Award-winning storyteller Andrew Bailey is back, premiering his latest “hilarious and heart-wrenching” storytelling show, Bad Stoic, at the 2026 Victoria Fringe Festival. Bad Stoic follows Bailey, a new parent, earnestly training to be a better, more stoic person. When he is finally successful, it turns out to be a terrible mistake.
=0D=0A=“People often interpret Stoicism as mere self-improvement,” says Bailey, who has a degree in Classical Studies. “For the ancient Stoics, cultivating logic and reason connected you to a universal soul. Marcus Aurelius wrote, ‘If it’s not good for the hive, it’s not good for the bee.’ An individual’s virtues were meant to help the wider community. My own father, without studying Stoicism, embodied such virtues. Me: not so much. But I did study.” While delving into serious topics including the aftereffects of a medical error, Bad Stoic is ultimately an uplifting show. As Bailey states, “Nothing is funnier to me, nor more heart-warming, than someone trying and failing to be a better person. Especially if, after the failure, you try and fail again.”
=0D=0A=Bailey has been workshopping the stories which make up Bad Stoic the last few years at various Victoria-based events including Atomic Vaudeville, Confabulation, and Story Circle. He has been called “a natural storyteller” by Winnipeg Free Press, “a storyteller with something to say” by the Edmonton Journal, and “a master of the monologue” by Culture Vulture.
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