"BFF-less" at Vancouver Fringe 2025: A Quirky Comedy About Finding Friendship
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Promotional Images for 2025 Vancouver Fringe Festival production of bff-less, taken by Chelsey Stuyt.
What roles do platonic versus romantic relationships take up in our lives?
Roomie Productions presents BFF-less, a silly and sweet comedy debuting at the 2025 Vancouver Fringe Festival. Written by playwright and producer Ben Brown and directed by accomplished theatre actor and director Melissa Oei, the play explores themes of loneliness, platonic companionship and lost love.
A Craigslist ad reads: “I’m looking for a best friend. I’m 24, and I’m sick of being lonely. If you’re also best friend-less, respond to this ad, and let’s meet up!”
This 60 minute play follows Sadie (played by Emma Soothill) and her search for a true, number one, best friend. Allison (Samantha Kerr) and Juno (Hikari Terasawa) both take the leap of responding to her ad and endure a ‘Best Friend Test’ conducted by Sadie to determine who is worthy of the title of being her new and true BFF. The performances of these ‘besties’ truly strike the heart. A hilarious addition of Matt (Kosta Lemermeyer) provides an element of surprise and truth that ties us into the current generation, poking fun at how we connect to each other through social media and the avid fear of being completely alone. With witty and perfectly timed dialogue, the relationships between these characters paint an accurate picture of what it is like to be in your 20s in this day and age.
Promotional Images for 2025 Vancouver Fringe Festival production of bff-less, taken by Chelsey Stuyt.
With beautiful lighting transitions by Jaren Guerreiro, stage management by Janavi Chawla and technical advising by Kady Yeung we are immersed into each character’s inner world in a tender way. The writing style of this play makes you want to both laugh and cry a little, these characters are raw and real, I saw a piece of myself in each of them. They let us into the inner workings of their minds with strongly delivered monologues that showcase each of their unique personalities. The audience is granted the chance to relate, to see these characters for who they really are, and understand the path that got them to where they are today. The audience gets to witness their true intentions, their grief and their desires for connection in moments that feel private and pure. We gain true understanding for the BFF-less folk, as we watch them try to grasp at connection, in the world they share with each other, we watch them grow. The creative use of minimal staging not only brings the emotional core of the story to the forefront but also ties in clever elements of the story, displaying the intentional, thoughtful and sentimental execution of this play. It is also a reminder to the audience to ask ourselves: when it is all stripped away, what is it that we truly seek?
Can anything true and real be forced? What purpose do best friends serve as we merge into adulthood? What roles do platonic versus romantic relationships take up in our lives? Can one person fill up our cup entirely? Do we all need a number one true best friend or is this search actually starving us of connection? BFF-less candidly celebrates this journey in all its awkward, messy and beautiful moments.
Promotional Images for 2025 Vancouver Fringe Festival production of bff-less, taken by Chelsey Stuyt.
At the premiere, the room was filled with laughter from folks of all ages and the room felt warm and safe. A well deserved standing ovation was presented as the lights dimmed, with overflowing murmurings of the play’s strong delivery. This show is truly for anyone who feels they’ve missed their shot at having a Best Friend Forever. BFF-less holds space for all the feelings about connections lost along the way and provides a glimmer of hope for more friendships to come, reminding us to let go of the need to so heavily control things in order to get what we want. This is a show you don’t want to miss.
Per the playwright’s request, when it's over, give a friend a call, I know you’ll want to.
BFF-less runs at the Vancouver Fringe Festival 2025 at the Arts Umbrella Mainstage. The show’s duration is 60 minutes and is playing September 6 to 14. Ticket price is $18. Find more information and tickets at the Vancouver Fringe Festival Website.
Courtenay McLeod is a freelance writer covering relationships, identity and culture. She lives in "Vancouver" with her cat named Bunny and lots of little trinkets from where she has come and gone.
