{"data":{"id":"bb414205-d464-41df-bf36-bdf702886e8d","originKind":"SYNDICATED","title":"Fringe Review: Hilarious and harrowing, Short King a healer for all ages","summary":"Short King\n\n5 stars out of 5\n\nStage 2, The Backstage Theatre, 10330 84 Ave.\n\nIf you make me sob like a baby in the first three minutes of your play, expect high praise. Gordon Neill’s emotional Trojan Horse kids play about a tiny king who tries to ban shadows and shut himself away from the world after his dog Wheels dies actually came out of a bunch of scholarly research the actor-playwright did about grief after the death of his canine best friend.\n\nA cartoon version of this not unlike the opening of Up sets the stage, Neill emerging in a red-cape king outfit and crown, telling (and singing to) the kid-filled audience “I’M FINE” when we can all tell he’s obviously not.\n\nChekov’s balls (give me a second) sitting stage right are soon deployed as he asks kids in the audience to come shatter the brick castle he’s hiding in, and just the sheer screaming joy of the little girls and boys in this moment is worth the price of admission alone.\n\nThe Short King then goes on a journey with various trials adults will recognise as various stages of grief, as Neill makes a huge, wonderful mess of the stage with castle rubble, tossed letters, thrown balls and awesome jokes like, as he says panting, “Do you know what gassed means? It means I have run out of fitness!”\n\nThe kids again need little invitation to run up and play the frogs to populate the Bog of Farts with its Puddles of Sadness. And when video of Neill’s actual dog popped up on the screen, cue the waterworks again, à la Big Bird learning Mr. Hooper was never coming back.\n\nWhile Shirley Gnome made me laugh hardest and Not Quite Sherlock feel such a sense of wonder, this play for children moved me the most so far this year, especially as the walls between performer and the unleashed kids melted.\n\nAnd just for fun, I’m going to make myself cry writing this, leaving you with the Short King’s sage words: “If I want to keep my best friend I’ve got to let him in. I’ll never get over him. And I’ll love him always.”\n\nfgriwowsky@postmedia.com\n\nRelated Fringe Review: Things That Go Bump a gentle dip into the spirit world\n\nFringe Review: Chris Gibbs outsmarts the master sleuth himself in Not Quite Sherlock\n\nBookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.\n\nYou can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.","url":"https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/theatre/fringe-review-hilarious-and-harrowing-short-king-a-healer-for-all-ages","imageUrl":"https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/edmontonjournal/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/short-king_304754491.jpg","publishedAt":"2026-08-17T19:49:57.000Z","sourceLabel":"Edmonton Journal Music","tags":["Entertainment","Festivals","Theatre"],"authorName":"Fish Griwkowsky","contentHtml":"\"Short

Short King

5 stars out of 5

Stage 2, The Backstage Theatre, 10330 84 Ave.

If you make me sob like a baby in the first three minutes of your play, expect high praise. Gordon Neill’s emotional Trojan Horse kids play about a tiny king who tries to ban shadows and shut himself away from the world after his dog Wheels dies actually came out of a bunch of scholarly research the actor-playwright did about grief after the death of his canine best friend.

A cartoon version of this not unlike the opening of Up sets the stage, Neill emerging in a red-cape king outfit and crown, telling (and singing to) the kid-filled audience “I’M FINE” when we can all tell he’s obviously not.

Chekov’s balls (give me a second) sitting stage right are soon deployed as he asks kids in the audience to come shatter the brick castle he’s hiding in, and just the sheer screaming joy of the little girls and boys in this moment is worth the price of admission alone.

The Short King then goes on a journey with various trials adults will recognise as various stages of grief, as Neill makes a huge, wonderful mess of the stage with castle rubble, tossed letters, thrown balls and awesome jokes like, as he says panting, “Do you know what gassed means? It means I have run out of fitness!”

The kids again need little invitation to run up and play the frogs to populate the Bog of Farts with its Puddles of Sadness. And when video of Neill’s actual dog popped up on the screen, cue the waterworks again, à la Big Bird learning Mr. Hooper was never coming back.

While Shirley Gnome made me laugh hardest and Not Quite Sherlock feel such a sense of wonder, this play for children moved me the most so far this year, especially as the walls between performer and the unleashed kids melted.

And just for fun, I’m going to make myself cry writing this, leaving you with the Short King’s sage words: “If I want to keep my best friend I’ve got to let him in. I’ll never get over him. And I’ll love him always.”

fgriwowsky@postmedia.com

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You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.

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