Fringe Review: 1ForUOne4Me (Je M'appelle Trombone)

Dates: Aug 21 – Aug 30, 2025

Location: Baumann Centre (Fringe Venue 3)

Created by: Leslie Cserepy (Toronto, ON)

Duration: 60 minutes

Rating: Ages 16+

Genre: Clown

Outstanding, hilarious, disturbing, and keenly intelligent Bouffon-style clown hijinks.

1ForUOne4Me is Cserepy’s first solo show, and it was named Outstanding New Creation at the Ottawa Fringe in 2024. Despite the seeming randomness of this performance, there is a subtle but interesting commentary about theatre woven throughout: the power of theatre to impact audiences in contrast with the contemporary sentiment of powerlessness in regard to addressing the biggest problems in the world.

No other summary of 1ForUOne4Me is warranted. It defies description and must be experienced firsthand. Fantastic show.

We had only one critique. In a final summoning of societal rage and injustice, Cserepy decries the mass death of children in what seemed a clear reference to the Gaza War, but without naming it. For a show that calls on the audience to have courage in confronting our anger with the world, this capstone would have landed more strongly if he had named the ongoing genocide.

Rating

★★★★★

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The Victoria Fringe Festival, presented by Intrepid Theatre since 1986, has become a cornerstone of the city’s arts scene, known for its unjuried, anything-goes approach to performance. For Carmunist and Septimus, Fringe is the highlight of the year. We’ve been involved as volunteers for more than a decade, and more recently, we’ve opened our home to performers as billets. Reviewing Fringe shows is something we’ve talked about for some time, and now we’re putting our experience as fiction editors and theatre stans to work, offering our thoughts and workshop notes for as many performances as we can attend.

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