This past weekend was the end of the London Fringe Festival. My wife and I spent the weekend taking in some of the shows. Here's briefly what we thought of them.

Fishbowl: Funny and touching, complete with science humour. The characters portrayed used stereotype to get your attention but are not portrayed with such simplicity. The story ties together nicely. Kudos to Mark Shyzer and crew.

"New Talent": A good story with good acting but there is a part in the middle where it gets a bit dull. We found the "agent" character to be intensely interesting. The set and stage management left a little to be desired, though. The TV was distracting and the sound levels for the music were often too high.

Monster: An incredible one man show that was engrossing, although we both found the story to be confusing, mainly the timeline. With the plethora of characters portrayed (with no costumes and a minimal set) it was hard to keep track of everyone, which may have contributed to the confusion.

Dying Hard: This was the only show we had a split opinion on. The show consists of a single actor performing interviews with miners who worked the fluorspor mines in Newfoundland. Unfortunately, if you have trouble understanding the accent (as my wife did), it's hard to get into the content. To be honest, I couldn't understand the first 5-10 minutes of dialogue but I did find the actor convincing. I liked it, my wife didn't.

Emma: Very light fare that had a few laughs and a some awkward deliveries from some of the supporting cast.

Overall, we enjoyed the shows and will definitely be looking at attending some more theatre.