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Home > Arts > FRINGE FILE #23: Mini-Reviews #4 – Magical %$@!s, The Shire/Surge, and <em>Anna</em>

FRINGE FILE #23: Mini-Reviews #4 – Magical %$@!s, The Shire/Surge, and Anna

by Twin Cities Arts Reader -

This is the fourth installment in the Twin Cities Arts Reader’s mini-review series covering the 2026 Minnesota Fringe Festival.

The official show image for A Confluence of Magical Arseholes, now playing at the Rarig Stoll Thrust Theatre through August 16.

A Confluence of Magical Arseholes (The Winding Sheet Outfit)

How does one describe the indescribable? To watch A Confluence of Magical Arseholes is to experience a smorgasbord of jams, poetry recitations, and self-conscious sendups of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. It’s also immensely fun.. This late-19th-century magic society including W.B. Yeats was ridiculous in its own right, but with The Winding Sheet’s spotlight it is hilarious as well. A great show sober, even better pregamed (the real-life members certainly did).

The official show image for Minnesota is the Shire, or Fair & Back Again.

Minnesota is the Shire, or Fair & Back Again (Seán McArdle / Hero Props)

One of several shows exploring the events and emotional fallout of Operation Metro Surge, McArdle’s offering is both a love letter to his twin loves (Minnesota and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien) and a testament to community activism and resilience. More TED Talk in its form than theatrical show, seeing this will make you love (and weep for) Minnesota more.

The official show image for Anna, now playing through August 15 at the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Anna (Mosaic Productions)

  • Show Page: https://minnesotafringe.org/shows/2026/anna
  • Official Show Description: Based on the 1922 Pulitzer Prize winning play Anna Christie by Eugene O’Neill, it’s been 15 years since Kris has seen her daughter Anna, and suddenly she’s here, at a bar in a small town you’ve never heard of.

A striking drama, well-delivered, that will hold you from start to finish. Shawna Evans’ adaptation of the (now) rarely performed Eugene O’Neill play pulls no punches, taking you on an emotional roller coaster that pays off. A talented cast and tight production that lacks anything extraneous, for the better of the narrative.

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