secret, as they want to surprise, it’s best to subscribe to their mailing list and check online for the latest updates to find out what’s in store!
And once again, I offer my top picks on what to see at this year’s show. With a few returning shows to quickly include on the list, namely Space Queen and 52 Stories, Instead, I’ve gone hunting through this year’s lineup for shows that appeal to the nerdier side of the Fringe experience. That means science fiction, horror, pop culture, unusual adaptations, strange concepts and anything else that makes me stop scrolling and wonder, “What the heck is this?”
Glitch Victoria is set to open on Yates Street, and while the neon looks inviting, the setup tells a familiar story. This mix of two types of operations isn’t necessarily promising a nerd sanctuary. Instead, it’s really a sports bar with arcade controllers.
Glitch Victoria is about to open up shop. Sadly, it will not be what I think it is, an arcade parlour for the video game enthusiast. These days, these operations are few and far between. When you visit places like Akihabara, Japan or Seoul, South Korea, the palaces there span floors, offering the latest games to cater to the video-game enthusiast. That’s because they are major metropolises where such an operation can persist.
In North America, the best city to visit is sweet home Chicago. Industry giants like Midway, Williams, and Bally were headquartered there before they folded. Next on the list is allegedly Portland, Oregon because of the wealth of bars with an arcade there, and that is the model this garden city operation is using. Their marketing already tells you who they’re after. And for those gamer types working in offices, waiting for 5pm to hit, they got the choice of heading here or going home to their PS5 or decked out PC to play online games.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show returns in dazzling 4K and live spectacle across North America. From Vancouver’s shadow casts to Victoria’s drag shows, fans are doing the time warp again with music, improv, and midnight magic.
This year, fans of The Rocky Horror Show have extra ways to do the time warp! Not only is there a 4K restoration currently available as a limited edition steelbook set (Amazon link) for October. While this edition has some new bonus material, it may eventually filter down to a standard release TBA.
But more importantly, nearly every city is involved with a 50th year anniversary celebration. From Victoria to all other points, these events taking place across North America will have some people considering making a pilgramage to a major city. In the Pacific Northwest, the Spectacular Tour had/has three stops! It began in Alaska, moved to Vancouver, but there’s more….
53 more stops remain as it tours across the U.S. and Canada, featuring original cast members Barry Bostwick, Patricia Quinn, and Nell Campbell. The tour began in late September and continues through mid-November. Details and tickets for each performance can be found here.
But for those unable to attend, there’s other takes to enjoy. They help keep that midnight madness that defines the Rocky spirit alive:
A haunting werewolf western under the open sky—High Moon turns Heritage Acres into a frontier of ghosts, grief, and transformation, where sound and shadow blur the line between past and present.
I’m sure most fans of Ian Case’s past community theatre work will agree: “Welcome back!” His signature style on crafting fun Halloween-style shows with David Elendune, another local producer, shows how pulpy things can get, and High Moon, A Werewolf Western is a wonderful return to form. Together, they represent the next evolution in installation theatre—one that perhaps belongs outdoors rather than indoors.
Of course, with Garden City’s notoriously fickle weather, we must take such hopes with a grain of salt. The opening night enjoyed clear skies (sadly, the Harvest lunar event occurred on October 7), but the air was cool enough to carry every echo. Within the darkened corners of Heritage Acres in North Saanich, the stage was perfect for their werewolf western.
When every member of the cast and crew is invested in setting the mood, it shows—they caught that intangible magic between setting and story. From the narrator to the immersive world itself, I was drawn in completely.
Billy (Ryan Kniel) returns home to find much of it in ruin. His brother, James (Rod Peter Jr., pictured center) does his best to keep the homestead alive. After their parents’ passing, old memories cling like dust in the rafters. Both men are haunted—by grief, guilt, and the ghosts of old ideals. While the elder clings to the South’s faded glory, the younger looks toward reinvention.
Their journey winds through the prairie’s moral twilight, with a well-dressed bounty hunter (Rosemary Jeffery, pictured left) serving as guide.
Kniel shines as a character actor, and though the dialogue gets over the top, he fully embraces it. He begins his journey as a war veteran who wants to relive the traditions of the South, while something else calls to him. Although the detail of where he found the talisman that warped his mind isn’t clearly stated, that’s okay. When he offers it to the local witch-lady, Madame Grey (Wendy Magahay, pictured right, clearly relishing the role), thinking he can earn some good money, that’s when the story starts to bare its fangs!
The amulet is an evil device, and from here, the legend takes root. Billy doesn’t believe in hocus pocus, but once blood touches it, his descent into madness unspools like a fever dream—he becomes part of it rather than trying to discard it. I must admit, I was eager to learn more about its lore. Like a good cinematic tale, that revelation comes later, and I could picture it as vividly as the creation of the One Ring in Lord of the Rings.
The brothers clash more than once, and their fellowship dissolves under the weight of old grievances. To say more would spoil the pulse-quickening second act and climax, but it’s safe to say every performer fires on all cylinders in this pulp-styled tribute to the wild west. Beneath its gun smoke and growls, the play explores isolation, legacy, and what it means to tame a forbidden frontier.
The story’s subtle nods reminded me of Forever Knight, leaving a lingering question: will Billy accept his fate or find a way to undo it? The Weird West is a genre too seldom seen on stage, and knowing this production was built by locals for locals made me grin from ear to ear.
Final Thoughts on High Moon
This isn’t a show built on spectacle, but on sensation. The sound of crickets—both real and conjured—rose and fell like breath. Somewhere, the twang of an old guitar threaded through the dark. Shadows stretched across the open field, and if you weren’t careful, you might swear something unseen moved just behind you. And when the place carries anecdotal whispers of lingering memories, the nights aren’t always just eerily chilly.
That’s the beauty of outdoor performances. Some places like this one contain a gentle haunting, not born of fear but of memory. Here, light, sound, and story interlace until the line between past and present grows thin enough to step across.
Experience 20 Questions at Victoria Fringe: two paranormal investigators, a mischievous Reaper, and secrets that’ll haunt you long after the show ends.
Played at the Victoria Fringe Festival August 22nd and 31st
20 Questions feels less like a challenge to the Reaper and more like an exploration of why certain relationships matter. Anyone familiar with The Midnight Game may recognize some of its inspiration, but playwright Ty/Hinox Wesley seems to lean heavily on the Japanese game Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai. In that tradition, participants extinguish one of a hundred candles after telling a spooky story, with the last remaining candleholder facing a far graver consequence. Here, each question functions like a candle: early answers reveal small truths, but as the count nears the last, the stakes become existential.
Only the last person asked faces the ultimate danger if they lie, creating a natural crescendo. Audience and participants alike sense the tension, and the structure excels at revealing secrets—both about the characters’ relationships and their inner lives. Who volunteers first? Who cracks under pressure? These moments blend psychological suspense with subtle comedy, exploring trust, honesty, and unspoken bonds.
The 
Glitch Victoria
This year, fans of The Rocky Horror Show have extra ways to do the time warp! Not only is there a 4K restoration currently available as a limited edition steelbook set (
