Philly Fringe 2026: Ninth Planet presents Holy Fool

Holy Fool (running through September 17 at the Gym at Impact Services), co-directed by Nia Benjamin and Sam Tower, marks Ninth Planet’s return to Fringe after its 2022 show, High Noon. Ninth Planet creates experimental dance-theater centering people of color, women, and queer and trans people in Philadelphia.

Holy Fool’s core strength is its abundant smooth transitions between spoken narrative and movement narrative. Movement comes as continuation or background of the spoken narrative, or it adds a bit of surrealism. When Wendy is talking about her dad’s death, Gwynne uses movement to show the story in the background. Movement tells visual stories of harmony moving to discord, connection, and disconnection.

Experiences of grief

As the family’s griefs plays out amid a film crew, we wonder if that’s a metaphor for the pressure to always be perceived by others in the age of social media, or if this work is just about artists making a film about a family experiencing grief. Perhaps it’s both. The film director is an intrusive caricature, aggressively choreographing and inserting herself into scenes. The overacting she solicits from Ngo and Saffron Brick adds a bit of levity. This overbearing quality hits its peak in a scene with Ngo. While it does cover some of the themes of motherhood not discussed in other segments, I wasn’t convinced that the stranger bits weren’t put there just to be edgy, and it doesn’t seem to tie back to other parts of the show.

Grief shows up differently for Gwynne and Wendy. The mother grieves the previous, better, more considerate, more caring versions of who her partner used to be. She is angry at the mess she is left in—the literal mess, the financial mess, and the ordeal of being a single parent. Grief is simpler for daughter, who mourns her preferred and more fun parent. But there could have been more to unpack about the complexities of grief (Hedgerow Theatre’s 2023 production of Good Grief was a good example of this multifaceted exploration). Maybe the production’s attempt to cover its themes in such a multidisciplinary way hampered its ability to dig deeper.

Evocative and eerie

As with many Fringe shows, there are parts here that could be cut. Gwynne and Wendy’s final exit would have been a good place to end: the last scene with their husband/father (David Brick) feels extraneous and a bit corny.

The live music and score by Jordan McCree and Marty Gottlieb-Hollis is a strength. It provides a cinematic, eerie, dramatic soundtrack to the unraveling family and the mental state of the film director. Live film projections (Taj Rauch and Sam Cronick) give the film crew a sense of reality, and moody and sometimes eerie lights (by Mike Inwood) add to the overall mood.

Beautiful, evocative, and eerie, The Holy Fool is a dreamlike journey in grief, family, and being perceived.

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