Fringe Review: Beth & Josie EXPOSED
- Septimus & Carmunist
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Dates: Aug 26 – Aug 31, 2025
Location: VCM Wood Hall (Fringe Venue 2)
Performers: Josie Nixon; Beth Marshall; Bobby Wesley (Idaho Springs, USA)
Duration: 60 minutes
Rating: Ages 18+
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Dramedy, Clown, Improv, Storytelling
Beth and Josie EXPOSED is a Confabulation-style storytelling production. Josie, as Juice the Trauma Clown, is the MC who kicks everything off, introduces the two storytellers, and reads out the crowd's secret confessions collected before the show. The first storyteller was Bobby who described his awkward loss of virginity; the second was Beth, the former executive producer of the Orlando Fringe Festival, who recounted a painful experience of racism and abuse brought about by her teenage biracial relationship. Juice provides the theme: we are the result of our experiences, and whether awkward or painful, the end result is the beautiful "fucked up" people we have all become.
Highlights
Juice's reading of the audience's confessions (and adlib quips) was a fantastic transition between the stories.
Beth's story was powerful and well told.
Beth, Juice, and Bobby all have a strong stage presence.
Workshop notes
Bobby's loss-of-virginity tale received few laughs and landed as more mundane than outrageous. In part, this was because he struggled with timing.
Juice's intro, interludes, and wrap-up go on for quite a while (the intro especially), cutting into the runtime of a show that could be stronger with three storytellers rather than two. Also, while the message was positive and well received, it started to feel like a sermon.
The lighting cues were... odd. They came at seemingly random times and provided more of a distraction than an immersive boost.
Rating
★★★
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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